Is there something particular about sea air that makes baked goods taste better? It could be the salty scent of ocean water, or the appetite brought on by a day at the beach, or the specific pleasure of eating while watching boats bob gently at a marina. Or it could be something else entirely—some other secret phenomenon that brings excellent bakers in droves to beach towns.
I ask this because, upon thinking deeply about the subject, I’ve determined that the best muffins I’ve ever had all came from summer-y beach towns. The first, and best, is the morning glory muffin from Morning Glory Farm on Martha’s Vineyard. The second is the cinnamon sugar-coated doughnut muffin from Cottage Street Bakery in Chatham, MA. And the third is the lemon ricotta blueberry muffin—oversized and coated in a crunchy cap of sugar—from Persephone’s Kitchen on Block Island.
(A close runner-up is the bran muffin from Blue Sky Bakery in Park Slope which is decidedly nowhere near a beach. So, an outlier to this theory, but exceptional nonetheless. The recipe is published lots of places, but here for one.)
Muffins are a tricky subject in my book. I’ve had a lot of really mediocre ones, to the point where I’d rarely order one unless it looked seriously tempting. Too often they’re overly sugary or dry and crumbly. They don’t often taste like they should—a cranberry-orange muffin has barely a hint of tartness or citrus, and an apple muffin will taste largely like cake and little like fruit.
I liked the ones we’d have growing up, though I don’t remember having them often, and I searched around to find a few of the recipes—handwritten here—that we must have used: buttermilk ones and banana bran ones and some intriguingly titled “muffins with crunch”.
I’ve written about a few muffin recipes I like (classic blueberry and ginger and turmeric cardamom corn and lemon rosemary and chocolate teff and brown butter coconut almond), but I made a batch this week and they were so good that it seemed worthwhile to post yet another.
For these, I used seriously jumbo blueberries—heavy ones that were practically the size of the tip of my thumb—and they still didn’t sink at all during baking. I think this is because the batter is pretty thick, so you don’t need to worry about coating the fruit in flour or anything like that before folding it in.
While I used blueberries, you could absolutely use another berry (raspberries or blackberries would be nice) or another fruit. If you use something like strawberries or peaches or nectarines, just be sure to cut them into blueberry-sized pieces first.
Also, do not skip the raw sugar on top! it’s the best part. Don’t use white sugar or brown sugar on top—it won’t be as crunchy and delicious.
Blueberry Yogurt Muffins
Makes 10 to 12 muffins
1/2 cup (113g) unsalted butter, melted
3/4 cup (148g) granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
6 tablespoons (85g) plain Greek yogurt
6 tablespoons (85g) milk
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups (240g) all-purpose flour
2 cups fresh blueberries
3 tablespoons raw sugar
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Grease a muffin tin or line it with paper liners.
Whisk together the butter and sugar until pale in color (I use a stand mixer for this).
Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well between each. Mix in the vanilla and almond extracts, yogurt, and milk.
Whisk together the baking powder, salt, and flour, then add it to the wet ingredients, mixing until just combined (don’t overmix!).
Fold in the berries, then divide the batter between 10 or 12 wells of the prepared tin. I like my muffins larger so I use 10 wells, and I use an ice cream scoop to portion the batter.
Sprinkle the raw sugar evenly over the tops of the muffins.
Bake for 5 minutes, then reduce the heat to 375 degrees F and bake for an additional 15 minutes, or until just barely golden on the tops—a tester inserted into the center should come out without any wet batter clinging to it and the tops of the muffins should feel set.
Remove from the oven and let cool before eating.