Lemon and Blueberry Muffins

Who doesn’t love a good muffin? I used to make them all the time and I was under the impression this was still one of my most-baked things, but apparently the last time I baked muffins was in June! So, high time for another muffin recipe. My supermarket had a sale on blueberries last week and I love me some blueberries, so those definitely had to be incorporated. And lemon makes everything better, so why not throw some of that in too?

The result is this wonderfully fresh muffin. The texture is silky smooth, I think thanks to the yoghurt, and there’s a blueberry (or two, or three) in every bite.

I did have a bit of a revelation when it comes to baking muffins, though: I usually bake my muffins in a silicone muffin pan and they come out pretty great, but they never really have that amazing muffin top. This time, though, I had some batter leftover, so I used my smaller metal muffin tin to bake the last few in (the ones in the pictures) and they came out so great! Look at the rise on those things! This is the first time I’ve noticed this, so it might be a fluke, but I think I’m no longer going to use my silicone muffin pan from now on! Metal all the way, baby.

Anyway, let’s get to the recipe!

You’ll need… (for 12 to 14 muffins)

• 250 g plain flour
• 150 g white caster sugar
• pinch of salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1½ teaspoon baking soda
• 120 ml sunflower oil
• 2 eggs (medium)
• 200 ml yoghurt
• ½ tsp vanilla
• 3 tablespoons of lemon juice
• Zest of one lemon
• 200 g blueberries
• muffin tin (for 12 muffins)
• optional: 12 paper cases
• and an oven, of course! These muffins need to be baked at 200 °C (don’t forget to preheat your oven!)

So, let’s get baking!

1. Mix the dry ingredients together Firstly, you need to take a large bowl and mix together the flour, sugar, salt, baking soda and baking powder. Baking powder tends to be a bit lumpy, so I always sieve it above the bowl so it gets distributed evenly throughout the mixture.

2. Mix the wet ingredients together The wet ingredients basically means: everything else. Take a smaller bowl and mix together the sunflower oil, the yoghurt, the vanilla, the lemon juice and the eggs until they’re combined. Also add the lemon zest and the blueberries and gently mix them through.

3. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients Create a little well in the middle of the dry ingredients, and pour in the wet mixture. Use a (wooden) spoon to gently fold everything together. Do not overmix — it is okay to still see little bits of flour. If you overmix the batter, your muffins will turn out too tough.

4. Divide the batter over the paper cases Divide your paper cases over the muffin tin (or grease the tin if you don’t use paper cases) and then spoon the mixture into the cases/tin.

5. Bake! Put the muffin tin into your preheated oven and bake the muffins for about 20 minutes, or until they’re golden on top and an inserted skewer comes out clean. When they’re done, take the tin out of the oven and let the muffins cool for 5-10 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack and letting them cool completely.

And that’s it! You’ve got yourself some deliciously fresh lemon and blueberry muffins – enjoy!