Lemon Blueberry Muffins
I am finishing up my quick bread studies with a little baking experiment. I’ll be honest with you, if someone handed me a muffin I would not be able to tell which mixing method was used. I know what you’re thinking… who cares, right? Well, I care. I want to know everything there is to know about baking. To paraphrase the great Homer Simpson, I am tired of being a wannabe baking expert. I wanna be a baking expert!
I baked two batches of lemon blueberry muffins. One batch was mixed using the muffin method and the other was mixed using the creaming method. Both batches had the exact same ingredients with the exact same amounts. Was there a difference between the two?
Adding blueberries to the Muffin Method batter.
Blueberries folded into the Creaming Method batter
- 3 cups (14 ounces) Cake Flour
- 4 1/2 teaspoons (.6 ounces) Baking Powder
- 1/2 teaspoon (.1 ounce) Baking Soda
- 1 1/4 cups (9 ounces) Granulated Sugar
- 1/2 teaspoons (.1 ounce) Salt
- 1 cup (8 ounces) Salted Butter, melted
- 1 1/4 cups Milk
- 2 large Eggs, lightly beaten
- 2 cups Blueberries, fresh or frozen
- zest of 1 Lemon
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line or grease 12 regular sized muffin cups.
- In a medium bowl, rub the lemon zest into the sugar.
- In a large bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and lemon sugar.
- In a medium bowl, combine the melted butter, milk, and eggs. Whisk mixture until combined.
- Pour butter mixture into the dry ingredients. Mix lightly until moistened. Carefully fold in the blueberries.
- Spoon mixture into muffin cups- about 3/4 full.
- Bake for 25 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
- When done, set muffins on a wire rack to cool.
- A little royal icing drizzled on top goes nicely with these muffins. I used about a cup of sifted powdered sugar into a medium bow,l and poured in water until I reached a desired consistency. I also added a little lemon juice, about a tablespoons worth, to help bring out the lemon flavor in the muffins.
- 3 cups (14 ounces) Cake Flour
- 4 1/2 teaspoons (.6 ounces) Baking Powder
- 1/2 teaspoons (.1 ounce) Baking Soda
- 1 1/4 cups (9 ounces) Granulated Sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon (.1 ounce) Salt
- 2 large Eggs
- 1 cup (8 ounces) Salted Butter, softened
- 1 1/4 cup Milk
- zest from 1 Lemon
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- In a medium bowl, rub the lemon zest into the sugar.
- In a standing mixture with a whisk attachment, cream the butter and lemon sugar until light and airy, about 3 to 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile, in a large bowl, stir the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together.
- After the butter and sugar have been properly creamed add the eggs, one at a time, on low speed.
- When the eggs have been combined, add the dry ingredients and milk, alternating between the two.
- Gently fold in the blueberries.
- Spoon mixture into muffin cups, about 3/4 full.
- Bake for 25 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean.
- After muffins are baked, carefully remove each one and place on a wire rack to cool.
- Both the Muffin Method batch and the Creaming Method batch looked the same- no physical difference.
- I found the Muffin Method batch to be more tender and surprisingly sweeter.
- The Creaming Method batch definitely had a cake-like crumb.
- I am sick of blueberry muffins.
