Blueberry Muffins, Chocolate Muffins

It was my turn to bring snacks to human sexuality class today, and sadly sophie gave me my christmas present - penis-shaped cookie cutters - after I had already bought ingredients for muffins. Anyway these turned out really well but not perfect.

The blueberry ones are from Cook's Illustrated. They have a nice texture and an awesome lemon sugar topping (and they're really really pretty!). The only problem with them, in my opinion, was not enough blueberry flavor. In the recipe below, I recommend using a cup more blueberries than the original calls for.

The chocolate ones are from a random recipe online that claimed they were the best ever. This was a lie. They're pretty good, but probably not so delicious that they're worth the calories. Definitely not as moist and super chocolately as the kind you get in good cafes. If you use this recipe, I would recommend adding more melted chocolate and chocolate chips to the batter and maybe slightly more buttermilk.

Cooks Illustrated Blueberry Muffins
Makes 12 overflowing muffins (probably 15 modest muffins)

1/3 cup sugar
grated zest of 1 lemon

3 cups blueberries (at least 1 cup should be fresh, 2 can be frozen)
1 tsp sugar

1 cup 2 tbs sugar
2 1/2 cups flour (I did 1/2 cup whole-wheat to add texture)
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 large eggs
4 tbs unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk
2 tsp vanilla

Preheat to 425.

Stir together sugar and lemon zest and set aside.

Make blueberry jam out of 1 1/2 cups of the blueberries (if you're using part frozen, use those now.) Put them in a non-stick pan with the tsp sugar and heat them up on medium, stirring constantly. They will magically begin to turn to liquid. Help the process along by popping them against the side of the pot. Cook until they reduce down to about 1/4 of their original mass. Stick the pot in the fridge to cool off.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt in large bowl.

Whisk the 1 1/8 cup sugar and eggs together in medium bowl until thick and homogeneous. Whisk in the butter and oil. Whisk in the buttermilk and vanilla.

Using rubber spatula, fold egg mixture and remaining 1 1/2 cups blueberries into flour mixture until just moistened - it should be lumpy and have a few small dry spots. Don't overmix.

Divide batter equally among prepared muffin cups. Try to make a little dent in the center of each doughpile, then drop in some of the blueberry jam and swirl it around with a chopstick. Sprinkle the lemon sugar on top of the muffins.

Bake until muffin tops are golden, 17-19 minutes. Enjoy!

Chocolate-Chocolate Chip Muffins
Makes 12 muffins

6 tbs unsalted butter
4 oz bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (I'd go with more like 6 oz)
2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1¼ cups buttermilk (maybe add two tablespoons)
1 large egg
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Preheat to 375.

Melt the butter and half the chopped chocolate together over a double boiler. Remove from heat to cool.

Whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Whisk together the buttermilk, egg and vanilla. Fold this into the dry ingredients along with the butter-chocolate until just combined (don't break up the lumps). Stir in the remaining chopped chocolate. Divide the batter among a prepared muffin tin.

Bake for about 20 minutes until a tester comes out clean. Enjoy!