Blueberry muffins are the quick sweet bread, baked in individual moulds. Blueberry muffin recipes are well-liked breakfast or tea time recipes due to the sweet taste and their small palm-sized shape. This soft and spongy baked item is well liked in English as well as American breakfast. As cakes are cut into pieces while serving, blueberry muffins are consumed as a whole. Though it’s an American English baked item, but it has gained popularity around the world owing to its captivating taste.
Blueberry Muffin is a variation of the plain muffin and is made from fresh or frozen blueberries, flour, baking powder, milk, egg, butter, sugar, salt and seasonings. Blueberry muffins are prepared in a variety of ways, varying in sizes, sweetness and topping; crusty sugar topping and sugary cinnamon crumb topping are two of the well-liked blueberry muffin toppings of many. Some play with their imagination and throw in their favorite nuts, raisins etc to make the muffin mix rich. These wonderful blueberry muffins so full with the goodness of berries are a great way to start off the day or enjoy with a brimming cup of tea or coffee.
Origin of Blueberry Muffin Recipes
The history of blueberry muffin recipes began with the introduction of muffins in the 18th century in England. Within no time, muffins had started selling in the streets of London as a tea time snack by the muffin men. Minnesota, one of the states of USA had declared blueberry muffins as the state’s official muffins.
Ingredients Used for Making Blueberry Muffins
Blueberry muffin recipes have many variations that depend upon the specific cuisine but the classic recipe of blueberry muffins include all-purpose flour, white sugar, baking powder, vegetable oil, eggs, milk, butter, little salt and obviously the most important ingredient; blueberries. For special blueberry muffin recipes, sugary topping with any flavoring ingredient such as cinnamon can be done. Vegan blueberry muffins can be prepared with egg substitutes. Blueberries can be either fresh or frozen. Even peaches can also be added to give extra flavor to blueberry muffins.
Popular Method of Preparation of Blueberry Muffins
Muffin is a well-known English baked product; hence baking is the most popular method of making blueberry muffin recipes. However, in earlier times various other cooking methods were adopted to make this famous small cake. English muffins were used to be cooked in hoop-like rings that can be directly placed on stove-top. Nowadays, individual moulds are required for making blueberry muffins. Prepared batter is poured in the moulds and set in the oven for baking. It is recommended to have all the muffin ingredients at room temperature. Nuts and fruits should be added in the end after mixing the wet and dry ingredients. The blueberry muffin recipes should include a correct amount of sugar and butter in order to achieve the required softness.
Serving and Eating Blueberry Muffins
Blueberry muffins taste good when served warm. Unlike cake, blueberry muffins are served without slicing. It can be savored as tea time snack or as a breakfast item. In few instances, blueberry recipes are prepared for dessert as well.
Variations of Blueberry Muffin Recipes
The variations in the classic blueberry muffin recipes can be done by adding oatmeal to the batter or by topping the muffins with cinnamon spice or brown sugar.
Health and Nutritional Facts about Blueberry Muffin Recipes
If nutritional value of blueberry muffins has to be measured then definitely it would come under high-calorific foods due to the presence of butter and high sugar. Therefore, obese and diabetic people should avoid blueberry muffin recipes. However, the blueberries included in the muffins may provide certain health benefits to the consumers. Eggs provide proteins whereas flour is a good source of carbohydrates, hence blueberry muffin recipes can be consumed generously.