Blueberry Muffins

It is Mother's Day and my mum detests blueberry muffins!  I am taking a chance to see if what I bake her today will change her opinion on blueberry muffins forever (or on me!!).  Ten years ago, she was put off by the very dense and tough blueberry muffins served every day by one of the hotels in San Jose.  Beyond that, I have made her try out a few other blueberry muffins from coffee places, hotels and bakeries in Malaysia/Singapore until it is now her last choice of food.  The blueberry muffins we have sampled were either too cake-like, too sweet, too oily, plasticky or dry.

This is the first Blueberry Muffins I made following the recipes of The Bread Bible, by Rose Levy Beranbaum.  They are so good, you won't believe it!

PREPARE BAKING PAN:  I have decided to double the recipe since I have a 12-cup muffin pan.  Well, it was just an excuse :-)  In fact, Rose has provided an understanding to fill any empty muffin cups with water to prevent heat from being drawn to them and added moisture.  

PREPARE OVEN:  Conventional or Convectional was the question I had.  Although convection has internal fan to circulate heat for more even and faster baking, the fan may be too powerful and distort the shape and surface in some bigger ovens.  Hmm..I guess my oven is considered somewhat big.  Since these muffins could be a game changer for my mum, I opted for conventional oven - the muffins need to at least look nice.  So, I preheated the oven to 190C 30 mins before baking in conventional mode.  Oven rack was set to middle-lower level.

PREPARE INGREDIENTS:  All ingredients were brought to room temperature, weighed and prepared as indicated in the recipe.  

 

LEMON ZEST AND NUTMEG - grated so effortlessly using Rose Levy Beranbaum's ZestN'est Zester.  This is one of the best tools in my kitchen.  Each lemon can be grated in less than 2 mins.  The unique holding area for zest ensures no spillage and weighing can be done directly.

SUBSTITUTION
All ingredients for this recipe can be sourced except:

1.  FLOUR
The recipe calls for bleached all-purpose flour (use only Gold Medal or Pillsbury).  However, I am not able to find the specific brand in Malaysia.  So, I replaced it with Rose Flour (a type of bleached AP flour).  

2.  SOUR CREAM

The only sour cream I can find is low fat (49% less fat).  Not sure how this would impact the moisture and creaminess but at least the muffins can be lower in fat and calories.

MAKING THE BATTER - Since I prefer to have a stronger structure, I mixed the batter using mixer instead of hand.

  

First, beat butter, sugar and lemon till light and fluffy.  Add in egg and vanilla essence.

 

In a separate bowl, whisked together flour, salt and baking soda.  I added in slightly more flour because my mum prefers muffin to be more muffin than cake.  On low speed, mix in flour mixture and sour cream in 2 batches.

  

Fold in the blueberries, spoon batter into muffin pan and off to bake!

   

THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS - interval of 10 mins, 20 mins and achieved final doneness at 25 mins.

 
APPEARANCE:  Before seeing the muffins, my mum was convinced it is yet another blueberry muffin.  When she opened up the box, her facial expression changed.  "Best Looking Blueberry Muffins" was her exact comment.  Colour wise, these muffins have a golden brown top crust with even contour, which forms a very nice contrast with the dark purplish blueberry.  The muffin tops are slightly rounded, symmetrical in shape.  They are rough looking and the nutmeg sugar topping has certainly added an extra sparkle to the top surface.  "Beautiful" is the word.

When my mum halved the muffin, I assumed she was going to share the other half with me.  Instead, she finished the entire muffin.  So, I had to sample one whole muffin :-).

STRUCTURE:  These muffins have a firm structure - strong enough to hold together well within medium thick cell walls but not too tough.  There is no loose crumbs when you separate them into smaller bites.



TEXTURE:  Unlike the other muffins, these blueberry muffins are so soft and tender.  They are moist but not too wet. The coarse muffin-like texture inside with a slight crunch on the top is just the perfect muffin.  It feels light for its size and they are very easy to eat.

FLAVOUR:  Slightly sweet, mostly sweetened by the bursting blueberries.  It has a mellow flavour and refreshing lemon taste that will give an instant smile on your face.  The nutmeg crisp sugar topping adds a touch of spice flavour to the muffin.

OVERALL:  Blueberry Muffins + My Mum + I = Happy Mums today :)  Looks like this is going to be my mum's new favourite and my frequent bake.

HAPPY MOTHER"S DAY to all!