Description
A classic homemade blueberry muffins recipe that yields bakery-style tops with a tender, moist crumb bursting with fresh blueberries. The batter is simple to prepare and uses straightforward ingredients like flour, sugar, eggs, and buttermilk. Achieve perfectly golden muffins with a crunchy sanding sugar topping by baking in two stages at different temperatures.
Ingredients
Scale
Dry Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour (360 grams)
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 3 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp nutmeg or cinnamon
Wet Ingredients
- 2 large eggs
- ¾ cup buttermilk
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Fruit & Toppings
- 2 cups fresh blueberries (can also use frozen, do not thaw)
- ½ cup blueberries
- Sanding sugar for sprinkling
Instructions
- Prepare dry ingredients: In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg or cinnamon. Stir well with a spoon until uniformly mixed and set aside.
- Mix wet ingredients: In a larger mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, buttermilk, vegetable oil, and vanilla extract until combined and smooth.
- Combine wet and dry ingredients: Gradually add the dry mixture into the wet mixture, stirring just until combined to avoid overmixing. Then gently fold in the 2 cups of blueberries using a spatula—the batter will be quite thick.
- Rest and preheat: Cover the bowl loosely with a towel and let the batter rest for 15 minutes while you preheat your oven to 425ºF (220ºC).
- Prepare muffin pan: For bakery-style muffin tops, line a 12-count muffin pan with 6 muffin liners, placing them in every other muffin cup. Fill each liner to the top with batter, smoothing the surface with a butter knife to remove lumps.
- Add toppings: Press the remaining ½ cup blueberries gently on top of each filled muffin liner, then sprinkle each with sanding sugar to create a crunchy, sparkling topping.
- Bake: Place one muffin pan in the center of the preheated oven. Bake for 7 minutes at 425ºF, then reduce the oven temperature to 350ºF (175ºC) and continue baking for 22 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Allow muffins to cool in the pan.
- Repeat baking: Repeat the baking process with the remaining batter, preheating to 425ºF before starting the second batch for best results.
Notes
- Using frozen blueberries? Do not thaw them before folding into the batter to prevent color bleed.
- Resting the batter helps hydrate the dry ingredients and yields a better muffin texture.
- Lining only every other muffin cup creates room for bakery-style high tops.
- The two-stage baking (high then lower temperature) promotes a crunchy top and fully cooked interior.
- Use sanding sugar for a decorative and crunchy finish; regular granulated sugar will not have the same effect.
