The Ultimate Mazama Blueberry Muffins

By Hklbrries

"The blueberry muffin is a rich, indigo-spotted symbol of summer.

The Northwest's blueberry and huckleberry seasons provide many glories - the blueberry pancake, the huckleberry milkshake - yet nothing quite surpasses the blueberry muffin and its interchangeable cousin, the huckleberry muffin. It may be the finest use to which a blueberry or huckleberry can be put, with the exception of popped in the mouth straight off the bush.

You're in luck today because I'm going to share what I am convinced is the ultimate blueberry muffin recipe. I am perfectly aware that I'll get a few arguments about this. Lots of people claim to have the ultimate blueberry muffin recipe.

All I can say is, I've never tasted it's superior. This muffin has two secret ingredients: orange juice and rolled oats.

For another, it has stood a crucial test of time. The recipe has survived and even thrived outside its original natural habitat, the bed and breakfast.

That's where we first tasted it, about 20 years ago at a bed and breakfast in the tiny village of Mazama in the Methow Valley. It was a working ranch, which took in guests. We slept in the bunkhouse. At breakfast in the kitchen one summer morning, a basketful of these hot, steaming beauties arrived on the table. We took one bite and immediately begged, shamelessly, for the recipe.

Two decades later, we are still using that old handwritten recipe, written on a sticky note.

In our experience these kinds of B&B recipes rarely taste quite as transcendent when we get them home. This one was the exception. It tasted great in a ranch house; it also tasted great in a suburban rancher. We immediately adopted it as our standard blueberry muffin recipe and have made it easily 100 times.

Sure, we've tried other blueberry muffin recipes. In fact, I am including several very good blueberry muffin recipes below, which include some change-of-pace ingredients such as cheese and cornmeal.

Yet we always come back to that old recipe on that sticky note. The orange juice gives it tang; the rolled oats (right out of the Quaker cylinder) give it body; and the cinnamon-sugar sprinkle gives it a warm brown color and sweet, aromatic accent.

It works just as well with frozen blueberries. But right now,when huckleberries are plump and in season, it would be a crime to use anything but fresh."

Jim Kershner, Spokesman-Review Staff Writer

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 cup orange juice (water can be substituted if absolutely necessary)
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup cooking oil
• 1 egg, slightly beaten
• 1 cup fresh blueberries or huckleberries (or frozen berries, thawed)
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon

Details

Servings 12

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 400 F. Put 12 muffin cups in muffin tin. Combine orange juice and oats. Stir in flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder, salt, baking soda, oil and egg. Stir until just mixed. Fold in berries.

Fill muffin cups about two-thirds full. Stir the 2 tbsp sugar and cinnamon together and sprinkle generously over the top of each muffin. Bake 18 to 22 minutes.

Nutrition Information:
Per muffin
204 calories
10 g fat (less than 1 g saturated, 43 percent fat calories)
3 g protein
26 g carbohydrates
17 mg cholesterol
1 g fiber
153 mg sodium