Lemon and Blueberry Muffins

 

2nd batch using Waitrose blueberries!

 

So good I made them twice in one week!

I bought 2 packets of 99p 125g blueberries from Lidl for the first batch on Sunday.  They were sold out on Tuesday so I went to Waitrose and got a £2.50 210g pack (bought some nectarines to get 2 for £4)
Lidl was better value but Waitrose had bigger blueberries!  They're both from Spain.  I didn't put the whole lot in the muffin mix, I ate a few depending on how many "extra" I had.

I actually used the last of the self raising flour from the 1st batch of muffins so just looked up changing plain flour into self raising by adding extra baking powder.

Not to forget, these are LEMON and blueberry muffins!  Lemon zest and then a lemon syrup glaze on top. Zing a ling ling!  I looked up Lemon Drizzle Cake recipes and adapted accordingly.  You could make in a saucepan but I just microwaved for ease.

Lemon Glaze inspiration

Ingredients:

300g Plain Flour
3tsp Baking Powder

100g Caster Sugar
Pinch of Salt

175ml Soy Milk (I used Waitrose unsweetened UHT this time) 

125ml Corn Oil

1 Egg
The peel (zest) of 1 Lemon, grated
150g - 200g Fresh Blueberries (put 12 to one side for decorating)

Lemon Glaze:
Juice of 1 lemon (after it's been zested)
4tsp of caster sugar (more if too sour)

Method:

1.  Grate a lemon and finely chop the zest.

2.  Sift the flour into a large bowl.  Sift in the baking powder.  Add sugar and salt.  Stir thoroughly!

 

3.  Wash the blueberries.  Use your sieve to drain them.

4.  Measure the milk and oil into a measuring jug.  Break an egg into another bowl (if you're worried about shell)  add egg to milk/oil mixture and beat together.  Add the lemon zest.

5.  Fan oven on, heat to 170c.  (I can do tin lining and mixing in the time it takes to preheat the fan oven but if unsure, wait until oven is hot enough before you mix the wet and dry ingredients together as you want them in the oven as the baking powder will start working.)

6.  Line the muffin tin with a paper case for each hole.  In the dry ingredients bowl, add the blueberries.

When the oven is hot enough, you can mix the wet and dry ingredients together.  I did this by putting the liquid into a bowl and then tipping the dry ingredients.  Combine until just mixed, do not over-stir.

6.  Spoon evenly between cases.  Apply a blueberry on top.  Bake for 20-25mins.

 

 

7.  Whilst the muffins are cooling, make the lemon glaze.

 

In a bowl, squeeze the juice out of the lemon you zested.  You can sieve out the pips and any lemon flesh.  Add sugar.

Microwave for 30seconds and stir.  Then for 10sec intervals until the sugar has dissolved.  Taste the syrup and if it's too sharp, add more sugar.

 

8.  Whilst still in tin, glaze the muffins.  I used a silicone pastry brush.  I brushed twice and had leftover syrup.

 

 

 

Review:

I think these are the best blueberry muffins I have made!  Let's not forget that these were made from soy milk.  My parents liked them, they said it wasn't too sweet.  I'm very happy with the glaze as it made them moist and zingy. Slightly disappointed with the lack of rise (I want a bigger dome!)  but the texture was good.