When I was a kid, my mom’s plan was to teach me to cook so I would someday be a somewhat functional adult. I mean, we all kind of plan that, or at least think about it sometimes, right? Before she died when I was 9, I hadn’t learned a whole lot, but I had a handful of things in my repertoire: Melted Cheese on a Plate (which is exactly what it sounds like–I would put shredded cheese on a plate, melt it, and eat it with a fork like a very classy girl.) Sausage and Sauerkraut (because what 9-year-old doesn’t make that for all her friends? No wonder people thought I was weird.) Campbell’s Tomato Soup made with milk instead of water. Pancakes. And blueberry muffins.
These are not the blueberry muffins of my childhood; these are much better blueberry muffins. They have cinnamon streusel on them and lemon zest in in them and they’re easy to make with stuff you probably either have on hand or can easily get. They are perfect for breakfast or brunch or “hey, I’m feeling snacky, but I have to wear a bra to the grocery store, so it’s either blueberry muffins or melted cheese on a plate again.” Here’s a little life tip: blueberry muffins are almost always better than melted cheese on a plate (notice I didn’t say always, because hey, we all have our dark times.)
time to make the muffins
For these, you’ll need all-purpose flour, salt, orange or lemon rind, baking powder, buttermilk, eggs, oil (although you can sub apple sauce if you want to healthify these a little), blueberries, and sugar for the muffins
You’ll also need butter, flour, sugar, and cinnamon for the streusel topping.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with cupcake liners and set aside.
Lightly spoon the flour into measuring cups and level with with a knife and combine it in a large bowl with the baking powder and salt,
sugar,
and citrus peel.
Make a well in the center of the mixture.
Place the the egg, buttermilk, and oil in a smaller bowl…
Whisk them together and add the mixture to the dry ingredients,
stirring just until moistened.
In a small bowl, combine the remaining flour and sugar and then toss the blueberries in this mixture until they are well-coated. Gently fold the blueberry mixture into the batter.
Spoon the batter into lined muffin tins, filling 2/3 full.
To make the streusel topping, combine the 1/4 cup sugar, 2 1/2 tablespoons flour, and cinnamon. Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter or two butter knives until the mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle over the batter
and bake for 18-20 minutes or until the tops are golden and a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the muffins comes out clean. Remove from oven and allow to cool in the pan for 5 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack. Makes 12 muffins.
Then you should eat ’em (because they are muffins and that’s what you do).
Streusel-Topped Blueberry Muffins
Ingredients
Muffins
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon table salt
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 teaspoon grated orange or lemon peel
- 1 large egg
- 3/4 cup buttermilk
- 1/3 cup canola oil
- 1 c. fresh or frozen blueberries
- 1 tablespoon flour
- 1 tablespoon sugar
STREUSEL TOPPING
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 1/2 tablespoon flour
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 1/2 tablespoons butter
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with cupcake liners and set aside.
- Lightly spoon the flour into measuring cups and level with with a knife and combine it in a large bowl with the baking powder, salt, sugar, and citrus peel. Make a well in the center of the mixture. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the egg, buttermilk, and oil. Add to the dry ingredients, stirring just until moistened.
- In a small bowl, combine the remaining flour and sugar and then toss the blueberries in this mixture until they are well-coated. Gently fold the blueberry mixture into the batter. Spoon the batter into lined muffin tins, filling 2/3 full.
- To make the streusel topping, combine the 1/4 cup sugar, 2 1/2 tablespoons flour, and cinnamon. Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter or two butter knives until the mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle over the batter and bake for 18-20 minutes or until the tops are golden and a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the muffins comes out clean. Remove from oven and allow to cool in the pan for 5 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack. Makes 12 muffins.
Questions & Reviews
These were amazing! I made them for breakfast this morning and my husband LOVED them! This recipe will make it into the “frequent rotation.”
Thank you for posting.
I have tried this recipe twice, and it never turns out right. The batter is too runny, and the muffins don’t rise. Maybe it’s an elevation thing?
Added an egg and a little extra oil and made this in a bunt pan. It was wonderful!
Delicious! The lemon zest makes it so much better than a regular blueberry muffin and the topping is amazing too! I always worry if my food will turn out right when I make something for the first time for company, but with your recipes I don’t have to worry! Everything always turns out just right! Thank you again!
I found this recipe after looking over several others this one stood out to me. They were DELICIOUS best blueberry muffins ever!!!!! Next time I’m going to try using the orange peel.
This was my first streusel-topped muffin recipe – it was so simple to do and the muffins were fantastic!
I made these this morning with freshly ground white winter wheat and they are excellent! I’ve had issues before with crumb topping sinking into muffins/breads, so I usually put the muffins into the oven while I make the crumb topping. Then, when the topping is done (about 5 minutes later) I pull the muffins out and put the topping on them then. Since the muffin is starting to set up a bit, it helps to keep the topping on the top of the muffin. Also, with the whole wheat, I did end up adding about 3T more buttermilk because my batter was super thick. Thanks for the recipe! We loved it!
Yum! I made these with wheat flour and applesauce instead of oil. I also didn’t have any buttermilk, so I substituted with blueberry Kefir. These were delicious! Love your recipes!
I just made these and they were outstanding! They came out as beautiful as they were tasty, with a moist texture that was the perfect sweetness. Thanks for the great recipe!
These muffins are to die for! They are easy to make and came out absolutely perfect!!! The recipe does require quite a few bowls but it’s SO worth it.
This will be my go-to muffin recipe from now on 🙂
One quick note – I only have dark muffin pans so I preheated to 375 and then reduced the temp to 350 when I put the pan in the oven. They cooked for exactly 18 min and the result was perfectly cooked, not too dark muffins with a nice puffy top!