Just one more blueberry recipe and then I promise to calm it down.
I couldn’t resist muffins – I’ve been trying to perfect the ‘muffin top’ for as long as I’ve been attempting muffins. This is my best attempt to date but I’m still not 100% happy. I’ll get there.
I had plans for making something different this weekend but then I popped out my Ottolenghi book which has been sitting untouched for the last month or so and found these. Like I said, I couldn’t resist. They’re delightful and remind me a little of these blueberry crumb bars I made last summer. Soft, bouncy, airy, and with a rich, buttery crumble top. They don’t feel heavy despite their frankly gargantuan size. All good things.
Adding tiny chunks of apple and lemon zest gives the muffins such a fresh pop of flavour, though nothing overshadows those pops of warm blueberries amid light, fluffy cake. Pop the kettle on and get baking.
Blueberry Crumble Muffins
from Ottolenghi: The Cookbook
Ingredients
For the muffins:
- 540g all purpose flour
- 5 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 eggs
- 340g sugar
- 140g unsalted butter, melted
- 380ml milk
- grated zest of 1 lemon
- 1 Granny Smith apple (unpeeled), cut into 1cm dice
- 200g fresh blueberries, plus a few extra for the topping
For the crumble topping:
- 150g all purpose flour
- 50g sugar
- 100g cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
Directions
For the muffins:
- Preheat the oven to 170C/340F. Line a muffin tray with paper cases.
- Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt and set aside. In a large mixing bowl, lightly whisk together the eggs, sugar and melted butter (make sure it’s not too hot). Whisk in the milk and lemon zest, then gently fold in the fruit.
- Add the sifted dry ingredients and fold together very gently. Make sure you stir the mix just enough to combine; it should remain lumpy and rough.
- Spoon the mixture into the muffin cases to fill them up. Generously cover with the crumble topping to form small domes over the batter, then dot with a few extra blueberries. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre of a mufin comes out clean. Take out of the tins while still warm. Makes 10-12 muffins.
For the crumble topping:
- Put the flour, sugar and butter in a bowl and mix with your hands to work it to a uniform breadcrumb consistency. Make sure there are no lumps of butter left.
