Blueberry Coffee Cake Muffins

Grrubere humarhehr yeosmegerrb? ...... errr....sorry...my mouth was full with these INCREDIBLE muffins. What I asked was, "Have you ever tasted a better blueberry muffin than this one?" (or at least that's what I was thinking...) Ina has certainly outdone herself with this one, let me tell you. I've seen her make them a couple of times...you know the show...the one where she has her girlfriend's daughter and her college friends over for brunch and they ask to live with her forever because she's an incredible cook...well, uh...most of that is my fantasy but you get the drift. :) Well, in my infinite search to find the perfect recipes to make for my family when they visit for a weekend on the rare occasion, I firmly decided to make these muffins for their most recent visit. And what else was I going to serve for breakfast that morning? Nothing. That's right. Nothing. Except coffee of course. Breakfast on a Sunday with the family in town in usually a mid-morning event (eggs, bacon, sausages, toast/bagels, and sometimes pancakes) and since I had already made a big pot of [yes you guessed it] Ina's split pea soup for lunch that afternoon, I didn't want to make a huge breakfast that would ruin appetites for later in the day.

What I didn't realize was that these muffins would be the be all and end all of blueberry muffins. I was totally expecting to get huge raves over my soup that afternoon but I don't think I've ever heard as many mmms and oh-my-gods as I did over breakfast. In fact, I think the soup may have been a let-down after the morning muffins. lol The muffins were absolutely perfect in every sense of the word. They were the kind of muffins where the whole muffin was eaten, not just the top. They were sweet. They were moist. They were blueberry-y.

They were not what I expected when I opened the oven to check on them with just a few minutes of the cooking time remaining. The muffin tops had totally spilled over into one another and became a muffin top mass. Thankfully they didn't run over the sides of the muffin tins onto the bottom of the oven but nonetheless, I totally panicked. Crap! What to do, what to do? With just a few minutes left, there wasn't really much I could do but hope that they tasted ok even though they didn't look like your typical muffin. My mom and my aunt soothed my muffin anxiety and I talked myself through the thoughts of my last muffin disaster 4 years ago, which coincidentally was the last time I made muffins. After a few extra minutes added to the cooking time, I took the muffins out, let them cool for a few minutes, cut the tops with a spatula, and gently removed them. They all came out in one piece. First sigh of relief. They all sat upright on the cooling rack. Second sigh. The third sigh came when I took that first bite and the muffin melted in my mouth. ahhhhh sooooo goooooood.....

Blueberry Coffee Cake Muffins
source: Ina Garten, Barefoot Contessa Family Style

• 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 3 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 8 ounces (about 1 cup) sour cream
• 1/4 cup milk
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 half-pints fresh blueberries, picked through for stems
  

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place 16 paper liners in muffin pans (I just greased the muffin cups). In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. With the mixer on low speed, add the eggs 1 at a time, then add the vanilla, sour cream, and milk. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. With the mixer on low speed add the flour mixture to the batter and beat until just mixed. Fold in the blueberries with a spatula and be sure the batter is completely mixed.
2. Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin pans (I used an ice cream scoop - works great!), filling each cup just over the top, and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the muffins are lightly browned on top and a cake tester comes out clean.

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 30 minutes

Yields: 14 muffins (using the ice cream scoop)