If you love eating the edges off cookies and think the top of the muffin is the best part, here's a recipe you have to try. It's for blueberry corn muffins, and what's so special about them is that as they bake they develop these lovely, crispy, rings around the edge. Also, as you can tell by the photo these muffins are not light and fluffy. They are substantial and tasty, but they are short and dense with big crowns in the center.
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The first time I made these as Blueberry Corn Muffins hence the name, but they can be Blackberry Corn Muffins, Raspberry Corn Muffins, Pineapple Corn Muffins. You get where I'm going with this, right? Just swap the fruit.
Blueberry Corn Muffins
1 ¼ cups cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour (4.5 oz)
¼ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt (I use ¾)
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 cup buttermilk or sour milk
¾ cup vegetable oil
½ teaspoon vanilla
1 ¼ cups fresh blueberries
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Rub 12 muffin cups with butter or shortening.
Mix the dry ingredients (cornmeal through salt) in a mixing bowl. In a second bowl or in a large glass measure, whisk together the egg, milk, oil, and vanilla. Pour the egg mixture into the dry mixture and stir just until blended. Stir in the blueberries. Divide the batter equally among the muffins cups (it will come almost to the top) and bake on center rack for 16-18 minutes or until the muffins appear golden brown around the edges.
Makes 12
More Notes
This oil gives the muffins crispy edges. You can keep the oil amount as is or you can use ½ cup oil and ¼ cup melted butter. If you want to lower the fat content, you can use ½ cup of oil and ¼ cup applesauce. There's surprisingly little leavening in these, just ¼ teaspoon of soda. The acid in the buttermilk does the work of the baking powder, so be sure to use buttermilk or milk soured with lemon juice or vinegar. Also, I've adjusted the baking temperature (bake at 400 rather than 425F) and have increased the salt. The recipe originally called for ½ teaspoon, but I think they taste better with at least ¾.
Recipe
Blueberry Corn Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups cornmeal
- 1 cup all-purpose flour 130 grams
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt (I use ¾)
- 1 large egg lightly beaten
- 1 cup buttermilk or sour milk (soured with lemon juice)
- ¾ cup vegetable oil or use a mixture of oil and butter (½ cup oil, ¼ cup butter, melted)
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- 1 ¼ cups fresh blueberries (frozen okay too)**
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Rub 12 muffin cups with butter or shortening.
- Mix the dry ingredients (cornmeal through salt) in a mixing bowl. In a second bowl or in a large glass measure, whisk together the egg, milk, oil, and vanilla.
- Pour the egg mixture into the dry mixture and stir just until blended. Stir in the blueberries. If using frozen, you may want to add them in as you fill the cups (see note).
- Divide the batter equally among the muffins cups (it will come almost to the top) and bake on center rack for 16-18 minutes or until the muffins appear golden brown around the edges.
Liz says
I made these over the weekend. Yum!
P.S. I only used 1/2 c of oil and substituted 1/4 c applesauce for the missing oil. The muffins were moist and delicious.
Mackenzie@The Caramel Cookie says
I love the crunchy tops of muffins! They are by far the best part :). These sound like the perfect muffin for me.
d.liff @ yelleBELLYboo says
Corn and Blueberry and my favorite muffins - I would love to combine the two! The tops look caramelized and wonderful!!!
carolina says
They sound great! I also love muffin tops... You think I can use polenta to make these?
Linda says
I think I'll try these this weekend, they look delicious! I usually make corn muffins into mini muffins, do you think these would work well as mini muffins? Thanks for the recipe!!
jess☆ says
Ohhh what an interesting idea, I've never thought to use cornmeal for a muffin... they look beautiful and crunchy on the outside though, yum!
Anna says
Darlene, that's interesting. I'd like to see that article.
Katrina, I made 1/2 batch and am pretty sure 1/4 would work.
Gloria, frozen berries would be fine.
Adam, these are super moist. The grind I used was whatever was in the bulk bin so I guess it was kind of fine but not super fine. It was less coarse than polenta, but not as fine as when I grind the corn flour myself.
Adam says
I'm not the biggest muffin top fan (I like warm centers) but the people in my house don't even know about this recipe and I can hear them swooning over it :). Definitely going to be a big hit around here.
What grind cornmeal did you use (I would assume fine)?
Gloria says
These look yummy! I still have frozen blueberries from last summer...wonder if they would work?
Katrina says
I'm sure I would like those, I've been liking everything baked with cornmeal. Unfortunately, no one else around here likes cornmeal. I could try a 1/4 of the recipe though!
Darlene says
I love the crunchy tops of muffins, and always eat the less desirable (for me) bottom first and save the delicious top to eat last. I once read an article that said you can tell a lot about a person's personality by the way they eat muffins or cupcakes. I think I would be classified as a non-spontaneous person who believes in delayed gratification.
Fallon says
Yummy! I love corn muffins/ bread anything. The top looks amazing. You could probably add any fruit in these muffins and it be delicious.
natalie (the sweets life) says
ooh perfect, I have way too much cornmeal on my hands right now!! 🙂
holly says
Oooh I want to try these!!! They sound scrumptious!!:)