Blueberry Sour Cream Muffins

Confession:  I have never made muffins from scratch.  I think it is because until recently, I was petrified of baking.  It seems so calculated and precise that I figured so many things could go wrong...especially at high altitude.  I usually just buy the packets that you add water and an egg to and whip them up that way.
            


When I saw the Crazy Cooking Challenge for this month, I was excited because it was something outside my comfort zone that I had never made before.  Since we live at high altitude, I was worried about the muffin moisture turning out right.  Most of our baked goods are much dryer up here, so I decided to try this recipe for Blueberry Sour Cream Muffins from The Idea Room.

The Idea Room is written by Amy Huntley, who seems to be a very organized mother of five kids.  She has everything from food crafts (Powdered Donut Snowmen), to crafts (How to Make Your Own Menu Board, to awesome food recipes (like these Blueberry Muffins).


Blueberry Sour Cream Muffins
barely adapted from The Idea Room
Ingredients
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 cup sugar
4 tablespoons unsalted butter melted
1 1/4 cups sour cream (about 10 ounces)
1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries (1 pint)


Directions
1) Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease muffin tin.
2) Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt in medium bowl until combined. Whisk egg in second medium bowl until well-combined and light-colored, about 20 seconds. Add sugar and whisk vigorously until thick and homogenous, about 30 seconds; add melted butter in 2 or 3 additions, whisking to combine after each addition. Add sour cream in 2 additions, whisking just to combine.
3) Add blueberries to dry ingredients and gently toss just to combine. Add sour cream mixture and fold with rubber spatula until batter comes together and berries are evenly distributed. (Small spots of flour may remain and batter will be thick. Do not overmix.)
4) Use ice cream scoop or large spoon to drop batter into greased muffin tin. Bake until light golden brown and insert toothpick into the center of muffin comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes, rotating pan from front to back halfway through baking time. Let muffins cool down for 5 minutes.

I couldn't believe how moist these cupcakes were, and the flavor was fantastic.  The pint of blueberries created the perfect amount of blueberry to actual muffin.  I usually drown the packet muffins in a lot of butter, but these required nothing and still tasted amazing.  On the Idea Room, it was suggested that you can melt butter and dip these in cinnamon sugar.  I tried that, but it seemed like the cinnamon overwhelmed the flavor of the blueberries, so I left mine plain.  Now that I know how easy muffins are, I'll never use a store-bought mix again.

Click on the links below to see other great Crazy Cooking Challenge Blueberry Muffin recipes!