This month’s Crazy Cooking Challenge is blueberry muffins which are pretty much my favorite kind of muffin! This may just be my favorite recipe selection so far from the Challenge.
Once I found out what we were making, I quickly went on the hunt for blueberry muffins on all my favorite food blogs. And let me tell you, I found a ton of recipes that I wanted to try. It was pretty difficult to decide which I would prepare.
I finally settled on this recipe because I just couldn’t resist the thought of using a whole lemon in a recipe and I had to give it a try. I found the recipe at Confections of a Foodie Bride who changed up a muffin recipe she found at Smells Like Home. Foodie Bride features all kinds of delicious-ness that I pretty much drool over almost daily.
The original recipe at Smells Like Home was a whole lemon poppy seed muffin and Foodie Bride changed it up by adding blueberries and omitting the poppy seeds. Both versions sound amazing but the blueberries totally seemed to put these over the top.
I made a few slight changes, the first was that I used a meyer lemon rather than a regular lemon. This added a bit of sweetness to the tartness of the lemon. I also used non-fat yogurt rather than full-fat to make them a bit better for us. I also accidentally only added a teaspoon of baking powder rather than a tablespoon, oops. They still rose nicely but I think they would have puffed more if I had read the recipe more carefully.
It doesn’t help when little man is watching Elmo on the laptop while I’m trying to make these with the recipe open in another tab. I was trying to memorize the recipe so that I didn’t have to disturb Elmo…guess that didn’t go well.
These giant muffins were bursting with blueberry, citrus-y, walnut goodness. It was an incredible combination and probably one of the best muffins I have ever made. They were a bit more work than most muffins I’ve made (I usually go for a one bowl, no mixer recipe) but they were totally worth the extra effort.
The only thing that would make them better is a crumbly, streusel topping to turn them into a true bakery style muffin. That may just be happening in our home soon. Oh yum!
- 1 medium lemon, preferably organic (I used a meyer lemon)
- 1 cup walnuts or pecans
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 Tbsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 2/3 cups plain yogurt
- 1 pint blueberries
- Coarse sugar, for sprinkling
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 12 jumbo muffin cups with butter or cooking spray or line them with muffin wrappers.
- Wash and dry the lemon, cut it into quarters and remove the seeds. Process the quartered lemon (skin, pith and all) in a food processor fitted with a metal blade for 1 minute or more, until it is completely ground up. Scrape the lemon into a medium bowl. Without washing the food processor, add the walnuts and pulse 10 to 12 times (the nuts will clean the processor bowl). Add the walnuts to the processed lemon and stir to combine. Set the lemon-nut mixture aside to be used later.
- Using a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter in a large bowl on medium-high speed about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the sugar and mix on medium-high until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the bowl. Add the eggs all at once and beat on medium speed about 1 minute. Add the vanilla and beat on medium for about 30 seconds, until well incorporated. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add one-third of the flour mixture to the batter and beat on medium-low speed just until it is incorporated. Add half of the yogurt and beat on medium speed until it is just incorporated. Continue to add the flour mixture and yogurt alternatively, beat just long enough to incorporate. (End with the dry ingredients).
- Gently stir in the lemon-nut mixture. Toss the blueberries with a bit of flour (this keeps them from sinking to the bottom). Mix the blueberries into the batter gently. Spoon the batter into the muffin pans, filling each cup just to the top. Sprinkle generously with coarse sugar. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes (or 18 to 25 minutes for standard-size muffin tins), until they are slightly browned and a toothpick inserted in to the middle of a muffin comes out clean. Let the muffins cool in their pans about 5 minutes. Remove the muffins from the pans.
April 7, 2012 at 11:36 am
These look so good. I have never had nuts in blueberry muffins~what a great idea! Looking forward to trying your recipe!
April 7, 2012 at 12:57 pm
Lemon and blueberry is such a great combo. Your muffins are gorgeous!
April 7, 2012 at 1:17 pm
I adore lemons. Add in blueberry and I’m in heaven!
#65
April 7, 2012 at 1:47 pm
Beautiful looking muffins!
Jen #35
April 7, 2012 at 3:02 pm
Oh, yum! I’ve never mixed lemons and blueberries, but these sound great!
April 7, 2012 at 3:19 pm
I have a bag of lemons and wondering what to do with them. looks like I know now. stopping by from #59 from CCC:)
April 7, 2012 at 3:39 pm
These look and sound completely delicious!
#20
April 7, 2012 at 4:50 pm
I love Meyer lemons; sound delicious
April 7, 2012 at 5:52 pm
Sounds delicious, Meg. I really like the blueberry and lemon combination also.
I am CCC participant #87.
April 7, 2012 at 7:03 pm
I am on a lemon kick lately – and I’ve never been a big fan of it before. I’m on a mission to collect lemon recipes. I made lemon blueberry pancakes last week and the combo blew me away. I can’t wait to try these muffins!!
Stopping by from CCC #28
{I stumbled, pinned, tweeted, and FB shared your recipe!}
April 7, 2012 at 7:57 pm
Loving the addition of walnuts! I bet that was good!! Great job!
Come see me, #44
April 7, 2012 at 10:42 pm
Beautiful looking muffins,
If you haven’t already, I’d love for you to check out my CCC entry: #11 Skinny Blueberry Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins..
Lisa~~
Cook Lisa Cook
April 8, 2012 at 11:31 am
SInce we can’t taste or smell the visual has to be great and your pics are! I love the walnut and lemon additions too! CCC#94
April 8, 2012 at 3:32 pm
Oh yum, these look great!
I’m # 6 with the Blueberry Apple Crisp Muffins {with cream cheese filling!}
April 8, 2012 at 6:29 pm
I love the idea of using a whole lemon.
April 9, 2012 at 8:36 am
Wow, nothing says spring more than lemon and blueberries! These look terrific. Stop by CCC #90 and check out my pumpkin gingerbread blueberry muffins.
April 9, 2012 at 10:51 pm
Lemon and blueberry are alway a great combination.
April 10, 2012 at 7:27 pm
I love adding nuts to muffins. This is a great recipe for mother’s day brunch.
Please visit when you have a chance CCC#96.
April 10, 2012 at 10:26 pm
Blueberry, lemon, and walnuts make this a wonderful muffin. Sounds so yummy!
April 10, 2012 at 10:43 pm
Oh those sounds delicious! I love the hunt for recipe and I have to agree with you I found a ton this month I want to try and this one is officially near the top! Happy Treats! #95
April 15, 2012 at 2:15 pm
Great Muffins! Hope you are having a great week end and thank you so much for sharing with Full Plate Thursday.
Come Back Soon!
Miz Helen
July 27, 2012 at 11:01 am
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