Monday, July 29, 2013

Good ol' Blueberry Muffins (These are perfect)

Yes, it's been eons since I last posted. Things got crazy. The first year of this PhD program happened. It  seriously happened. (YAY!) Now don't get too excited... it's not quite over... I've got until the end of the summer before I can officially put a seal on year one, but it's as over as in no classes this summer at least. For some reason however...I still have trouble finding the time (and gathering the patience) to work as well as I want on my research--or my cooking/baking. This makes me sad. Just know that it makes me sad.

Tonight however, I made the best gosh darn blueberry muffins I have EVA made. I adapted the recipe from a blog written by what seems to be a wonderful woman with great talent! Her name is Chelsea and her blog is called "Making Home Base". I'll include the link to the original recipe below. 

I'm not one to brag about the moist-ness of baked goods. Partly (mostly) because I hate the word moist. But my word hatred aside... these are HELLA moist. All thanks to the greatness that is plain yogurt, and the wonderfulness that is science and all that jazz. 




Good ol' Blueberry Muffins
Adapted from Making Home Base

Ingredients for Muffins
**This recipe can easily be made vegan by using a coconut milk based yogurt (or just adding an extra 1/4 cup of the non-dairy milk + tsp of apple cider vinegar and eliminating the yogurt), substituting a flax egg for the egg, and using solidified coconut oil in place of the butter used in the topping. 
  • 1 cup all purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 2/3 cup granulated sugar (feel free to substitute your sweetener of choice, but adjust amount accordingly)
  • 1 egg
  • 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/3 cup melted extra virgin coconut oil (feel free to use canola oil here)
  • 1/3 cup "homemade buttermilk" (1/3 cup of ANY milk. I used Almond Breeze's unsweetened coconut almond milk + 1 tsp apple cider (or white) vinegar--allow this to rest for about 5 min before pouring it into the wet ingredients)
  • 1/4 cup + 1 tbsp plain yogurt (I would suggest NOT to use nonfat--but doing so won't necessarily mess things up.
  • 1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries (I used fresh ones that I had frozen myself)
Ingredients for Topping
  • 1/4 cup butter softened
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/3 cup all purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup sugar
Directions:
  • Pre-heat oven to 400 F
  • Sift together the dry ingredients in a large bowl (First 5 ingredients)
  • In a separate smaller bowl, whisk together the egg, sugar, and vanilla extract
  • While continuously mixing add the oil, milk, and yogurt
  • Before adding the wet ingredients to the dry ones, go ahead and make the topping by just combining the ingredients for it with a fork. It should look crumbly. Set aside
  • Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and combine. Don't over-mix
  • Fold in the blueberries (batter will be relatively thick, just make sure you disperse the blueberries across the whole batter)
  • Spray a cupcake tray with non-stick spray and place about 1/4 cup batter in each space. Generously top each with the topping. Makes about 10-11 muffins. 
  • Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes--keeping an eye out during those last 5 minutes that it doesn't over-brown. Remove from the oven when tops are browned and toothpick inserted in the center of a few of them comes out clean. 
  • Cool in pan for 5 minutes before placing them on a rack to cool completely. (Or if you're like me you'll burn your tongue trying to eat one 2 sec after it came out of the oven...no big deal.) 
I apologize for horrible pictures...