Don't fear, friends! That buttermilk has so much more to give to the world! Like, for instance, these Berry Buttermilk Muffins.
These muffins are subtly sweet and tangy with bursts of berry goodness in every bite. The batter has lovely swirls of pink and purple, calling to mind fresh spring blossoms and Easter eggs. They would be a perfect Easter brunch treat or quick weekday breakfast.
A note about this recipe: The original recipe does not include any jam. I made a small portion of the batter and decided it needed a bit more sweetness so I swirled in about 1/4 cup strawberry jam. Depending on your personal preference, you may want to omit the jam.
Berry Buttermilk Muffins
Yield: 12 regular muffins or 24 mini muffins
Recipe adapted from Ezra Pound Cake
Ingredients:
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon coarse sea salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
6 Tablespoons cold unsalted butter
1 large egg
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup fruit jam
1/2 pint (about 1 cup) frozen berries (I used a blend of blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries)
Cinnamon and sugar for sprinkling
Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Grease a muffin tin and sprinkle generously (seriously, now is not the time to be stingy!) with cinnamon and sugar.
2. In a large bowl sift together 1 3/4 cup flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder. Cut in the butter with two knives or a pastry blender.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together egg and buttermilk. Blend with dry ingredients until just combined. Batter will still be lumpy. That's a good thing! Gently fold in jam.
4. In a small bowl, toss berries with remaining 1/4 cup flour and fold into batter.
5. Fill muffin cups to the top and sprinkle generously with cinnamon and sugar. Bake for 18-22 minutes until cake tester comes out clean. Serve warm.
In your expert opinion, if one doesn't have any sea salt, what would be the equivelant in regular salt? The same? More? Less?
ReplyDeleteThis recipe sounds perfect for our large bag of frozen berries from Sam's club...
I often interchange sea salt with regular table salt without a problem. The sea salt just gives it a little extra kick of salt in some bites since it's not as evenly dispersed throughout the muffin. Just use the same amount of table salt and they should be just fine! This is how I used up some of my Sams' Club bag of berries too :)
ReplyDeleteCourtney, I need to stop reading your blog at work! It makes me uncontrollably HUNGRY!
ReplyDelete-Christina :)
I made this recipe this weekend - they turned out delicious but a little bit dense. Is that because of the buttermilk? Or maybe I should have cooked them a few extra minutes? What do you think?
ReplyDeleteAlso, due to poor planning, I used 4 Tbs butter (I think it was salted) and 2 Tbs of that "buttery spread" (aka fake butter). And I used table salt instead of sea salt. Still tasted good, but maybe the fake butter was part of what made it more heavy? I don't know. Could be the jam.
Nonetheless, it was moi bien, and I would definitely make these again. Never before have I had muffins come out of a tin so perfectly! And without paper cup things no less!~
Keep em coming! It is fun trying out your recipes :)
-Christina
The denseness may come from mixing the batter too much. If you beat muffin dough it tends to produce hockey pucks, not the nice soft crumbly dough you probably want. Mine were a little dense this time too. I'm always worried about getting rid of the lumps, but with muffins lumpy batter=delicious muffins! I'm not sure what effect fake butter might have had. I have banished the stuff from our home. :)I'm glad you enjoyed even if they were a bit dense!
ReplyDelete