Blueberry Crumb Muffins

I love blueberries. They have a perfectly sweet flavor, enough so to be snacked on by themselves, but are also famously rich in antioxidants. I've made a lot of effort recently to add more fresh fruits and vegetables to my diet, and an opportunity to make something with blueberries is not one I am likely to pass up.

We were having a meeting at work and my boss wanted to reward our employees for productivity.  A few coworkers had pitched in a few dollars to order food one day, and my team was kind enough to give that to me to put towards something delicious and homemade.  I guess you could say it was my first paid gig!  I was very excited, of course, and grabbed some fresh berries to make a fresh batch of muffins.


I used a basic blueberry muffin recipe, but took a note from Carrot Cupcakes and swapped out the oil for Greek Yogurt.  I loved how moist those cupcakes turned out and wanted to capture that again.  I also used a technique from Feta Blueberry Pancakes, blending some of the berries right into the batter to really get that blueberry flavor throughout.

First, I mixed the flour, sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl. I used half white sugar and half brown in the recipe since I was running a bit low on brown sugar.

The next step is where I swapped out the yogurt for oil.  With the cupcakes, I used a different conversion chart to figure out the ratio of milk to oil, and this time followed the one on the side of the container.  The difference was that instead of using a 1:1 ratio for milk to oil, I used 25% less yogurt than I would have oil.  So instead of 1 cup of oil, I used 3/4 cup of Greek yogurt.  I also added in the milk, vanilla, eggs, and after using my blender to liquefy some of the blueberries, stirred those in.  Finally, I stirred in the remaining whole blueberries.

I then scooped the batter into my cupcake trays.

Next, I made the streusel topping.  I mixed together some brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon in a large bowl, then got some butter cut into cubes.

I made the streusel topping in a small bowl, using the recipe from Banana Crumb Muffins, but increasing the quantity.  I mixed butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, and flour together in a small bowl, using a knife to cut the butter into small chunks that were coated in the sugar and seasoning.

I sprinkled the streusel on top of the batter, then got them in the oven.  I didn't want to overdo it on the topping, and ended up with way more streusel than needed.

Finally, I baked them for 20 minutes until they were golden brown and cooked throughout.

Up close, they turned out quite nice looking.  I was going for 24 muffins but ended up with 27, so I was so happy I got to try a sample before bringing them into work the next day.

They turned out beautiful and I got some great feedback when I brought them in!  Making food for 20 of my coworkers was a cool experience, and was a nice opportunity to get some commentary on my baking. A few folks mentioned that the top of the muffin stayed very moist while the bottom was dryer.  The muffin stayed together well, as opposed to crumbling apart, likely due to not being overly moist.  I think the bottom turned out dryer because instead of adding yogurt to the batter, I replaced oil.  Adding milk or yogurt a lot with the butter (or maybe doing half oil and still adding yogurt) seems like the way to go next time, since then it's just extra moisture tater than an alternative.  It may also have had something to do with the ratio for the conversion--next time I will use an equal amount of Greek yogurt as I would have put oil.  I believe the tops of the muffins were the best part here because the butter from the streusel top melted into the muffin, resulting in the perfect amount of softness up top.  The blueberries were great, but even though I half expected the muffins to turn out blue from the blended ones in the batter, the blended ones didn't seem to make a big difference.  To impact them more next time, I'll blend more into the batter.  Overall, this was a delicious recipe!

Blueberry Crumb Muffins

Ingredients: 

4 1/2 cups flour
1 cup brown sugar
1 1/4 cups white sugar
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3/4 cup Greek yogurt
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup whole milk
3 cups fresh blueberries

Streusel topping:
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup butter
1 tablespoon cinnamon

Instructions:

Heat oven to 400 degrees F.  In a large bowl, mix flour, brown sugar, salt, and baking powder.  Add 3/4 cup Greek yogurt, milk, vanilla, and egg.  Grind 1/2 cup of blueberries in a blender or food processor and add to batter.  Stir in remaining 2 1/2 cups blueberries.  Scoop into muffin tins.  To make the streusel topping, mix the sugar, flour and cinnamon together in a bowl.  Cut butter into small cubes, then use a knife to chop the butter into the sugar mixture until it is a sandy consistency.  Sprinkle over muffins and bake for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick poked in the center of a muffin comes out clean.