Yes, I love to sew, it's my most favorite thing in the world to do right now, but baking was my first love. I've been baking since I was a little girl, under the tutelage of my mother, who learned from her mother, and so on. In our family, baked goods have always been something special; never something that came from a box, always something that was made from scratch. I can remember when I learned that the way we baked in our family was not exactly the norm; my best friend's mother suggested that we make brownies during a sleepover when I was 8, and she pulled out a red box of Betty Crocker brownie mix from the pantry. That was probably the moment I turned into a baking snob. I'm kidding...mostly ;) I'm just the kind of dork who enjoys baking from scratch.
Here in Florida, it's blueberry season. Our local blueberry farm opened up for picking last week and we trucked over there on the weekend and picked ourselves 6 pounds of gorgeous blueberries. We've been going there since the munchkin was barely walking, and he's become quite the blueberry aficionado over the years. Now, the munchkin would be a blueberry-a-tarian, if we would let him, but us grown-ups prefer our blueberries tarted up a bit. Enter my blueberry muffins...
I've been making blueberry muffins since I was a little girl, but it wasn't until the last two years that I had to tinker with the classic family recipe. See, my husband is painfully allergic to all forms of dairy, so he has to steer clear of milk and butter - you know, the good stuff. And my family blueberry recipe called for milk, as well as butter, to create a rich muffin. Thankfully, through some trial and error, I've reformulated the recipe to not only taste fabulous but also to not contain one ounce of dairy. Do yourself a favor and make these muffins this weekend, even if you can only find frozen blueberries - trust me, you will be a happy camper :)
Blueberry Lemon Muffins
Makes 24 muffins2 cups all-purpose, unbleached flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
Zest of one large lemon
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
1 cup milk (I used soy here, but regular milk works well here too)
1 T apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 cups blueberries (frozen or fresh)
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Prepare two standard sized 12-cup muffin trays either with Pam or muffin liners.
2. Add sugar, oil, milk, and vinegar to one large bowl and whisk until well combined. In a separate bowl, mix dry ingredients and lemon zest with a fork.
3. Dump your dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix gently. Don't overmix - you'll create tough muffins. A few streaks of flour are okay here.
4. Add your blueberries and fold gently into the batter, again being careful not to overmix.
5. Fill muffin liners/cups approximately halfway full and bake in your preheated oven for 20-22 minutes. Allow muffins to sit in tray for five minutes after they come out of the oven, then transfer to a cooling rack to finish cooling, although these muffins taste fantastic when they're warm! They also freeze well.
Happy Friday to you all, I hope you have a great weekend!
Those look delicious, Elizabeth! Our youngest is allergic to dairy and soy, so I'll definitely have to try your recipe, with a rice milk twist. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteBummer on the air con, but the muffins sound like they might help ease the pain a wee bit!
ReplyDeleteAh, I do hope next week is a better one for you!
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks for the muffin recipe. My boys love muffins and I will have to try this one!
Yum! I'm sorry your house was sick...that is NO fun. Happy recovery!
ReplyDeleteMy childhood baking experience was very similar to yours. I thought everybody baked from scratch. I must have been 10? at a sleepover when the mom used a boxed muffin mix! Yeah, I became a baking snob that day, and 20 years later I became a pastry chef! Although, as an adult I gave up my b.s. (baking snobbery) because I finally figured out that not everyone actually LIKES to bake!
ReplyDeleteHappy Friday & happy Easter :-)
Well we have alot in common regarding food - this post could have been by me. ;-) Now you know why there's Tuesday at the Table on my blog - it's just too large a part of me to ignore. Anyway, yay for blueberry season, a little boy's love of the good stuff, and your need to make sure your loved ones can eat the family favs. I really enjoyed this...
ReplyDeleteSign me up for the baking snob club. I made it even worse by going to culinary school and studying baking and pastry. Once I told a lady at church that I was making an angel food cake for dessert that day. She said, "From scratch?" I didn't know there was any other way to do it!
ReplyDeleteWill have to try out your muffins - thanks for sharing the recipe!
I can't wait until it is time to pick blueberries up here!
ReplyDeleteI think the lemon zest would just make those muffins the best! I am going to have to add lemon zest to my favorite blueberry muffin recipe. It's not so secret ingredient is 1 cup butter (real butter of course). Not as healthy, but oh, so good. :)
These muffins look delicious! Thank you for sharing the recipe.
ReplyDeleteI bake(and eat) when I need to de-stress. You brownie story made me luagh because to my knowledge I had never eaten a boxed brownie until I was a nanny and there was no cocoa in the house but there were mixes in the pantry. I actually like Betty Crocker brownies better than homemade ones now. I am still looking for the perfect brownie recipe. Do you have one?
Then I´m also a baking (and cooking) snob ;-) since I always make those things from scratch. Your recipe sounds delicious. And I can´t get over it that you already have blueberries! How great is that! Here at my place the apple and cherry trees just started to bloom this week and it will be August before the blueberry season starts.
ReplyDeleteBeing sick is the worst!!
ReplyDeleteI love baking, sometimes it's from scratch other times we get the box mixes....they are American and have some great flavours!
I can´t take milk either so I generally use almond ou milk (powder + water) or coconut milk. Thanks for the recipe. I´m going to give it a try.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your recipe! I have a friend who is also severely allergic to dairy, so I am always on the lookout for dairy free baking recipes in particular. I'll have to make these for him!
ReplyDeleteOh, jeez. I can't believe your a/c needs to be replace. I guess your hot summers are hard on it.
ReplyDeleteThe muffins look delish!!
Glad I'm not the only one who bakes when stressed...I have a few good friends who know that when I'm baking, like, *really* baking not just a batch of cookies here or there.... somethings up. Bummer about the dairy, but go you for finding the alternates!
ReplyDeleteToo bad about your air conditioner. Thanks for the muffin recipe. My husband is unable to eat dairy or gluten. I'm hoping I can substiture another flour in this recipe. It's worth a try as you have already eliminated the dairy. I appreciate your shaing with us.
ReplyDeleteMmmm...muffins! Sorry you're stressed out, though!
ReplyDeleteYum! These sound good!! I'll send the recipe to my sister... she's got the baking gene and I have the sewing gene. Together we make a great housewife! :)
ReplyDeleteYour blueberry muffins looks great! Am anxious to try them. I love to bake too. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteOKay! I just made these! They are FABULOUS. Thanks for the recipe. I was um wondering though; would you mind posting your original recipe too?
ReplyDelete