Blueberry Cornmeal Muffins

Blueberry Cornmeal Muffins should not, to my mind, have half flour and half cornmeal; that ratio is for cornbread muffins. I don’t want sweet cornbread with berries in it. I like just enough cornmeal to give the muffins a little something extra in the flavor and texture department.

So, while these muffins have some cornmeal, they retain the lightness a blueberry muffin should have. And my recipe has the maximum amount of sugar I like in muffins. Know what I call muffins with more sugar than this? Cupcakes!

If you want unsullied batter, you must use fresh blueberries. I’ve tried every trick in the book to keep frozen blueberries from turning the batter blue and, while some work better than others, none of them really work. But when blueberries aren’t in season, I use frozen but not thawed.

Not keen on blueberries? Or cornmeal? Here are a few other muffin recipes that might be more to your liking: Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins, Small-Batch Banana Muffins, Raspberry Muffins with Lemon Glaze.

I clearly like lemon, so why no lemon zest in the Blueberry Cornmeal Muffins, you might ask. The flavor of the small amount of cornmeal is very subtle and, I think, easily overwhelmed by the addition of lemon.

Muffins are always best while still warm from the oven, so I often make just 6 rather than 12. This recipe is super simple to cut in half even for those of us who aren't mathematics geniuses.

What's your favorite muffin? And favorite beverage to go with it?

Blueberry Cornmeal Muffins

(Makes 12 standard size muffins)

2 teaspoons cider vinegar or fresh lemon juice

Milk to make 3/4 cup (6 fluid ounces/177 ml) milk
1 1/3 dip-and-sweep cups (6.67 ounces/189 grams) unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 dip-and-sweep cup (2.5 ounces/71 grams) fine stone ground yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup (3.5 ounces/99 grams) sugar
2 teaspoons non-GMO baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon mace or nutmeg
6 tablespoons (3 ounces/85 grams) unsalted butter, coarsely shredded or cut into 1/2-inch cubes

2 large eggs, room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups* (6.25 ounces/177 grams) blueberries, fresh or frozen (do not thaw!)

* You don’t have to, but I like to set aside about 3 dozen berries to put on top after I’ve filled the muffin cups, just to make sure some pretty berry-ness shows.

1 Preheat oven to 400F/205C/Gas6. Grease a standard 12-muffin tin or line it with paper bake cups. 

2 In 2-cup glass measure, stir together vinegar or lemon juice and milk; set aside to thicken a bit.

3 In large bowl, whisk together flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and mace or nutmeg. Take out 2 tablespoons of the flour mixture to coat the berries before adding them to the batter. Work in the butter with your fingertips until the flour mixture looks like coarse meal or rice.

4 Add eggs and vanilla extract to soured milk; whisk until combined. Add thoroughly whisked wet mixture to thoroughly whisked dry mixture. Stir as little as possible, just until dry ingredients are moistened. Using a silicone spatula, gently fold in the berries.

5 Using a 1/4-cup measuring cup, scoop the batter from the edge of the bowl so as not to further mix the batter and evenly fill the 12 muffin cups just about to the top. With spoon or spatula, get every drop of batter out of the bowl. I hate waste; so I calculate all my recipes so that there is no leftover batter. 

6 Bake for about 20 (with fresh berries) to 25 minutes (with frozen berries) or until lightly browned and a toothpick inserted in a center muffin comes out clean. Let stand in tin on wire rack for 5 minutes, then turn muffins out onto wire rack to cool for a few more minutes before serving.