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Mary Berry's Blueberry Muffins

Name: Mary Berry's Blueberry Muffins
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 35 min
Ingredients: 1 3/4 cup plus 1 TBS (250g) self rising flour; 1 teaspoon baking powder; 3 1/2 TBS (50g) butter, at room temperature; 6 1/2 TBS (75g) caster sugar (fine granulated sugar); 3/4 cup (175g) blueberries; the finely grated zest of one lemon; 2 large free range eggs, beaten; 9 fluid ounces (250ml) milk

Sunday, 1 August 2021

I thought that there was no better way to begin the month of August than to share a delicious blueberry recipe. And you cannot get more delicious than an old fashioned blueberry muffins!

Whenever I think of August, I think of blueberries and corn, and when I think of wild blueberries, I immediately think of blueberry pie and blueberry muffins! It doesn't get much better than that!

Today's delicious Blueberry Muffin recipe comes from none other than the baking doyenne herself, Mary Berry. This is a gracious lady who has been around the kitchen more than a few times.

I love LOVED her on the Great British Bakeoff show. Somehow it was just not the same after she left. She brought a sense of class to the show.

This recipe comes from her book, Mary Berry's Baking Bible, which contains over 250 classic recipes. I, quite simply, love this book, almost as much as I love her!

You know muffins you buy at the shops? They are always far too big, far too sweet and far too expensive for what you are getting.

More cake than muffin, more often than not, they truly are disappointing. When I want a muffin, I want a muffin, and when I want cake I want cake.

These muffins are muffins, pure and simple. Not too sweet. Not too large. Beautifully textured. But then again, I would expect nothing less from Mary Berry.

I was very intrigued by the manner in which these were put together. You whisk together self rising flour and baking powder and then you drop in butter, which you rub into the flour with your fingertips.

Just until the mixture resembles fine dry breadcrumbs. I have done this often for making cakes, but never for muffins. Usually muffins use melted butter or oil.

Once you have the butter rubbed in you add lemon zest and sugar. I was tempted to use Dorie Greenspan's method of rubbing the lemon zest into the sugar, but for this first time baking these muffins I thought I would go with Mary's method.

She uses caster sugar which is a finely granulated sugar. In the UK their granulated sugar is much more coarser than ours in North America. It is perfectly fine to just use granulated sugar in these in North America.

It is pretty much the same in texture as caster sugar.

Its funny how things like something as simple as sugar, or flour for that matter, can differ greatly from one country to the next. In the UK, they mostly recommend caster sugar for baking.

That is because their granulated sugar is so coarse that it doesn't melt properly in recipes. If you have ever had a cake come out of the oven with a speckled top, that's because your sugar was too coarse and not creamed in well enough.

The purpose of creaming is to almost melt the sugar into the butter so that doesn't happen. For these, it didn't seem to matter.

In fact, in the UK, more often than not, the sugar is just stirred into the dry ingredients, like in scones for instance. I thought that totally odd, but it also totally works, especially if you are using caster sugar.

As with any muffin recipe, the wet ingredients are stirred into the dry ingredients, just until they are combined. That is what gives them their beautiful texture.

In a cake, you want a finer texture and crumb. Muffins are meant to be much more rustic. They are classified as a quick bread not a cake, and should eat as such.

Oh how I wish I had had some wild blueberries to use in these muffins. I can only think how lovely they would be with wild berries.

Alas, my blueberry picking days are over. When I was a child we spent many a hot day in August picking blueberries for my mother. It was hot, back breaking work.

Unlike high bush berries, wild blueberries grown close to the ground. You need to crouch when you are picking them. I cannot crouch these days due to arthritis.

But I have many fond memories of having picked them in the past. Most people here in Nova Scotia have their favorite blueberry picking territories, and are loath to share them with someone else. They do grow wild just about everywhere.

But are much more abundant in some areas than in others. When you find a prime spot you tend to stick to it and keep it to yourself. We once owned a house in Nictaux, close to the falls.

There was a gravel pit up back of us. The soil was dry and sandy and we had tons of berries, ripe for the picking. You could go out and pick every day and would have your bucket filled in next to no time.

The only problem with blueberries and the month of August is that the bears are out there picking them also. I can remember always being bear aware when picking berries as a child.

The bears are out scavenging and filling up their bellies in August for the Winter's hibernation they know lies ahead, and so you are as likely to come across a bear in the bush as you are berries. So you do need to be careful.

I am terrified of bears. Absolutely terrified.

In any case, I did not have to fight the bears for these berries I used today. They were highbush berries, not quite as sweet as the wild, but delicious nonetheless.

I took half of these over to my next door neighbor. I thought she would enjoy them.

These are a lovely muffin. Light and beautifully textured. Not too sweet, and stuffed with plenty of berries. I highly recommend!! If they are good enough for Mary, they are plenty good enough for me!

Mary Berry's Blueberry Muffins

Yield: 8

Author: Marie Rayner

Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 25 MinTotal time: 35 Min

Moist and delicious and stuffed with sweet berries!

Ingredients

1 3/4 cup plus 1 TBS (250g) self rising flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 1/2 TBS (50g) butter, at room temperature
6 1/2 TBS (75g) caster sugar (fine granulated sugar)
3/4 cup (175g) blueberries
the finely grated zest of one lemon
2 large free range eggs, beaten
9 fluid ounces (250ml) milk

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 400*F/200*C/ gas mark 6. Butter a muffin tin really well, or line with paper liners. (I used a six cup muffin tin and 2 ramekins.)
Measure the flour and baking powder into a bowl and give it a good stir. Drop in the butter and then rub it into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine dry bread crumbs. Stir in the lemon zest, sugar and blueberries.
Mix the eggs and milk together and then add to the dry ingredients, stirring all together just until the mixture is combined. Its okay if the batter is a bit lumpy. In fact, this is desirable.
Spoon the batter into the muffin cups filling them almost to the top.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until well risen and golden brown. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean and they should spring back when lightly touched.
Leave to cool for a few minutes, then tip out onto a wire rack to cool for a bit longer.
Beautiful served warm with a nice hot cuppa!

Did you make this recipe?

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Mary Berry's Blueberry Muffins

Chocolate Chunk Muffins (small batch)

Thursday, 1 July 2021

Chocolate Chunk Muffins. I have been making, baking and enjoying this recipe for about 18 years now. It is a recipe I found on the RecipeZaar site way back when there was a RecipeZaar. I wish I could remember the name of the girl I got it from.

She was from India and her name just escapes me. (Senior's brain funk) She was a very nice girl, and called everyone Auntie. I hate it when my brain does that! Forgets things it should remember.

The original recipe used chocolate chips, instead of chocolate chunks, but made a dozen beautiful, most and delicious muffins.

I halved the recipe to only make six and have been baking it ever since. I also switched out the chocolate chips for chocolate chunks.

These muffins are a bit cakier than muffins that I usually bake, but they are also not quite like cupcakes, so I think they still qualify as a muffin.

They have a moist and tender crumb from the use of sour cream (or yogurt) in the batter. Sour cream has a magical quality that always makes things tender and moist.

I added the bicarbonate of soda myself. There is not a lot, but I was always taught that you need a bit of bicarbonate of soda when you are using something acidic in baking such as buttermilk, sour cream or yogurt.

It helps the baked good to rise better, and as you can see works perfectly here. And it is such a small amount that you don't taste it.

If there is one major complaint that I have about ready made baked goods, baking mixes, etc. it is that far more often than not, they taste enormously of baking soda and baking powder.

I hate that and I hate that astringent almost burning feeling it gives to your mouth. If I want astringent I will suck on a lemon thank you very much!

And I can guarantee it will be a lot more pleasant!

Don't you love my hot pad? My friend Ginny from New Hampshire makes them. She created this with the color of lilacs because she knows I love them. It is such a well made hot pad.

Nice and thick, and it is beautiful. Even more so because it was the gift from a friend.

Although the original recipe used chocolate chips, I like to use chocolate chunks. And I like to cut them myself.

Any good bar of chocolate will do, one that contains a high percentage of cacao. They give you more of a chocolate whammy than traditional chocolate chips.

I like to use Green & Blacks organic milk chocolate bars for my muffins. They are really delicious and are not as sweet and milky as traditional milk chocolate.

They taste almost like a dark chocolate, but a bit creamier and work beautifully in these. I also use them for my Butterscotch Blondies. Oh boy are they some good.

I used to make them often for the Mr when I worked at the Manor. He loved them. He had a bit of a sweet tooth. He used to get me to bake my chocolate chip cookies for him every week as well. The blondies were a bit of an extra treat now and then.

He also love, Loved my Banana Bread. He would request a loaf of that every second week or so. He liked it toasted in the toaster oven and spread with butter.

Mind you they had their own private gym, swimming pool and tennis courts. I reckon you can indulge more in things like that if you are going to burn off the calories.

I've been burning off calories by walking. I try to get in as many steps as I can each day. I don't have a pedometer. I just count them by hand and mark them down, keep a record.

Back to the muffins. Sorry I got distracted. They mix together a bit differently than most muffins do. You begin by creaming together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Like a cake.

Then you beat in the eggs and vanilla. The flour, baking powder, soda and salt get sifted together and then added alternately with the sour cream. Folding it in just until everything is combined. Do not overmix as with any muffin.

The batter does not need to be smooth, just evenly moistened. You fold in the chocolate chunks at the end. (I just cut the bar into sections and then chunks. Sorry I should have explained that earlier.)

These are a really nice muffin. Tender and moist, with just enough chocolate. They also keep very well for a couple of days. You can freeze them if you want to keep them longer if you wish.

No need to thaw, simply reheat for about 30 seconds in the microwave.

They go beautifully with a hot cuppa . . . tea . . . java . . . herbal teas, or even a glass of cold milk. They just go beautifully. They're delicious and well worth having the oven on for 15 minutes!