Lemon Blueberry Muffins

Bursting with molten blueberries, these muffins have bakery style tops with tender middles made even more delicious with the use of lemon sugar, granulated sugar rubbed with lemon zest. I love the way the citrus shines in each muffin but still allows the blueberry flavor to take center stage.   For a bit of added texture on top, I sprinkle homemade blueberry muffins with turbinado sugar before baking though this step is optional.  The flavored sugar is a step I would not skip when making lemon blueberry muffins, since it introduces a bright and complex flavor that is quite different from lemon juice. 

There are many ways to make a delicious muffin, and this recipe requires neither butter nor a mixer. Packed with berries, some are mashed so even more fit in each serving.  Find the methods for making lemon sugar as well as bakery style tops on your muffins below. 

Ingredients

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
1 ½ cups fresh blueberries
⅔ cup granulated sugar
1 packed teaspoon microplaned lemon zest
1 egg
⅓ cup sour cream
⅓ cup plus 1 tablespoon canola oil (or preferred neutral vegetable oil)
⅓ cup whole milk
¾ teaspoon vanilla extract
Turbinado or raw sugar for topping (optional)

Yields 8 muffins

How to Get a Bakery Style Muffin Top

There are two ways to ensure your muffins get bakery style tops – ones that are golden, nicely textured, and have just enough lift. The first step is to fill your muffin liners to the top with batter. Secondly, start baking them at 400 degrees for just 5 minutes before dropping the temperature to 350 degrees.  The extra heat at the beginning of the baking process helps them to rise without over-browning them, while the lowered temperature prevents them from becoming dry.  Since each oven will take a different amount of time to drop in temperature, adjust the final baking length as necessary, removing the muffins as soon as a toothpick comes out clean.

How to Make Lemon Sugar

When the oils of lemon zest come into contact with granulated sugar, they create a sandy, fragrant mixture. Work the zest into the sugar using your fingers, being sure to distribute it throughout. Once the mixtures feels like wet sand and takes on a pale yellow color, the two have been well-combined. The zest will break down a bit further during the process. Make sure to brush any extra sugar from your hands back into the bowl when done. 

Less acidic than lemon juice, zest has a nuanced but decidedly citrus flavor and creates an incredible scent when baked.  I prefer to use organic lemons and a microplane, which allows the bitter pith to remain behind and ensuring that the most flavorful part of the peel winds up in this recipe.  I pack the lemon zest for this recipe, measuring about 1 packed teaspoon from an average sized lemon.  A little extra is fine to add if your lemon produces more zest.

How to Make Lemon Blueberry Muffins

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Prepare a standard 12-muffin pan with 8 parchment liners.

Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and set aside.

Mash ½ cup of the blueberries and toss with a generous sprinkle of granulated sugar.  Set aside. Leave the rest of the blueberries whole.

Next make the lemon sugar by rubbing together the sugar and lemon zest in a large mixing bowl until the sugar takes on a pale yellow color and takes on a sandy texture throughout.  The oils found in the zest of the fresh lemon will flavor the sugar and disperse throughout the batter.  If any excess sugar remains on your fingers rub them together so the sugar falls back into the bowl. 

Add the egg to the lemon sugar and whisk for 1 minute until pale yellow and well-combined.  Whisk in the sour cream.  Slowly whisk in the canola oil followed by the milk and vanilla extract.  Add the flour mixture and fold gently until combined with no streaks of flour remaining.  Be careful not to over-mix.

Fold in the whole berries then the mashed berries until well-distributed.

Fill each liner to the top with muffin batter.  Sprinkle with turbinado sugar if using.

Bake for 4 minutes at 400 degrees then lower oven temperature to 350 degrees and bake for about 18 minutes or until a toothpick or tester comes out clean. Be careful not to overbake.

Set pan on a wire rack and remove muffins as soon as they are cool enough to handle. Let cool on wire rack.

Serve warm or room temperature.

If you love baking with blueberries, try them for dessert in this triple berry crisp.