It’s blueberry season right now in Southwest Florida. My friend lives next door to an organic blueberry farmer who grows the biggest, sweetest blueberries I’ve ever eaten. We got a 5-lb bag on Friday, and this morning it’s half gone, that’s how good they are.
The boys love to eat bowls of fresh blueberries, but I prefer to bake with them. Even these ones, that are so sweet raw, benefit from being warmed and enveloped in a sweet dough.
I’ve been planning to make a recipe I saw on the King Arthur Flour website for Double Chocolate Banana Bread, and thought the blueberries would make a great addition. Guess what? I was right! The flavors go together really well and the muffins are light and moist. Last night we had them with vanilla ice cream on top, and this morning we had them plain for breakfast. I have a feeling I’ll be making another batch quite soon, if we have any blueberries left, that is.
I’ve never posted a recipe that’s been cribbed almost directly from a commercial website, but I hope the folks at King Arthur Flour don’t mind. I’ve tried a few of their recipes and they’ve all come out well, so I want to share this source with you. (FYI, this is not a sponsored post.)
Double Chocolate Banana Blueberry Muffins
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons natural or Dutch-process cocoa
1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) soft unsalted butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup mashed banana (about 2 medium bananas)
1/2 cup cold sour cream
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen
Directions
1) Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease two muffin pans or line with paper liners. To make loaves, use two 3 1/4″ x 5 3/4″ mini loaf pans or one 9″ x 5″ loaf pan.
2) Combine the flour, baking soda, salt, and cocoa.
3) In a separate bowl, beat the butter and sugar until light and creamy, about 3 minutes.
4) Beat in the egg, then stir in the vanilla, banana, and sour cream.
5) Gently mix in most of the dry ingredients, then mix the chocolate chips and blueberries with the remaining dry ingredients and add to the batter, stirring gently until well incorporated.
6) Scoop the batter into the muffin tins and bake for about 30 minutes, until a cake tester or toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Keep in mind that the blueberries will be kind of gooey, even after the muffins are done. If baking in loaf pans, bake for 45 to 60 minutes, depending on which size pans you’re using.
7) Remove the muffins from the oven, and allow to rest in the pans for 10 minutes. Turn them out onto a rack to cool completely.
Yield: about 20 moderate sized muffins
Recipe adapted from Double Chocolate Banana Bread.
