Blueberry Muffins Without Baking Powder

When the blueberry season rolls around every year, the first thing we do is make a batch of these delicious and simple blueberry muffins.  They come together in a snap and are made with ingredients you most likely have stocked in your pantry already!  

These muffins have a light crumb which is not overly sweet.  The addition of plump blueberries adds a sweet tang to the muffins and makes them absolutely irresistible!  The secret is to add a lot of blueberries to your batter to really boost the berry flavor.

It’s always great to use fresh blueberries if you can get your hands on some, but if they aren’t in season, then frozen blueberries will work just as well.

If you’re feeling especially ambitious, you can stock up on fresh blueberries and freeze them at home yourself! 

After you’ve washed and dried the berries, lay them out in a single layer on a cookie sheet and put them into the freezer to freeze.

Note: If you’re going to use frozen blueberries in this recipe, you don’t have to thaw them before baking.  You’ll just want to add an additional 5 minutes to the bake time.

These muffins make an excellent breakfast treat or a snack and we’re sure they’re going to become one of your favorite recipes too!

What You’ll Need to Make These Blueberry Muffins

• 12-hole muffin tin and muffin tin paper
• Butter – We use unsalted butter
• Sugar – We use granulated sugar in this recipe.  If you’re looking for a healthier alternative, you can use coconut sugar.
• Zest of 2 large lemons – (If you don’t like lemon, you can omit this; however, the zest brightens up the batter and adds a nice zing which goes really well with the blueberries!)
• 1 large egg
• Vanilla extract
• All-purpose flour
• Baking soda
• Salt
• Sour cream
• Blueberries – frozen or fresh 

How to Make Blueberry Muffins in 4 Easy Steps

1. Cream together butter, sugar, and lemon zest, then beat in the egg and vanilla.
2. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt.  Fold in half the flour mix and half the sour cream.  Then fold in the remaining flour and sour cream.
3. Fold blueberries into the batter and bake.
4. Top with a butter bath and a sprinkling of sugar and enjoy!

The best thing about these muffins, (besides the amazing taste!), is that you can mix the batter by hand.

Hand mixing is preferable, as over-beating the batter will overwork it and your muffins will turn out dry and hard.

Tips for Making Blueberry Muffins

1. To measure your flour, use a dessert spoon to pour it into your measuring cup, then level the flour off with the back of a knife.  This method is called the ‘spoon and level’.
2. Put your spoon down! The enemy of muffins is overmixing. Overmixing allows the gluten to develop and too much gluten makes your muffins dry and hard.
3. If you are using frozen berries, there’s no need to thaw them before baking.  Just make sure to add 5 extra minutes to your bake time.
4. Fill your muffin tins ¾ full.  If you fill them all the way to the top, the batter will overflow in the muffin tin.
5. After you bring the muffins out of the oven, allow them to rest in the muffin tin for 10 minutes before you turn them out onto a wire rack to cool further. 
   The muffins may fall apart if you try to remove them too soon.  Also, allow the muffins to cool completely before you try to remove the muffin paper, otherwise, half your muffin may stick to the paper.

What Makes These Muffins Moist and Fluffy?

In addition to the egg, we’ve used sour cream and baking soda as our leavening agents in these muffins. 

Sour cream and baking soda react to create gassy bubbles in your bakes, which in turn, helps your muffins to rise. 

The sour cream also provides the added bonus of lending moisture to the batter, so you can say goodbye to dry muffins!

Will Berries Fruits Work in This Recipe?

Of course!  You can use whatever you have on hand.  Strawberries, raspberries, and even cherries would make excellent alternatives for these muffins!

How Do I Store Muffins?

Store leftover muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.

You can also freeze these muffins for up to 2 months. Frozen muffins can be thawed at room temperature for a couple of hours.

How to Make Blueberry Muffins Without Baking Powder

Step 1: Preheat oven to 375 F. In a large bowl, cream butter, sugar, and lemon zest until light and fluffy.

Step 2: Beat in the egg and vanilla.

Step 3: In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.

Spoon half the flour mixture and half the sour cream into the batter/sugar mixture and fold in with a rubber spatula until flour has mostly disappeared.

Repeat with the remaining flour and sour cream, folding in just until the flour disappears.

Step 4: Fold in the blueberries.

Step 5: Fill the muffin pan ¾ full. 

Step 6: Bake for 20 minutes or until the muffins are lightly browned and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Step 7: Let the muffins cool in the tins on a wire rack for 10 minutes. 

Then, remove from the tin and cool completely on a wire rack.

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