Blue, Blue Blueberry Corn 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 (see: The Ultimate Mazama Blueberry Muffins). 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 decaded 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 notes. 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

• Vegetable oil cooking spray or muffin cups
• 1 2/3 cup unbleached white flour, divided
• 1/3 cup stone-ground blue cornmeal
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/3 cup butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• 1 cup low-fat milk, plain or vanilla soy milk, or a combination
• 1 cup blueberries
• 1/2 cup chopped, toasted walnuts (optional)

Details

Servings 18

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 425 F. Spray 18 standard size muffin-tin cups with oil or line the cups with papers.

Stir together the flour, blue cornmeal, salt, baking powder and baking soda into a large bowl. Set aside.

Cream together the butter and sugar in a small bowl, then beat in the egg, vanilla and nutmeg.

Stir the creamed mixture into the dry mixture along with the milk until not quite blended. Then add the blueberries and walnuts, if using, with just a couple of strokes, so the mixture is just barely combined. Spoon into muffin cups.

Bake 22 to 27 minutes, until the edges of the muffins are golden brown and the caps are rounded and golden.

Nutrition Information:
Per muffin
134 calories
6 g fat (2.5 g saturated, 39 percent fat calories)
3 g protein
19 g carbohydrates
22 mg cholesterol
2 g dietary fiber
185 mg sodium