Three hundred and seventy-three blueberries.
That’s how many berries Juliet and I had to pick up off the floor.
I had reached into the refrigerator, gotten distracted as I grabbed a jar of marmalade and, in one fraught moment, managed to dislodge the two-pound box of blueberries that was sitting precariously on the edge of the shelf.
There was no saving the situation–no Simone Biles-like acrobatic maneuver I could perform. Juliet and I could only stand in wide-mouthed awe as we watched the blueberry disaster unfold—the long slo-mo fall, the crackling sound as the glassine box hit the tile floor and sprung open, the explosion of inky-blue berries flying out of the box, and then, finally, the big loopy bounces as the blueberries caromed across the floor like tiny billiard balls.
Oh noooooooo…o.
When it was all over, I stood there drained and disgusted with myself as I surveyed the disaster and squished blueberries under my feet.
Juliet, on the other hand, was a trouper. I think she was having one of those “when life gives you lemons” moments as she watched the berries rain down around her and it dawned on her that she could cadge a few tasty berries for herself. (I did notice that she had some suspicious blue-stained whiskers the next morning.)
Once the mess was cleaned up and all the blueberries were accounted for (except maybe the ones Juliet had set aside for her herself), I was determined not to lose my nerve. I needed a blueberry baking success. So, I picked up another basket of blueberries at my neighborhood Sprouts Market and found this recipe in my ever-growing to-cook file.
I’ve had this recipe on hold for some time. It is a King Arthur Flour recipe and it is, as it turns out, an excellent riff on the famous cake-like Jordan Marsh Department Store blueberry muffins of yore.
Here it is.
Save RecipeIngredients
- 1/2 C. butter (at room temperature)
- 1 C. sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 t. baking powder
- 1/2 t. salt
- 1 t. vanilla extract
- 2 C. all-purpose flour
- 1/2 C. milk
- 2 1/2 C. blueberries (preferably fresh)
- 1/4 C. sugar (for topping)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. and prepare a 12-cup muffin tin by lining cups with parchment and greasing the parchment or by inserting paper cupcake cups. (It is possible to make 16 or so muffins by reducing the amount of batter you put into each muffin tin. I did this and the muffin size was perfect.)
- In the bowl of your stand mixer, beat butter and sugar together until it is well-mixed. Add the eggs one at a time. Beat the mixture well after the addition of each egg. Add the baking powder, salt and vanilla. Mix well, scraping the bottom of your bowl to be sure that all the ingredients are incorporated into the batter.
- Add the flour alternating with the milk. Mix these ingredients together gently--just to combine. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl to be sure all the ingredients are mixed together.
- Mash 1/2 C. of blueberries. Add these mashed berries to the batter along with the remainder of the whole berries. Mix just to combine.
- Using a 1/4 C. measure, scoop portions of the batter into the muffin tins.
- Sprinkle 1/2 t. granulated sugar on top of each muffin and bake for about 30 minutes. You want the tops of your muffins to be a light golden brown. Your muffins are done when you can stick a toothpick into the center of a muffin comes out clean. (I gave my muffins a few extra minutes of baking to get just the golden brown color that I wanted. Baking times will vary from oven to oven.)
- Remove muffins from the oven. Gently (the muffins will be tender at this point) loosen the edges of the muffins from the edges of the pan, or, if you are using cupcake cups, loosen the cups within the muffin tins. Let the muffins sit for about 5 minutes and them remove them from the muffin pan. Cool on a rack.
- These muffins were delicious but very tender on the first day. They were perfect on the second day.
Here is the link to the original recipe: KAF Blueberry Muffins.
2 thoughts on “Blueberry Muffins and A Little Refrigerator Drama”