This recipe is for my fellow bakers living high above the sea.I feel like baking is hit or miss in my neck of the woods. We sit just above 7000 feet. While some baking recipes turn out beautifully, others are a total flop. I like to blame things on the altitude. I haven’t had great luck with muffins. Or cupcakes. I follow a loose set of rules when adjusting recipes for high altitude but even then things don’t always turn out. This particular recipe has been made, adjusted, readjusted and made again more times than I’d like to count. I started with a basic muffin recipe and then added a little of this and a little of that to make what I think is an absolutely delicious muffin.
I did all the hard work so you wouldn’t have to. I’m kind like that! If I do say so myself, the hard work paid off; these muffins are crazy good. The addition of blueberry preserves and crunchy lemon-sugar topping put on just before baking is what makes these over the top yummy.
These are not for the calorie conscious and there is nothing low-fat or light about them but then again, that wasn’t what I was going for. These are a full fat, full flavor, double berrylicious muffin. I think these are best the day they are made as they get soggy if stored in a baggie or airtight container. If you are going to make them in advance, store them LOOSELY covered with saran wrap or foil so some air can get in and out.
If the muffins weren’t indulgent enough, my favorite way to enjoy these is slathered with cold, salted butter. I love one with a cup of my afternoon tea and my boys love them as an after school snack. To my fellow high altitude bakers, let us rejoice for these are the best high altitude blueberry muffins to ever come out of my kitchen!
This recipe developed for my high altitude kitchen yields a perfect blueberry muffin. Light, lemony and bursting with blueberries in every bite. It took years to perfect, but I've done it!!
Ingredients
- Enjoy!
-
Blueberry Muffins
- 1/4 cup coarse white sugar
- zest of one lemon
- 1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
- 3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1 1/2 cups white sugar
- 3 eggs
- 6 tablespoons butter, melted & cooled
- 6 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
- 1/2 cup blueberry preserves
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375F degrees.
- In small bowl, combine coarse white sugar and lemon zest, pinching and squeezing the lemon zest between your fingers so it releases it's natural oils; set aside.
- In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, eggs, melted butter, vegetable oil and vanilla extract. Alternate adding the flour mixture and buttermilk to the egg mixture stirring just until combined taking care not to over mix.
- Fold in the blueberries.
- Divide batter evenly among 24 standard size prepared muffin tins. (Either grease really well or use liners.)
- Using your finger, make a small indent on top of muffin batter. Fill each indent with 1/2 teaspoon of blueberry preserves.
- Sprinkle muffin tops with lemon scented sugar.
- Bake at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes.
Notes
This recipe was developed for high altitude. If you need a recipe for sea level, turn to google- there's plenty!
Welcome to my kitchen! I'm a personal chef, wife and mama of two young boys. I Love butter, snowboarding and laughing out loud.
Yum, these look great especially on a cold day like today. Having blueberries brings a hint of summer. Thank you for adjusting these for altitude. I’m pulling the bag frozen blueberries out of my freezer and warming up the oven right now!
Oh yes… one of my favorite things in the world are blueberry muffins. Summer can’t come soon enough.
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I made these this weekend with a house FULL of guests. 2 dozen muffins is a lot, but these babies didn’t make it through the night. They were awesome! The lemon scented sugar topping is a MUST! Thanks Kelley.
So glad they were a hit! I agree, the lemon topping is key!!
hey Kelly. i would like to try these muffins out, but i live pretty close to sea level. what should i change?
Hi Beth, I would increase the sugar by a few tablespoons, increase the baking powder by maybe 1/2 a teaspoon and decrease the buttermilk by 2 or 3 tablespoons. Good luck………let me know how they turn out!
Just made these here at 7,500 ft. We used some orange peel from a spice jar since we didn’t have any lemons, so I’m sure it’s not quite as good as fresh lemon zest, but they were still amazing! Best muffins I’ve ever had, and much better than many of the other recipes we’ve tried at our altitude. Thanks for posting.
You’re so welcome! I think the orange would be delicious in the muffins, thanks for the idea!
Ok, finally a bluebery muffin worth the cost of the blueberries~! I wanted to make my kids a treat and ran across your blog. Since I was searching for high altitude muffins, this was the first one to pop up and boy, am I glad. Your recipe has now made it to my “Family Recipe Binder” in the 5 star area…courtesy of my kids, 11 & 9! What a great treat…Thanks again!
Yes!!! I’m so glad you love the recipe. High altitude baking can be so discouraging and disappointing. I’m so glad you like them! And your kids too!