The best ever blueberry muffins

I had a craving for blueberries but the cost of fresh blueberries is close to $10 for only 250g at the moment, so I opted for the frozen variety. With 1kg of frozen blueberries, I thought I would make blueberry muffins.

The first batch I made, I accidently put the oven on classic convection and only realised this after they had been in the oven for 12mins. Opps! I corrected this but had to put the muffins on for another 15mins as they weren't quite cooked in the middle. But they had the best crunchy tops ever.

Second batch I used 100g white sugar and 100g brown sugar and followed the recipe. Muffins were great but I think I prefer using brown sugar in the muffins, as it had a more caramelised taste.

I've made these muffins for many morning teas, afternoon teas and they have been light, moist and tasty every time. The first time my sister tasted them, she couldn't stop raving on about these muffins being the best she's ever tasted and requested another dozen to be baked for her.

Makes 12 muffins
150g frozen blueberries
240g plain flour
110g butter, softened
200g brown sugar
1 egg, beaten
1tsp baking powder
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
½tsp salt (optional)
240ml buttermilk (or 220mL sour cream with a dash of milk or 220mL milk with 20mL of vinegar )

Preheat the oven to 190C and line a muffin tin with twelve papers. Toss the frozen blueberries with a little flour mixture and put back in the freezer.

Beat the butter in a food mixer until it is very soft – about the consistency of mayonnaise. Beat in the sugar, then the beaten egg, and mix until well combined.

In a separate bowl, place together the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, and ½tsp salt if using, and mix well. Fold half these ingredients into the mix, then half the buttermilk, then the remaining flour and buttermilk.

Fold in the frozen blueberries and mix until just combined, but do not overwork (or else your muffins will turn out quite dense). Spoon into the prepared tin and bake for about 25-30 minutes until risen and golden.  Allow to cool slightly before serving, but these don't keep well, so don't wait too long!

Cherries cherries cherries

Young, NSW is the cherry capital and we usually make our yearly pilgrimage in November to go picking with friends. But with Aussie cherries currently out of season, I made do with cherries from USA.

Cherry tart by Bill Granger

Pastry

125g unsalted butter

90g caster sugar
175g plain flour
A pinch of salt
2 tablespoons almond meal

Filling

170mL cream

2 eggs lightly beaten

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 tablespoons caster sugar

2 tablespoons plain flour

550g cherries, halved and pitted (fresh is best)

Preheat the oven to 180C and grease a 24cm round tart tin. To make the pastry stir together the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Add the flour and salt to stir to make a soft dough. Transfer the dough to the tin and press evenly into the base and side of the tin with your fingertips. Put the tin on a baking tray and bake for 12-15 minutes or until pastry is slightly puffy. Remove from oven and sprinkle the almond meal over the base

To make the filling, whisk together the cream eggs, vanilla and sugar. Add the flour and whist until well mixed. Arrange the cherries, slightly overlapping over the pastry base and pour the cream filling evenly over the cherries.

Return the tart to the oven for a further 40-50mins until the filling is firm. Leave to cool and serve with cream or ice cream.

 

This didn't last very long in my household, yummy!