Blueberry muffins with doughnut topping and Indiana Jones

Despite being responsible for bringing Ralph into my life I don’t like Steven Spielberg as a director; I find that most of his movies are immersed in a squishy atmosphere, it’s just not my cup of tea. But I have to say that I adore the Indiana Jones trilogy, each and every movie, the first being my favorite.

You might as well be thinking: “why is she talking about Indiana Jones?” – well, after several blueberry muffin disasters – some too heavy, others with no flavor at all – Flo Braker’s absolutely perfect recipe has became my holy grail of blueberry muffins. :D

Blueberry muffins with doughnut topping
from the delicious and wonderful Baking for All Occasions

Muffins:
1 ¾ cups + 1 tablespoon (255g) all purpose flour
½ cup (100g) superfine sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
¾ cup (180ml) buttermilk*, well shaken
1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon (89g) unsalted butter, melted and tepid
2 large eggs
2 teaspoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ½ cups (225g) fresh blueberries

Doughnut topping:
½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons (42g) unsalted butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F. Butter and flour a 12-cup standard muffin pan.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a medium bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, butter, eggs, lemon zest and vanilla. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and lightly whisk with a fork – do not beat the batter, it’s not supposed to be smooth. Using a spatula, fold in the blueberries.
Fill the prepared pans with the batter (¾ full). Bake the muffins until risen and golden and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan, over a wire rack, for 10 minutes then carefully unmold them, transferring to a wire rack.
Make the topping: in a small bowl, stir together the sugar and cinnamon. While the muffins are still warm, gently dip the tops in the melted butter and then roll into the cinnamon sugar to coat. Place on a wire rack.
Serve warm or at room temperature.

* homemade buttermilk: place 1 tablespoon lemon juice in a 240ml-capacity measuring cup and complete with whole milk. Wait 10 minutes for it to thicken, then use the whole mixture in your recipe

Makes 12 – I halved the recipe above, used 1/3 cup (80ml) capacity muffin pans and got 8 muffins