Sunday, January 16, 2011

Blueberry Muffins

Blueberry Muffins

Favorite Sweet Muffins

1/2 cup milk
2 Tbs water
1/4 cup applesauce (or oil)
1 1/2 cup flour
1 Tbs dry egg powder (whole egg or whites only)
1/2 cup sugar (or Splenda)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
Optional: 1/2 cup frozen blueberries
     (When using frozen blueberries, I add them to the dry mix and coat them well. Then I stir in the wet until just moistened. In order to keep from turning the whole batter blue, I do not thaw the blueberries. I quickly coat them and finish the batter. Then drop the batter into the pan. If the batter sits before panning, the blueberries will bleed as you scoop them into the pan- or at least this is what happens to me!)

bake at 400 degrees F for 20-25 minutes.

  1. Measure and mix all dry ingredients, until well incorporated.
  2. stir milk, water and applesauce into dry ingredients.
  3. mix until flour is just moistened.
  4. Batter will be lumpy!
  5. fill muffin cups 2/3rds full- grease cups if not using paper liners.
  6. bake in middle of oven.
  7. immediately remove from pan after baking.

(The regular recipe calls for 1 egg and 1/2 cup oil. If using fresh egg, just omit egg powder and the 2 Tbs water. Exchange the applesauce and the oil using the same measured amount.)

I found a Kitchenaid silicone muffin pan at the Thrift shop for $1.50- I love it!!! Got to love those bargains. 

Someday I will experiment with fresh & freeze dried blueberries too. My guess is that fresh berries will fold into the batter very well without bluing it up too much. I will mix them with the dry ingredients first and proceed as stated above for frozen. However, I will cull the injured ones out- unless that is a lot. Hopefully I will get a good batch of berries with perfect skins and no cuts or nicks. 

My freeze dried blueberries instructions say to reconstitute by soaking in water before using. I don't know how this will work. If the berries are whole and undamaged, they might reconstitute and hold the moisture without bleeding out into the batter. Or maybe I mix them in dry, add a little more moisture to the batter and let them reconstitute in the pan as they sit to bake and bake.  Will be fun experimenting!!

Blue blueberry muffins look weird to me, but they taste fine. So nothing is lost with trying out different methods and products.