Blueberry Muffins

I've spent the past several weeks testing out muffin recipes.  The Everything Muffin recipe is not quite there yet but the blueberry muffin testing is done.

Blueberry Muffins
yield: 12 muffins


1 cup sugar
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup canola oil
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
2 cups fresh blueberries
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
 coarse sparkling sugar

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Line or spray 12 regular muffin tins.
2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together sugar, flour, baking powder, and salt.
3. Add cubed butter and mix until sandy.  Add oil and continue mixing until incorporated.
4. Combine buttermilk and vanilla and add to the flour mixture.  Beat until smooth.
5. Add egg, one at a time. Beat until smooth.
6. Using a rubber spatula, fold in blueberries and lemon zest.
7. Divide the batter among the prepared muffin tins.  (The tins should be pretty full.)  Sprinkle with coarse sparkling sugar.  Bake 17 to 20 minutes. Let muffins cool in tins for 5 minutes then transfer to wire rack.

***If using fresh blueberries, reserve 2 tablespoons of flour and lightly toss the berries with the reserved flour before adding to batter.

I don't always have buttermilk on hand so I tested the recipe using regular milk instead of buttermilk and felt it was so much better with the buttermilk.  I use buttermilk in a handful of recipes but always end up buying a full quart.  I freeze leftover buttermilk in 1/4 cup cubes.  Frozen buttermilk does separate when thawed but I find it works perfectly fine in cake, pancakes, and muffins.