Posts Tagged ‘ina garten’

Is it just me, or are blueberries especially delicious this year?

I can’t get enough of them.

One of my favorite ways to eat blueberries… other than straight from the bowl on the kitchen counter… is Blueberry Coffee Cake Muffins.

Can I just say- I love Ina.

Ina Garten’s (better known as the Barefoot Contessa) recipe for blueberry muffins is simply heavenly.

Found on Food Network, at this writing, the recipe had 333 reviews and 5 stars.  So I’m not the only one who loves them.

Several years ago, I got on a Blueberry Muffin kick.  I tried recipes from multiple sources, I fiddled and experimented.  Then I tried Ina’s… and I haven’t made another recipe since.

• There are a few changes I’ve made to her recipe such as, Ina makes only 16 muffins from a batch.  I make 22 and I still think they are nice sized muffins.
• For a lower fat muffins, you can substitute the sour cream for plain greek yogurt or even buttermilk.
• When blueberries are not in season I make these muffins with Frozen Wild Blueberries and my kids LOVE them.  They are smaller and work perfectly in a muffin.
• My hands down favorite is to substitute the blueberries for huckleberries whenever I can get my hands on those elusive and delicious berries.

Let me show you how easy it is to treat your family to muffins this morning:

First click over to Food Network for the recipe:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Then cream your room temperature butter with sugar.  I use a hand held mixer since my Bosch will WAY over-mix the batter.  I think Ina uses her Kitchenaid mixer.

Add room temperature eggs one at time, until incorporated.

Now I may be breaking all sorts of rules here… but I never have room temperature eggs when I need them.  I, for one, don’t think that far ahead.  To bring my eggs to room temperature fast: when I start the recipe, I put my eggs into warm (not hot, you don’t want to cook them!) water.  After 8 – 10 minutes, and by the time I need them, they are “room temperature.”

Throw in the vanilla.

I never said these muffins were good for you.  First the butter and now sour cream… not good for you at all… but OH so good!

Mix in the sour cream and milk… to my credit, I did use Fat Free Milk.  Does that earn me any brownie points?

I use a fine mesh strainer for all my sifting needs.  My official sifter lost it’s job long ago when I discover the strainer method… it’s faster and easier.  Sift together the flour, baking powder and baking soda.  I stir the Kosher Salt in after since it’s too large to go through the sifter/strainer.

Now add in the flour mixture slowly with the beater on low.  I hand mix the last bit.  Becaude you never want to over-mix muffins… unless you like them tough.

Gently fold in the blueberries.

Spoon them into a muffin tin lined with paper liners.  And if you are impatient like me, cook both trays at once.

Cook at 350 degrees for about 22 minutes.  I know the recipe says 25 minutes… but that is too long for my oven.

They are golden brown and delicious.  Emma devoured four of them this morning!  I restrained myself and only ate two.

Thanks Ina!  You’re a genius.