Here in Northern Ontario we love our wild blueberries! I spend hours picking them in July and Aug and freeze them to enjoy all year long until the cycle starts all over. No one else in my family will help pick but they sure are eager to eat them! The leaf buds on the branches of the blueberry bushes are just starting to show so fresh blueberries are just a dream right now, lucky I still have a few containers left in the freezer. Summer is coming, hopefully…some day…so in the meantime it is time to start using up what is left from last summer’s harvest.
This blueberry muffin recipe is simple to whip up and makes an amazing breakfast. With the addition of bran to the list of ingredients you can even call them healthy! The recipe calls for natural wheat bran which is usually found near the oatmeal in the grocery store if you aren’t familiar with it.
The lemon zest in the batter is an essential ingredient, at least that is my opinion, whenever you are using blueberries. Then with the lemon glaze on top it just makes the flavour that more intense and creates a good stand-in for dessert as well.
When using frozen berries of any sort it is very important to add them just at the end and minimize the amount of stirring otherwise you will end up with purple batter, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, just not as pretty. You can always sprinkle a teaspoon of flour over the berries first before mixing them into the batter which will make the purple colour a little less likely to occur.
So get out your mixing bowl and get moving, these muffins are calling your name!
- 1¾ cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup natural bran
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- ¾ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 lemon, zested and juiced
- 1 egg
- 1 cup plain yogurt (not fat free)
- ¼ cup canola oil
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 cup frozen or fresh blueberries
- ½ cup icing sugar
- Preheat oven to 350 ℉.
- Grease muffin pan well or use paper liners.
- Whisk together the first 5 dry ingredients in a large bowl.
- In another bowl whisk together the zest of the lemon,egg,yogurt,oil and vanilla.
- Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients.
- Mix together just until streaks of flour are still showing and then stir in the berries.
- You want to have just a few stirs with the berries so that the dough doesn't turn purple.
- Fill muffin tins ¾ full.
- Bake for 20-22 min just until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
- Let cool in pan on rack for 10 min, then remove from pan and place on rack to complete cooling.
- Make the glaze: Mix together 2 tbsp of lemon juice and add enough icing sugar just to make a glaze that pours off a spoon.
- Drizzle over cooled muffins.