Friday, June 25, 2010

lemon blueberry sour cream muffins

lemon blueberry sour cream muffins

photo by shanniebananie

once again i come to you without camera--so a huge thank you to the photo from the original recipe contributor.  if you're a fan of allrecipes.com, check out tastykitchen.com .  tastykitchen is still in the infancy, so there are a good number of recipes, but precious few reviews.  (for those of you new to these recipe compilation sites, allrecipes is great--just be very sure to read the reviews where even the most mediocre recipe is jazzed up and made better by other cooks/bakers so you can avoid the pitfalls.)

oh the tangents!  back to the muffins.  if you have never had a quick bread or muffin recipe using sour cream, oh you have missed out!

the original version of this recipe was a great start.  if you are interested in a moist blueberry muffin it is actually a great one--head on over to this link: original recipe.  (i cannot give opinion on the crumble topping as i didn't actually use it.)

i personally love an obvious lemon flavor, so i increased the lemon zest quite a bit from the original recipe.  i also only used vanilla extract instead of splitting the amount between vanilla and almond extract.  i forewent the crumble topping as i like my muffins with just a little sweetness--so i sprinkled each one with just a pinch or two of "sugar in the raw" before baking.

also, if you have never baked with sour cream in either quick breads or even cookies, there is a trick to it that is very easy, but makes a world of difference.  when you reach the stage of adding the sour cream and flour, you must, must alternate!  and you must start and finish with the flour.  i don't know the science behind it, but i tested the theory once by starting and ending with sour cream instead for some great cookies and the result was a sloppy-mess dough.  i often think in terms of splitting the flour into "thirds" and the sour cream into "half"--so my alternating would go flour, sour cream, flour, sour cream, flour.  do whatever math makes you happy, but just remember: alternate--flour first and last.

another note: if you're newish to quick breads or always find yours to be tough and/or dry, here's a tip: do not, do not, do not overbeat the batter.  mix just enough to just incorporate the ingredients.  the more beating, the tougher and drier your end result will be.

the end result of this recipe was quite delicious.  oh, if you would rather use frozen blueberries, got for it!  (if you thaw them first, you'll get purple muffins, which isn't necessarily a bad thing if you're feeding a slumber party.)

lemon blueberry sour cream muffins
adapted from shanniebananie on tastykitchen.com

2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil (i use canola)
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbsp lemon zest
1 cup sour cream
1 to 1 1/2 cups blueberries, depending on your blueberry liking
scant 1/4 cup raw sugar

preheat oven to 400-degrees.  grease 12 regular-sized muffin cups (or you can use liners).

in a medium bowl, whisk together flour, salt, and baking soda.  set aside.

in a small bowl (or glass graduated measuring cup) combine vegetable oil, vanilla, and lemon zest.  set aside.

in your mixer, beat eggs on medium speed.  slowly add sugar.  slowly drizzle in oil mixture.

reduce mixer speed to low and add the flour and sour cream alternately, beginning and ending with flour.  beat just enough between additions to incorporate--do not overbeat.

spoon batter into prepared muffin tins.  you can fill each cup almost to the top.  sprinkle each with a couple pinches of raw sugar.  bake 18-20 minutes.

1 comment:

  1. and on an additional note, these store very well for a number of days without losing moistness or flavor.

    ReplyDelete