ALMOST Mary Berry Blueberry Muffins

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It’s no secret that I love the Great British Bake Off.  I’ll admit, I have watched all the seasons repeatedly, searched the web for seasons not released in the U.S. and I follow most of the contestants  on instagram, facebook and on their blogs.  I have several cookbooks from individual contestants as well as books with recipes from the challenges in the show.

I love so many of the contestants but I have to admit that Mary Berry is simply one of the best parts of the show.  She’s everyone’s sweet Grandma but with a mischievous twinkle in her eye and an unashamed smirk when innuendos are dropped that make Paul turn away from the camera and Mel and Sue start to giggle. I would absolutely love to spend an evening baking with her, sharing recipes and stories, then eat whatever goodies we made and have a cocktail.  I mean, Mary loves her cocktails!

When I bake, I tend to find a recipe that looks good and then tweak it a bit to suit my tastes, my families preferences and sometimes make changes depending on what is in my pantry or frig!  I really didn’t think I would ever tweak one of Mary Berry’s recipes but, with these muffins, I did.  I love a crumb topping on just about anything so I added a topping to Mary’s muffins.  Also, I only had frozen blueberries and, Mary’s recipe called for 3 ounces of blueberries.  Well, I had about 4 to 5 ounces in the bag. I didn’t want to put just a few berries back in the freezer to get pushed to back and forgotten about!  So I just dumped them all in!  Other than those two changes, the recipe below is Mary’s.

The vanilla batter is tender and just sweet enough.  The crumb topping adds a little texture and the extra berries, well, I’m a firm believer that you just can’t have enough!  I just need a little batter to hold my berries together!

And you know my favorite way to eat these muffins?  I cut them in half and smother them in peanut butter.  It kinda’ like a pb&j with super fresh blueberry jam!

ALMOST Mary Berry’s Blueberry Muffins

Makes 12 cupcakes

For the muffins:

  • 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 2/3 cup granulated sugar
  • ¾ cup milk
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 large eggs, at room temperature
  • 2/3 cup oil (Mary uses sunflower but I only had vegetable oil)
  • 4 to 5 ounces blueberries plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

For the topping:

  • 1/4 cup (half a stick) butter, melted
  • 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/3 cup brown sugar

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350° F and place 12 paper liners in your muffin pan.
  2. Put all ingredients, except the blueberries, in the bowl of a stand mixer (or use a hand mixer). Beat just until combined.
  3. Toss the blueberries with 1 tablespoon flour to coat them. Fold the berries into the batter gently.
  4. Mix together the melted butter, flour and brown sugar and sprinkle on top of each muffin.  Press in lightly.
  5. Divide the mixture among the cupcake liners and bake for 25 to 28 minutes until well-risen and light golden. Serve warm.

Variation: Since I have two super picky, non-fruit loving boys, I made a second batch of these muffins without the blueberries.  I added one teaspoon of cinnamon to the batter and one teaspoon to the topping.  You could make these Chai Muffins if you also added some cardamom and nutmeg!

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