Me DID Have This: the perfect Mother's Day!

I woke up on Mother's Day morning to not one, not two, but three lovely children totally passed out.  It was in a word, SERENE.  So instead of doing what normal, sane people do and relax, I sat on the floor, combing through all of the old issues of Cook's Illustrated that have been accumulating in my bookshelf.  Coming across the recipe entitled "The World's Best Blueberry Muffins", I couldn't resist. 

The pictures did not turn out very well - they looked good on the tiny little screen.  Well, you get the idea.  And if not, c'mon over this weekend, I think these muffins deserve an encore.

While the muffins were in the oven, I was 'burdened' by playing with a happy, smiley baby.  Boy, life is tough.

Here's the recipe copied from the May/June 2009 issue of Cook's Illustrated.

MAKES 12 MUFFINS

Lemon-Sugar Topping

1/3 cup (21/3 ounces) sugar

1½ teaspoons finely grated zest from 1 lemon

Muffins

2 cups (about 10 ounces) fresh blueberries, picked over

1 1/8 cups (8 ounces) plus 1 teaspoon sugar

2 1/2 cups (12½ ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon table salt

2 large eggs

4 tablespoons (½ stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly

¼ cup vegetable oil

1 cup buttermilk (see note)

1½ teaspoons vanilla extract


Note: If buttermilk is unavailable, substitute 3/4 cup plain whole-milk or low-fat yogurt thinned with 1/4 cup milk.


1. FOR THE TOPPING: Stir together sugar and lemon zest in small bowl until combined; set aside.


2. FOR THE MUFFINS: Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees. Spray standard muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray. Bring 1 cup blueberries and 1 teaspoon sugar to simmer in small saucepan over medium heat. Cook, mashing berries with spoon several times and stirring frequently, until berries have broken down and mixture is thickened and reduced to ¼ cup, about 6 minutes. Transfer to small bowl and cool to room temperature, 10 to 15 minutes.


3. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together in large bowl. Whisk remaining 11/8 cups sugar and eggs together in medium bowl until thick and homogeneous, about 45 seconds. Slowly whisk in butter and oil until combined. Whisk in buttermilk and vanilla until combined. Using rubber spatula, fold egg mixture and remaining cup blueberries into flour mixture until just moistened. (Batter will be very lumpy with few spots of dry flour; do not overmix.)


4. Following photos above, use ice cream scoop or large spoon to divide batter equally among prepared muffin cups (batter should completely fill cups and mound slightly). Spoon teaspoon of cooked berry mixture into center of each mound of batter. Using chopstick or skewer, gently swirl berry filling into batter using figure-eight motion. Sprinkle lemon sugar evenly over muffins.


5. Bake until muffin tops are golden and just firm, 17 to 19 minutes, rotating muffin tin from front to back halfway through baking time. Cool muffins in muffin tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack and cool 5 minutes before serving.

BEST BLUEBERRY MUFFINS WITH FROZEN BLUEBERRIES

Note: Our preferred brands of frozen blueberries are Wyman’s and Cascadian Farm.

Follow recipe for Best Blueberry Muffins, substituting 2 cups frozen berries for fresh. Cook 1 cup berries as directed in step 2. Rinse remaining cup berries under cold water and dry well. In step 3, toss dried berries in flour mixture before adding egg mixture. Proceed with recipe from step 4 as directed.

 
 
 
 

Mother's Day 2010