Lemon-Blueberry Muffins

Summer is drawing to an end and with that, the end of fresh blueberries. To pay respects to such a nutritious and high in anti-oxidant fruit, I decided to make Lemon-Blueberry Muffins from the America Test Kitchen cookbook.

I followed the recipe pretty closely except to swirl in some blueberry jam that was bought from Stonewall Kitchen. Their Wild Maine Blueberry Jam is delicious and it increased the intensity of blueberries.

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
1 ½ cup whole or low-fat plain yogurt
2 large eggs
2 tsp. fresh lemon zest
½ cup butter (1 stick), melted and cooled
1 ½ cups blueberries, (do not thaw if frozen) --> Toss with 1 tbsp of flour to prevent sinking.
Wild Maine Blueberry Jam (optional)

1.    Adjust the oven rack to the middle and heat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease or line a 12-cup muffin tin.
2.    Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together. In a medium bowl whisk the yogurt, eggs and lemon zest together until smooth. Gently fold the yogurt mixture into the flour mixture with a rubber spatula until just combined. Fold in the melted butter. Fold in the blueberries.
3.    Using a greased 1/3-cup measuring cup, portion out the batter into each muffin cup. Dollop a teaspoon of the blueberry jam onto the top of the batter and swirl into the batter.
4.    Bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with just a few crumbs on it, 25-30 minutes.
5.    Let the muffins cool in the tin for 5 minutes and then flip them out onto a wire rack. Let them cool for 10 minutes before serving.

This is definitely another keeper recipe; however, I would love to make this again with a few changes. The blueberry jam was swirled into half of the muffins and next time I will have to decide to swirl either all or none.

The blueberry jam increased the intensity of blueberries and it made the muffins a bit sweeter and tart. It overpowered the subtle taste of lemon so that it was basically a blueberry muffin recipe. If I decide to swirl them all then I will skip the lemon zest part of the recipe.

If I decide not to swirl them with the blueberry jam then the lemon flavor of the muffins should be a bit more powerful. It's barely noticeable so next time, fresh lemon juice will be included.

The decision will probably rest on the feedback of my friends and family but nevertheless, these muffins were yummy.