blueberries Archives - The Midnight Baker

Bakery Style Blueberry Muffins

Judith Hannemann — Tue, 07 Aug 2018 23:00:30 +0000

These huge and delicious blueberry muffins are so good, they won’t last long!

Take Advantage Of Sales

It seems that mostly every week I’m seeing sales on all berries, including blueberries. I have been stocking up too!

Blueberries, unlike many other varieties, freeze exceptionally well. Another good feature is that you can use them right out of the freezer without defrosting. In fact, a lot of recipes advise you not to defrost them and use them frozen.

I’ve done that and it works very well. You don’t have to do any prep work for freezing blueberries either. Simply bag them–don’t use a vacuum sealer here as they will crush–and pop them in your freezer.

Bring Out The Blueberry Flavor

Blueberries are very mildly flavored so you have to coax more flavor out of them.

One trick to doing that is to add lemon zest. In these blueberry muffins, a little goes a long way. I used roughly one tablespoon of lemon zest. I think any more would impart a stronger lemon flavor rather than blueberry flavor. Of course, that’s not really a bad thing and if you want a more lemony tang, then use more.

I felt what I used was just enough to bring out a stronger blueberry taste, which was what I was aiming for.

Big Or Small

When it comes to muffins, I like big. That’s what I made here and used “Texas” muffin pans to do it.

There’s just something about a jumbo muffin that makes it a lot more appealing. This is probably why bakery muffins are so huge! Made in the Texas pan, the recipe will make 6 muffins.

These can also be made in a standard muffin tin; in this pan the yield will be 12. I have included baking times for the standard version in the recipe card.

The Recipe

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Bakery Style Blueberry Muffin Recipe

These huge and delicious blueberry muffins are so good, they won’t last long! To make this blueberry muffin recipe, you will need a jumbo (Texas-sized) muffin pan.

Prep Time15

Cook Time45

Total Time1

Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: American

Keyword: blueberry muffin recipe, blueberry muffins

Servings: 6 muffins

Calories: 537kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

½ cup butter softened to room temperature
1 ¼ cups sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
½ tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
½ cup milk
2 cups blueberries washed, drained and picked over
1 tbs fresh lemon zest
1 tsp vanilla
3 tbs coarse sugar (also known as sanding sugar)

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375F/190C degrees F.
Cream the butter and 1 1/4 cups sugar until light.
Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla and lemon zest.
Sift together the flour, salt and baking powder, and add to the creamed mixture alternately with the milk.
Crush 1/2 cup blueberries with a fork, and mix into the batter. Fold in the remaining whole berries.
Line a jumbo (Texas) muffin tin with cupcake liners (I use lotus-shaped parchment ones), and fill with batter. Sprinkle the 3 tablespoons sugar over the tops of the muffins, and bake at 375 degrees for about 40-45 minutes.
Remove muffins from tin and cool at least 30 minutes. Store, uncovered, or the muffins will be too moist the second day.
May be made in a standard-size muffin tin, but bake for 30-35 minutes. It will make 12 standard-sized muffins.

Nutrition

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Blueberry Bars

Judith Hannemann — Tue, 17 Jul 2018 23:00:37 +0000

Buttery crust, fresh blueberry and a hint of lemon. What’s not to love?

The Glorious Blueberry

Blueberries are so mild and delicious that they pair well with many things. They’ve experienced a surge in popularity in the last few years too. They’ve always been available but now you see them everywhere since everyone seemed to rediscover them.

Blueberries are very mild with a subtle flavor. You can coax a lot of flavor out of them with the addition of just a little bit of lemon zest. That’s the secret to great blueberry flavor!

Oh That Crust!

This crust is absolutely divine! It’s rich and buttery and the flavor doesn’t get lost in the translation.

The best advice I can give here is to use a food processor or Ninja to prepare this. Using a pastry blender will just make the process longer and more labor intensive.

The crumbs are supposed to resemble wet sand, so there would be a lot of work involved by doing it by hand.

The jam called for in the crust ingredients is used after you bake and slightly cool the crust. The original recipe (it’s from an old book so I cannot supply a link) calls for blueberry jam. The only time I ever had that variety was when a neighbor gifted me with some she bought whilst on vacation.

Most of us have raspberry jam or grape jelly at our disposal so it’s not necessary to run out and buy blueberry jam. All the jam really does is “seal” the pastry so it doesn’t get too soggy. And on that note, don’t store them covered!!! They’ll get soggy and inedible. Just store them on a rack open to the air.

The Glaze

Even though I used the glaze on the most recent batch I made, my thinking is that it’s an optional ingredient here. As I said before, the bars are soft so any additional liquid ingredient will make them even softer. So if you don’t feel like glazing them–don’t. They’re totally awesome without it.

The Recipe

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Blueberry Bars

Buttery crust, fresh blueberry and a hint of lemon. What’s not to love about blueberry bars?

Prep Time20

Cook Time40

Total Time1

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: blueberry bars

Servings: 12

Calories: 314kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

Crust:

1 1/2 cups flour
3 tbs confectioners sugar
1/4 tsp salt
8 tbs cold unsalted butter cubed
6 tbs berry jam any variety

Filling:

3 cups fresh blueberries
2 tbs sugar
1 tbs fresh lemon juice
2 tsp cornstarch
2 tsp lemon zest
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs slightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract

Glaze:

1/2 cup sifted confectioners sugar
2-3 tbs heavy cream
1 tbs lemon juice

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly spray a 13 x 9-inch pan with non-stick spray.
Pulse the first 3 crust ingredients in a food processor. Add the cubes of cold butter and pulse until the mixture resembles wet sand. Press the crust evenly in the pan and bake for 15 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes then spread the jam over the top of the crust. Leave the oven on at 375.
Mix the blueberries, 2 tbs sugar, lemon juice, cornstarch and lemon zest in a medium bowl; set aside. In a large bowl, mix the 1 cup sugar, 1/2 cup flour, baking powder and salt, combining well. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Fold in the blueberry mixture and spread over crust. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely.
Mix glaze ingredients and drizzle over cooled bars. You may need more (or less) cream to get the right consistency. Always start with the least amount; you can always add more liquid.

Nutrition

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Blueberry Lemonade Muffins

Judith Hannemann — Sat, 12 Jul 2014 23:00:00 +0000

Blueberry Lemonade Muffins

These cake-like blueberry lemon muffins are like a mini coffee cake in muffin form. Crunchy butter and lemon crumbs are the crowning glory.

Who doesn’t love a blueberry muffin? The perfect grab-and-go breakfast.

These muffins have a cake-like texture and a tart hint of lemon. Lemon and blueberry are one of my favorite combinations.

Loaded with fruit

I made these for a dear friend (and neighbor) who recently had knee surgery. I know blueberry is one of her favorite flavors and these will certainly cheer her up…she’s a week post-op and is in intensive therapy and at this point, the therapy is no fun…far from it.

I made these with frozen berries and kept them frozen until the very last minute when I had to add them. Thawing makes them get “juicy” and the juice will dye the batter. That’s OK, no difference in taste, but you’ll get purple muffins! You could use fresh if you want, should work about the same. I’ve never done this with fresh because I simply never buy fresh blueberries because they go bad very quickly.

Basket full of cheer

Also, this won’t work too well with very low or no-fat milk. STRONGLY resist the urge to save those 50 calories–the muffins will just not be good.

I always make Texas (large) sized muffins. It’s been years since I made the regular size, which now seem puny to me. The bake time I gave for them is approximate–do check them after 18 minutes or so for doneness. Since Texas muffins are twice the size of regular, you will get twice the amount of regular. Again, the yield is approximate since you could fill the cup differently to me. It’s just a guide.

Buttery lemon crumbs are irresistable

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Blueberry Lemonade Muffins

These cake-like blueberry lemon muffins are like a mini coffee cake in muffin form. Crunchy butter and lemon crumbs are the crowning glory.

Prep Time20

Cook Time35

Total Time55

Course: Breakfast, cakes

Cuisine: American

Keyword: blueberry muffins, breakfast muffins

Servings: 9

Calories: 468kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

CRUMB TOPPING

1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
3 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp regular sugar
1 tsp grated lemon zest
6 tbsp butter melted

MUFFINS

1 3/4 cups flour
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cup milk don't use skim or 1%
1/2 cup oil
1/2 tsp lemon extract
3 tsp grated lemon zest
1 cup frozen blueberries do not thaw
1 tbsp flour

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease or line with paper cups either a regular or "Texas" muffin pan. Regular makes about 18 muffins, "Texas" makes about 9. I made "Texas" size.
For crumb topping: in a small bowl, mix all ingredients except the melted butter. While stirring, add the butter until you get clumps about the size of small peas. You may have to add a tablespoon or 2 MORE flour to get good crumbs. This is weather dependent. Set aside.
For the muffins: In a medium bowl, stir the 1 cup flour, baking powder and salt together. Set aside.
In a large bowl, combine the sugar, eggs, oil, milk, extract and lemon zest. Beat with electric mixer until foamy.
Add the flour mixture to the liquid mixture and beat with electric mixer until well blended and there are no lumps.
In a small bowl, mix frozen berries with the 1 tbs flour (this stops them sinking). Stir berries into muffin batter.
Spoon into prepared pans. I use an old-fashioned ice cream scoop for this. Fill the cups 3/4 full. Top with crumbs.
Bake at 375 degrees F for 30-35 minutes for "Texas" muffins. Regular muffins bake about 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Makes about 18 regular, 9 large.

Nutrition

Blueberry Lemonade Muffins

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Blueberry Lemon Crumb Cake

Judith Hannemann — Mon, 09 Dec 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Blueberry Lemon Crumb Caker

Blueberry Lemon Crumb Cake combines the sweetness of blueberries with the tartness of lemon.

Versatile Coffee Cakes

Coffee cakes are versatile. They can be breakfasts, desserts or snacks.

Blueberries and blueberry flavorings are all the rage lately. But a simple blueberry coffee cake never seems to go out of style.The cake is easy to make and goes together in no time. Be careful not to overmix since the cake will be dry. Much like muffins, just mix in the flour until it’s combined with the wet ingredients. Resist the urge to overbeat!

This cake was also the maiden voyage of my brand-new KitchenAid Pro 6 QT mixer. I just upgraded from a 5 QT Artisan. OK, it’s the first PEOPLE treat I made with it. Day it arrived, I made my dog his Pumpkin Dog Biscuits LOL.

Yummy Blueberry Lemon Crumb Cake

The Crumbs Make It

The interesting part of this cake is the crumbs. No cinnamon or spice, but tart lemon zest with a hint of lemon extract.

The lemon’s tartness counteracts the sweetness of the blueberries giving this cake the perfect balance.

Blueberry Lemon Crumb Cake

The Recipe

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Blueberry Lemon Crumb Cake

Blueberry Lemon Crumb Cake combines the sweetness of blueberries with the tartness of lemon. It's perfect for brunch or a summer dessert.

Prep Time15

Cook Time40

Total Time55

Course: desserts

Cuisine: American

Keyword: blueberry desserts, crumb cake, lemon cake recipe

Servings: 12

Calories: 392kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

Crumb Topping:

1/2 cup sugar
6 tbsp butter melted
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tbsp grated lemon zest
1/4 tsp lemon extract

Cake:

1/2 cup butter at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream room temperature
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries don't thaw if frozen

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease or spray a 13 x 9-inch pan.
For the crumbs, mix together the sugar, flour and lemon zest. Melt butter over low heat in a saucepan. Add the lemon extract. Add the flour mixture to the melted butter mixture and stir until crumbs form, breaking up large clumps. Crumbs should be about the size of peas or a bit larger. Set aside.
In a large bowl with electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Blend in the sour cream and vanilla.
Mix together the flour, salt, soda and baking powder. Add to the creamed mixture, beating ONLY until flour is incorporated. Fold in blueberries.
Turn into prepared pan, spreading batter evenly in pan. Top with lemon crumbs.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 30-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Remove from oven to rack to cool. Cool about 30 minutes if you wish to serve the cake warm. Otherwise, cool completely.
Serves 12

Nutrition

Blueberry Lemon Crumb Cake

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