Best Ever Blueberry Muffins

I have a confession to share with everyone - when I learned this month's Crazy Cooking Challenge was Blueberry Muffins, I knew the exact recipe I wanted to make, Best Ever Blueberry Muffins by Mary Hunt (creator of Everyday Cheapskate).  There was only one problem, I couldn't find one single blog that featured the recipe.  I did, however, find a great little blog called Richelderfers Recipes that featured several other recipes by Mary Hunt, so I contacted Sarah and asked if she would consider doing a blog post featuring this recipe.  She quickly agreed and featured these muffins not long after.  I'm thrilled to be able to share the recipe with you - they're the best blueberry muffins I've ever had.  (Thanks a million Sarah!!)

Items used to make this recipe:

(affiliate links)

• professional cupcake/muffin pan https://amzn.to/4cBfvHR

• baking spray https://amzn.to/3LkuGt5

• pure vanilla extract (use the good stuff) https://amzn.to/3zRa7Sc

• foil cupcake/muffin liners https://amzn.to/4d1a5G2

• grease-proof cupcake/muffin liners https://amzn.to/3W0yjJC

• Cheapskate in the Kitchen by Mary Hunt https://amzn.to/3zGi9xl

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Best Ever Blueberry Muffins

makes 12-16 muffins

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

Muffins:

• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened to room temperature

• 1 cup granulated sugar

• 2 large eggs

• 1 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

• 1/2 cup milk

• 2 cups all-purpose flour

• 2 teaspoons baking powder

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 2 1/2 cups blueberries (fresh, canned, or frozen)

Topping:

• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar (I like to use sanding sugar)

• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg (cinnamon works well too)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Prepare a 12-cup muffin pan (this is my favorite) by spraying well with baking spray or line each cup with a foil liner or grease-proof liner (regular paper liners will stick terribly).

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

3. Using a fork, mash 1/2 cup of blueberries; set aside.

4. In a small bowl, mix together 1 tablespoon granulated sugar and nutmeg; set aside.

5. Using a hand mixer, cream butter and 1 cup sugar together in a medium bowl until creamy and light in color; add eggs, vanilla, and 1/2 cup of mashed blueberries.

6. Add 1/2 of the flour mixture; mix just until the dry ingredients are incorporated.

7. Add 1/2 of the milk and mix just until combined.

8. Repeat with the remaining flour mixture, followed by the remaining milk.

9. Fold in the remaining 2 cups of whole blueberries.

10. Portion batter evenly into muffin cups and sprinkle with sugar/nutmeg topping.

11. Bake 25-30 minutes.

Notes

• I've never made this recipe using canned blueberries, but I've made it many times using frozen blueberries.

• This recipe works equally well with as little 1 1/2 cups of blueberries.

• For the topping, I sometimes substitute cinnamon for the nutmeg.

• I also like to sprinkle vanilla sugar on top of the muffins.

• Batter makes nice mini bread loaves too.

Mary's Note:  Mary says you can freeze the muffins for up to two months before baking - portion the batter into foil-lined muffin pan and place in the freezer until the batter is firm, then pop the frozen muffins out of the pan and store in a freezer-safe container.  When you want freshly baked muffins, simply pop the frozen batter-filled foil cups back into a muffin pan and bake as directed; adding 5-6 minutes to the total baking time.

adapted from Cheapskate in the Kitchen by Mary Hunt

I can't believe I'm posting these....

181 Calorie Chocolate Muffins (a Hungry Girl recipe) - ButterYum

I can't believe I'm posting these - they go completely against my bake-from-scratch philosophy, but hey, they're so good, I had to tell you about them (update - I've included a homemade chocolate cake mix recipe below).  The teens liked these muffins so much that they've asked me to make them repeatedly since we first tried them - what does that tell you?

I first saw the recipe on the blog Hungry Girl.  When I heard they were made with only two ingredients and only contained 181 calories, I knew I wanted to try them.

**This post contains affiliate links.

I should first start by telling you that I generally don't like chocolate and pumpkin together, but honestly, all you taste here is an incredibly moist chocolate muffin.

So here we go - you'll need an 18.25 ounce box of devil's food cake mix (homemade recipe is listed below) and a 15 ounce can of 100% pure pumpkin puree.  Mix the two together (just the dry mix and the pumpkin - no egg, or oil, or water).  You can do this by hand, but the flat beater of your stand mixer will make quick work of it.  Line a muffin pan with 12 liners; divide the batter evenly among the 12 liners (they won't rise much while baking).  Bake in a preheated 400F oven for 20 minutes.  Cool completely before eating.

Alternately, one recipe will make 48 soft cookies.  Just use a #50 scoop to portion batter into cookie-like blobs on a silpat lined half sheet pan (about 1 tablespoon each).  Bake 12 per tray in a preheated 375F oven for 15 minutes.  Cool completely before eating.

I let the family sample these before announcing what they were made of - nobody could taste pumpkin, yet the pumpkin adds a cool, smooth, moist quality to the muffins.  They're dense, yet light at the same time - really hard to describe.  They're really affordable too - 12 large muffins cost less than $3 to make.

Update

If you're like me and prefer to to bake from scratch, this recipe (below) makes the equivalent of one box of cake mix.  I've used it to make these muffins a couple times and it works extremely well.

Homemade Chocolate Cake Mix

makes the equivalent of one 18.25-ounce box

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour

• 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar

• 1 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder (sifted to remove lumps)

• 1/4 cup shortening

• 2 teaspoons baking powder

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt

Directions

1. Place all ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer and mix on low speed until the mixture resembles a box of cake mix. Alternately, you can process the ingredients in a food processor.