Blueberry-Ginger Muffins

Photo by Michael Piazza / Styled by Catrine Kelty

The addition of both fresh and powdered ginger in this recipe really highlights the flavor of beautiful summer blueberries. These are especially delicious with wild Maine blueberries that are at their peak in July and August.

To the dry ingredients in the master recipe (see below), add:
1 teaspoon powdered ginger

To the wet ingredients, add:
1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger (a microplane does a nice job of grating the ginger)

After the batter is mixed, fold in:
1½ cups fresh or frozen blueberries.

Prepare a muffin tin with nonstick spray, being careful to spray the flat surface where the muffin dome will spill over. Insert fluted muffin papers if you wish, then fill each muffin cup to the top and bake as in the master recipe.

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MASTER MUFFIN RECIPE
Makes approximately 24 mini muffins or 12 large muffins

¾ cup sugar
½ teaspoon salt
4 ounces unsalted butter
2 eggs, room temperature
2¾ cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 cups milk

Preheat oven to 400°F (on convection setting, if you have it). In a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs 1 at a time and mix until just combined. In a separate bowl, sift together all dry ingredients and then slowly add to the creamed butter followed by the milk. Stir until the mixture just comes together. Do not overmix—a few lumps are fine.

Prepare a muffin tin with nonstick spray, being careful to spray the flat surface where the muffin dome will spill over. Insert fluted muffin papers if you wish, then fill each muffin cup to the top. Bake approximately 12–15 minutes for mini muffins and 20–25 minutes for large muffins. The muffins are done when the muffin tops spring back, the edges are golden brown and/or a cake tester comes out clean.

*Note:  I sometimes replace 1 cup of the all-purpose flour with an equal amount of whole-wheat white flour, which won’t much affect the recipe but adds a slight nutty flavor and almost imperceptible crunch.