Blueberry Muffins

Ingredients:

2 and 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil (I used canola)
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
4 eggs, large
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
5 cups All-Purpose flour (I used unbleached)
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup sour cream
2 and 1/4 cups, up to 3 cups. of semi-frozen blueberries (If you like your muffins to be loaded with fruit, use 3 cups or a little more if you dare!)
1/4 to 1/2 cup of coarse sugar for dusting the tops

Directions:

This recipe will make 12 jumbo-size muffins (2 pans of 6 each), or 24 regular size muffins (2 pans of 12 each).

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Set rack in middle of oven.
Line muffin pans with paper liners and coat the top of the pans, between the cups, liberally with baking spray. Place the pans on parchment-lined cookie sheets (though it may seem like overkill, doing this greatly reduces the chances of the muffin bottoms over-browning, a danger with jumbo muffins since they need to bake substantially longer than smaller muffins).

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In the bowl of your mixer, using the paddle attachment, blend the oil, melted butter, and sugar together. Quickly add in the eggs and vanilla extract and blend well. Remove your bowl from the mixer and, using a rubber spatula, fold in the flour mixture. Or, if your mixer has a slow “stir” speed, use that. On low speed, blend in the buttermilk and sour cream. The batter should be kind of thick.

If you prefer, you may stir the berries into the batter at this point, but doing so may turn the batter blue here and there, which is fine if you don’t mind. Another option is to fill the muffin cups about one third of the way full with batter, then scatter some berries into each cup. Then, cover those berries in each cup with another spoonful of batter, and then add another bunch of berries on top of that. Finally, top all of that off with a last little dab of batter. Sprinkle coarse sugar generously over the top of each muffin.

Bake the muffins, if jumbo sized, for 15 minutes at 425 degrees, then turn the temperature down to 350 degrees and continue baking 12 to 16 more minutes. The muffin tops should be lightly golden, and a toothpick inserted deeply into the center of one of the middle muffins should come out mostly clean. The muffins should also spring back when lightly pressed with your finger. (They’ll bake in half the time, if they’re not jumbos.)

Let them cool in their pans for about 5 minutes before you attempt to remove them. If the large muffin tops are a little stuck to the top of the pan, slide a knife blade gently underneath to loosen them first. Let them cool further on a rack. Delicious served warm or cold!

Bacon Muffins
(± 12 muffins)

Ingredients:

2 tsp vegetable oil
6 bacon slices, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
300g self-rising flour
75g all-purpose flour
1 pinch of salt
1 tbsp fresh chopped parsley
2 eggs
250ml milk
125g melted butter

Directions:

Preheat oven to 210ºC. Grease (or spray with cooking spray) a 12-cup muffin tin, or line with paper liners.
Pan fry the chopped bacon with the oil in a small, heavy saucepan until crispy. Remove with a slotted spoon and let cool slightly. In the same saucepan, saute the onion until lightly brown and tender, and let it cold.
In a large bowl, sift and whisk the flours, salt and parsley together until well-combined. Lightly beat the eggs in a medium bowl. Add the milk and stir to combine. Combine the flour mixture with the milk and add the butter, bacon, onion and with a spoon stir until just combined.
Drop batter by spoonfuls into the greased muffin tin, filling each cup 2/3 full. Bake for 20 minutes, or until lightly browned.

Orange Chocolate Chips Muffins

Ingredients:

210g (1 ½ cup) all purpose flour
100g (½ cup) sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
113g (½ cup) unsalted butter
120ml (½ cup) fresh orange juice
¾ cup mini semisweet chocolate chips
2 eggs
grated zest of 1 orange

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 190ºC/375ºF and grease 12 muffin cups.
Sift flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Add sugar and chocolate chips and blend well.
Melt butter. Remove from heat and stir in orange juice, eggs and orange rind. Beat.
Stir liquid into dry mixture and blend just until moistened.
Spoon into muffin cups and bake for 15-20 minutes or until done.