Lemon-Blueberry Muffins

"If you want something done right, you've got to do it yourself."
That's my philosophy. But so is, "Why do something today, when you can put it off until tomorrow." Along with, "Tomorrow never comes." Kind of an odd mix, I know. But after countless attempts at finding a decent muffin recipe, I finally decided that tomorrow does come after all, and that tomorrow would be the day that I would at least attempt to come up with a muffin recipe that I really like and will want to make again, and can recommend to other people. That was two days ago, and I actually followed through, so last night I tried my hand at making Lemon-Blueberry Muffins.
I like to bake, but I'm not a baker; meaning, I really can't come up with recipes of my own for baked stuff since I tend to just throw stuff together based on how it looks and tastes, and you really can't add things like baking powder according to taste. But I gave it a shot, and I think I hit a near bullseye. I say "near" bullseye, because the recipe that follows isn't quite perfect, but it's damn close. Still needs some slight tweaking, but even as is, especially when they first come out of the oven, they are excellent. Best muffins I've had in a very long time. I can't believe this was my first attempt.

Based on past experience with muffin recipes, most standard recipes I've used or seen call for 1 T baking powder to 2-3 c of flour, and a cup of some sort of dairy, so that's the template I used. Here's what I came up with:

Lemon-Blueberry Muffins

1 1/2 c flour
1/2 c sugar
1/2 stick unsalted butter
1 large egg
1/2 c sour cream (For the love of Henry, not low-fat)
1/2 c mayo (See above)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch of kosher salt
zest from 2 lemons
juice from 1 lemon
blueberries
vanilla (optional)


mix together thoroughly flour, salt, and baking powder

In separate bowl, cream sugar and butter, then add egg and zest and beat some more. (Add vanilla if you're using it.)

In yet another bowl, mix sour cream and mayo with lemon juice, let sit for 5-10 minutes. Add to butter/egg/zest mix, then add to flour. Be careful not to over mix.

Add in blueberries. Bake on 350 until a toothpick comes out clean.


Notes:

Notice I didn't say how much vanilla or blueberries to use. As for the vanilla, it's because I forgot to use it, so I really don't know. I'm not even sure if it would go well in these muffins or not, but I like vanilla in almost everything, so I plan to try it again and find out.
I'd say 1/2-1 teaspoon.
As for the blueberries, I used about 1/2 pint. I just add them in until it looks like a good amount.

This recipe also ends up with kind of an odd amount of muffins. I used one of those large muffin pans and got a scant 6. So realistically, you'd end up with 5 large or ?? regular size. I just didn't want an empty spot in my muffin tin so I filled them all, even though I couldn't fill them all.

As for the tweaking I mentioned earlier, I'm going to try cutting the mayo and sour down to 6 T (1/4 c + 2 T) and see how that works. And maybe not grease the muffin tin with butter this time. But, as I also mentioned earlier, even just like this, these muffins are the best I've had in a long time. I'm sure you'll love them too. (If you try them out, please post a comment with your thoughts and any suggestions/tweaks.) Enjoy!



(P.S. Sorry I don't have any photos to post- still waiting for my digital camera- but they look like, well, blueberry muffins.)


(Tonight I'm getting ready to try Cranberry-Lime! : )


*Update*

I've tried, and can highly recommend, making these as Raspberry-Lime muffins! The recipe is the same with a couple slight changes- 86 the lime zest, and use the juice of 1 1/2 limes.
I suppose you could use the juice of two limes. But the way I've been doing it, with excellent results, is 1 1/2.
Also, I've tried it with the lime zest, and I think it's far better without.