Tuesday, June 7, 2011

The best blueberry muffin recipe in the world

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Every so often Clemence Gossett, a fabulous baking instructor and co-founder of The Gourmandise School of Sweets and Savories in Santa Monica, sends one of her recipes out to her email list. Clemence's recipes are exactly my kinds of sweets: never fussy, always achievable and truly delicious.

Last year Clemence sent a message titled "The Muffin Method" detailing her general muffin philosophies and proportions. I make muffins all the time, so I kept it in my inbox. It took me a year, but I finally pulled it out this weekend to make some blueberry muffins.


I read the recipe three times before I started. I was confused. No eggs? Two tablespoons of baking powder? I'd never seen a blueberry muffin recipe like that. I wondered if Clemence had erred. Hah! I should have known better than to doubt a French baker. Clemence's recipes are well-tested.

These are the best blueberry muffins I've ever tasted. They're closer to cake than to health food - don't let the fruit fool you. But if you can't indulge in a sweet muffin or two (or seven, in the case of my nine-year-old) on a lazy Sunday, when can you?


If you're in southern California, do stop by the new Gourmandise School, in The Market at Santa Monica Place. The Market is Los Angeles's answer to San Francisco's Ferry Building, and Gourmandise is holding cooking classes just about every day in their gorgeous, brand-new, shiny demonstration kitchen. I'm trying to work up the nerve to ask Clemence if I can teach a class over the summer. Maybe a Trufflepalooza class, featuring black summer truffle recipes. What do you think? Would you sign up?



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The best blueberry muffin recipe in the world
Light, sweet and delightful: These are the best blueberry muffins I've ever tasted, hands down. Thanks to Clemence Gossett of The Gourmandise School of Sweets and Savories for this recipe.
Ingredients
  • 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 Tbsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/8 tsp salt
  • 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar, plus more for sprinkling
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 cup plain yogurt or sour cream
  • 5 ounces butter, cut into pieces
  • 3 cups fresh blueberries
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a 24-cup standard muffin tin with paper liners.Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.In a glass or ceramic microwave-safe bowl, put the sugar, milk, yogurt or sour cream, and butter. Microwave the bowl 1 minute on high, or until the butter is starting to melt and the bowl is warm. Whisk the mixture until you see little bits of butter floating in the mixture.Add the blueberries to the flour mixture and toss to coat. Pour over the milk mixture and slowly, carefully, fold together with a large spoon or spatula. Do not overmix or the muffins will be tough. Streaks of flour are perfectly okay.Divide the batter among the muffin tins and sprinkle with sugar. Bake 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out with a few crumbs clinging to it and the tops are starting to turn golden brown. Cool 5 minutes in the pan, then remove the muffins to a rack to cool completely.
Details
Prep time: Cook time: Total time: Yield: 24 muffins

43 comments:

Mari Nuñez said...

This is one of my favorites recipes. Your muffins looks delicious, Erika :)

Have a great week.

Tori @ The Shiksa in the Kitchen said...

Oh my goodness! The name of this post alone makes me hungry. Those muffins look delicious! Funny you mentioned the Ferry building, I visited there for the first time yesterday and was mourning the fact that we don't have something similar in LA. I'll have to check out Gourmandise, thanks for the recommendation! :)

Marly said...

No eggs in this recipe makes it very tempting to...veganize! Besides, they look utterly delicious! Thanks for another great post.

Anonymous said...

looks so yummy.

Paula (Just a Bite Desserts) said...

Better late than never, but these are truly outstanding blueberry muffins in both looks and taste. Always trust Erika to steer you right!

Erika Kerekes said...

Paula, I'm so glad you liked them - Clemence will be happy to hear it too. Reminds me, I need to get some blueberries!

Anonymous said...

I don't have any fresh blueberries but I really want to make these. Any tips on how to prevent the batter from turning blue when you're using frozen berries? Thanks!

Erika Kerekes said...

I never use frozen, but try a) putting them in frozen at the last minute so no time to thaw and b) toss them in flour before adding to the batter. The coating of flour may absorb some of the excess juice.

@Sierrac44 said...

Was your batter very doughy? I've always managed to mess something up in a recipe and I'm not sure if I've done that again with this one. I wish you could of posted a picture of the muffins before you put them in the oven so I could compare. I'll let you know h.ow they turn out though:)

Erika Kerekes said...

@Sierra - doughy, you mean thick? Yes, I believe it was. Not runny. As long as you didn't overmix when putting the wet and dry together, you should be fine. Let me know.

@Sierrac44 said...

YAY you responded! I actually think I under mixed it in fear of over mixing it. They turned out fine but like a biscuit. Practice makes perfect though so I'll keep trying! Thank you for the great recipies you've shared with everyone.

Unknown said...

Wish i would have gone with my gut and added some vanilla and a little cinnamon... Pretty blah muffins...

Erika Kerekes said...

Betsy - so sorry you didn't like them. They were perfect for me. I wonder if a little lemon juice would help? I don't personally like cinnamon with blueberries, but YMMV....

Anonymous said...

oh my gosh they were THE best blueberry muffins I ever baked! Very fluffy and moist! I even baked for a friend whose kid has egg allergies, she couldn't believe that they were egg less.

Erika Kerekes said...

@Anon I know, that's one of the best parts of this recipe - no eggs. I'm going to try it with another kind of fruit next. Maybe some apple-quince sauce mixed into the batter.

Anonymous said...

best muffins i've ever tasted.
10x!!!

Unknown said...

I was already a fan of your lemon bars tried the muffins and they turned out great!

Unknown said...

I was already a fan of your lemon bars just tried the muffins and they have turned out amazing. Thanks!

Sarah said...

I love this recipe... the only thing I did different the last time, I added 1/4 tsp fresh nutmeg in... Awesome.

I also made these with frozen cranberries (2 cups, halfed) and orange rind. Also subed some of the milk with OJ, 1/4 cup. For extra orangey goodness. Sooooo YUMMY.

Lemon rind and blueberries would make my day... oh what about poppyseed lemon blueberry muffins... with lemon juice and sugar glaze after baked. Gotta go try that, bye!

Chefjeff said...

The title of this recipe is appropriate, to say the very least. These muffins were tender and moist, and with a slightly tempered sweetness that I want to experiment with, on other muffin recipes. An extra step, but to me, well worth it, is to grease the muffin wells with shortening and then PAM spray the wells. Paper liners were not used, and the muffins popped out easily.

Erika Kerekes said...

@Sarah and @ChefJeff, glad you liked it. Clemence is truly a genius.

Chefjeff said...

Besides which, now that I've discovered the website that Erika shared (replete with recipes) where this recipe came from, I'm having lots of fun....last night I made Honey Almond Chocolate mousse and it was stellar. I did not fold the almond nougatine into the mousse. Instead I topped each mousse with whipped cream and put a goodly amount of the almond confection (roughly chopped) over. Just wonderful.

Anonymous said...

I only had one cup of blueberries so we added craisins in as well! OH MY!! they were delicious!!

Anonymous said...

Any one figure out the calories in these yummies?

Anonymous said...

Oh I am excited! We can't bake with eggs at this house, and this recipe is going to change my world! I wonder if you can put it all into a loaf pan and bake as bread instead of muffins?

Erika Kerekes said...

@Anonymous I would imagine so, as long as you lengthen the baking time. And maybe decrease the heat to 350 so the edges don't burn before the middle is cooked through. If you try it, let us know!

Anonymous said...

I went to a bbq today and decided at the last minute to make muffins. I realized I had no eggs and your recipe came up as one of the first I searched. They were so fast and easy to make and they were without a doubt one of the best muffins I ever made. Needless to say there were no leftovers. Thank you ��

Erika Kerekes said...

@Anonymous I'm so glad to hear it!

Natalie Bojesen said...

Is there such a thing as a standard 24 cup muffin tin?!? Ha! About to try this with 2 12 cup tins.

Erika Kerekes said...

Ha, of course you're right Natalie. I meant standard size muffins as opposed to the jumbo ones. Two regular 12 cup muffin tins will work perfectly.

Erika Kerekes said...

Ha, of course you're right Natalie. I meant standard size muffins as opposed to the jumbo ones. Two regular 12 cup muffin tins will work perfectly.

Unknown said...

Does this dough freeze well? Mine made more than 24 muffins, which was way too much for us at one time

Erika Kerekes said...

Katie, I've never tried freezing the dough. I don't think it would work - I bet the leavening would be deactivated. I would bake and then freeze the finished muffins.

Maxine said...

These were SO good! And perfect for my egg-allergic daughter. I used Trader Joe's gluten free flour, and greek yogurt with fantastic results!

Erika Kerekes said...

@Maxine so glad you and your family enjoyed the muffins!

EM said...

How do you measure / scoop your flour?

Erika Kerekes said...

@EM I use the scoop-and-sweep approach: lightly scoop flour into the measuring cup until it is heaping, then use a knife to sweep it evenly across the top. I try not to get too OCD about it though. :)

EM said...

I hear ya. Thats the way i do it too. Thanks!

EM said...

Sorry, one more question. Do you add wet ingredients to the dry or vice versa? Its a little confusing in the recipe so just double checking. Thanks

Erika Kerekes said...

@EM I think I poured the wet into the dry, but really it doesn't matter. The only key thing is not to over-mix.

Julie said...

I have made these twice now for my little grandson who has an egg allergy and he loves them. I lessen the sugar, and I do use frozen blueberries. This time I wanted to substitute some of the white flour with whole wheat. Should work?!

Erika Kerekes said...

@Julie, yes, I'm sure it will work - whole wheat flour will change the texture and make the muffins a bit heavier, but it will work. Try subbing in about 1/3 whole wheat.

Unknown said...

Thrilled with this recipe, realised I had no eggs and also no sour cream. I used a mashed banana instead of the sour cream and they turned out delicious!!

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