Brown Butter Blueberry Muffins

I am totally obsessed with blueberries at the moment (blueberry ginger fizz & brioche french toast with blueberry compote). I am sure you probably aren’t surprised that I am posting another blueberry recipe this week. These muffins are over-the-top and they would make anyone happy! Bryan and I love them so much that I have already made them 3 times in the past month!

These are no ordinary blueberry muffins. These are made with brown butter. Oh that nutty flavorful butter…. You cook the butter until amber in color. It has an incredible nutty aroma. By adding it to the muffins, it gives a nice toasted and caramel taste. I also love seeing the little brown flecks in the muffins too. Burst-in-the-mouth blueberries, light and fluffy cake texture, crispy muffin top and nutty flavor… So amazing…. I always do a “taste test” when they are out of the oven. Nommmm… Who can resist? I really could eat a few more. My favorite thing to do is to freeze them and reheat them in microwave in the morning. Warm sweet muffins are perfect for a quick breakfast or afternoon snack!

Brown Butter Blueberry Muffins

14 – 15 muffins

Ingredients:

–   2½ cups all purpose flour

–   1½ teaspoons baking powder

–   ½ teaspoon baking soda

–   ¼ teaspoon salt

–   ½ cup, plus 2 tablespoons sugar

–   ¼ cup dark brown sugar

–   8 tablespoons unsalted butter (cut into 8 pieces)

–   2 cups fresh blueberries (washed and dried)

–   2 eggs (beaten)

–   1 cup buttermilk

–   1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400˚F (200˚C). Line 2 muffin pans with 15 paper liners.
2. In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and sugars. Add the salt and whisk to combine.
3. In a light-colored medium pot over medium-low heat, melt the butter, stirring occasionally. Once the butter has melted, it will start to bubble and foam, stirring frequently. Soon you will see the milk solids (white spots) at the bottom of the pan. Keep stirring. The butter and the milk solids will start to turn brown. It has a nutty aroma. Keep a close eye on the milk solids until they are just dark brown, but not black. The butter should be amber in color. Carefully transfer the butter to a small heatproof bowl. Let it cool for 10 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, toss the blueberries with 2 tablespoons flour mixture.
5. In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs, buttermilk, vanilla extract and slightly cooled brown butter.
6. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour the butter mixture over. With a spatula, fold everything together until just blended. Do not over mix. Fold in the blueberries along with the flour mixture.
7. Scoop the batter into the muffin liners, about ¾ filled. Bake in the oven until golden brown, about 20 – 25 minutes. Remove from oven and cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Transfer the muffins to a cooling rack and cool completely.

Tips:

1. If you are using frozen blueberries, be very careful that blueberry juice could stick to the berries, which would bleed into the batter and turn it blue. The outcome is not pretty. One thing you can do is to run the frozen blueberries under cold water to remove most of the juice. Then pat dried. But since blueberries are in season now, fresh ones are the best.
2. You can skip the paper liners and grease the pans with butter.
3. When making brown butter, don’t walk away. Things change quickly. No one wants burnt butter, right? Keep watching and stirring.
4. I was able to fit both muffin pans on the same oven rack. If yours can’t fit, arrange racks in lower and upper thirds of the oven. Just make sure to rotate the baking sheets from top to bottom and front to back at the midway point.
5. For storage, keep the muffins on a cooling rack and cover with a towel. They will stay good for the next day.
6. To freeze, put the muffins to a baking sheet. Place in the freezer for a few hours until harden. Transfer the muffins to a Ziploc bag and keep for a month. When ready to eat, pop one in microwave for about 45 seconds.

(Adapted from Self Proclaimed Foodie)