from Tracey G.

Famous Department Store Blueberry Muffins from King Arthur Flour

 

Trying this recipe came about in a funny way – and I changed it slightly to suit my needs. Harry loves these little blueberry muffin bite-things from the grocery store, he can whip through a box in no time flat. Jeremy said I should just make my own – but there’s a problem with that as far as Harry’s concerned, they don’t taste like the commercially-prepared version he loves. (And “blueberry” textures are different)

I had recently purchased some natural Dried Blueberries (nothing added at all) from Nuts.com. I normally buy the Juice-Infused Dried Blueberries from there for snacking, but I wanted to try the natural berries for baking. When Kris told me what recipe she was making for this week, I knew now was the time to give my dried blueberries a whirl!

I set out to make my own blueberry mini muffins that Harry would like as much as the commercially-prepared version, without all the commercially-prepared additives. And that’s how I began my search for a recipe I could work with – enter

Famous Department Store Blueberry Muffins. I looked through every blueberry muffin recipe they had and I settled on this one for its simplicity.

Here’s the list of ingredients:

• butter, at room temperature
  
• sugar
  
• eggs
  
• baking powder
  
• salt
  
• vanilla extract
  
• King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
  
• milk
  
• blueberries, fresh preferred
  
• sugar, for topping

The only differences I implemented are

• 1 ¼ cup dried blueberries, soaked in hot water while I prepared the batter instead of any other blueberry versions
• Increased milk from ½ cup to ¾ cup to offset the dried fruit
• Used 1 tsp Lorann Buttery Sweet Dough Bakery Emulsion AND about a ½ tsp Lorann Butter Vanilla flavoring

The batter mixes up really fast. Cream butter and sugar together, add eggs one at a time, then add the baking powder, salt and vanilla (or flavoring of choice of course!). Next you add the flour alternately with the milk. If preparing the recipe as written, they have you mash a ½ cup of the blueberries and add the mashed and remaining blueberries to the batter, stir just until they’re distributed evenly. For my version, I drained the now-soaked dried blueberries well and stirred them in.

Now it gets scooped into a muffin pan, and each topped with sugar then baked at 375° F for about 30 minutes for regular sized muffins. For my version, I used mini muffin pans and only sprinkled sugar on one pan of the 3. It makes 12 regular-sized muffins, and I got 36 mini muffins out of it, and baked them only about 20 minutes instead of the usual 30. I also used my tablespoon-sized scoop I’d gotten from KAF to get the batter into my pans and boy, did that make quick work of it!

These are so good! I love the texture, it’s a VERY fine crumb, a lot like the commercial versions Harry loves. For me, the dried blueberries worked wonderfully – they have a fun, slightly chewy, texture and great burst of flavor. Best of all I got Harry’s seal of approval – he told me I should package them up in plastic bags and call them Mom’s Mini Bites! I’m sure it was the addition of the Lorann Buttery Sweet Dough Bakery Emulsion that gave it that just-right flavor that even I love!

I am definitely going to give the traditional, as-written  version of this recipe a try next time I make blueberry muffins, as I really liked this one my way, so I’m sure it’s good no matter what! It also has a fun provenance as well that they talk about in the intro of the recipe! If you’re looking for a lovely, simple and yummy blueberry muffin, do give Famous Department Store Blueberry Muffins a try!

from Kris B.

Blueberry Buckle Coffee Cake

As an adult, blueberries have become my favorite berry.  I’m not sure why or how that happened, I just know that it did. For some reason, I was in the mood for them recently.  Usually I’m perfectly happy to toss a few frozen blueberries on top of my yogurt, but I craved fresh ones and in something baked this time.  Muffins is what first comes to mind when I think baked goods and blueberries, but I wanted to try something different so I began searching for options.  I landed on this Blueberry Buckle Coffee Cake.  Coffee cake and blueberries…a perfect combo!

Somehow I seem to forget how easy cakes are to make.  Basically, it’s mix up all the ingredients, spread the batter in a pan, bake, and then eat.  This cake is easier to make than my usual blueberry muffins; it involves less work since it does not require dealing with a muffin pan, liners, and properly portioned scoops.  I need to remember this tidbit of information the next time I have a craving for something sweet.  And the blueberries make it a healthy option, right?  They have antioxidants!

One of the things that drew me to this particular recipe is that it has a “traditional” cinnamon streusel-like topping.

STREUSEL

• sugar
• King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• cinnamon
• salt
• butter

The topping is mixed first and set aside while the cake batter is made.  Don’t tell anyone, but I mixed it and incorporated the butter by just squeezing it all together in my hands.  It works best and leaves one less utensil to wash!

CAKE

• King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• baking powder
• salt
• 3/4 cup sugar
• butter
• egg
• vanilla extract
• milk
• fresh or frozen blueberries

There is nothing fancy about the cake ingredients.  It’s just basic cake stuff, meaning that you’ll almost always have the necessary ingredients on hand if you need to make a quick coffee cake.

The flour, salt, and baking powder are stirred together first.  In a second bowl, the sugar, butter, egg, and vanilla are beaten together.  I was too lazy to get out the mixer so I beat them with a hand whisk.  It worked just fine!  The one mistake I made was using my larger mixing bowl for the flour mixture.  I needed to beat the wet ingredients in that larger bowl because the dry ingredients are poured into the wet ingredients alternatively with the milk.

Like Tracey, I also added a teaspoon of Lorann Buttery Sweet Dough Bakery Emulsion

At this point in my process, my batter seemed a bit heavy and dry.  Because I often have problems with King Arthur recipes being more dry than I like, I added 3 extra tablespoons of milk and then folded in the fresh blueberries.  If I had been using frozen berries, I may have waited to add the extra liquid until after adding the fruit since frozen berries bring with them more liquid than do fresh berries.

The batter is then poured, or in my case spread, into a prepared 8″ or 9″ square or round pan and the streusel topping is sprinkled evenly on top.  The cake then bakes for 40-45 minutes.  That’s all there is to it.

Not only had I forgotten how easy cakes are to make, I’d also forgotten how much I enjoy coffee cake.  In the words of Goldilocks…not too sweet, not to bland, but just right!  This cake is perfect for a breakfast treat if doughnuts send you into sugar overload.  It is also great as an afternoon or midnight snack.  I checked each of these scenarios just to make sure.

Try it!  You’ll like it!