Brown Butter Blueberry Muffins

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Enjoying a delicious Blueberry Muffin is one of life’s simple pleasures.

I remember once as a kid eating a blueberry muffin in school that was from a grocery store. It was so bad I immediately regretted taking a bite and threw away the rest.

It was dry, crumbly, and cloyingly sweet. I thought for years afterward that I just didn’t like blueberry muffins. Turns out I just had a very bad one!

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So recently I made it my mission to develop a new recipe for the BEST homemade blueberry muffins.

What I came up with is something that is super flavorful and moist with a delightful cinnamon crumb topping. The brown butter in this recipe adds a nutty complexity of flavor that balances the sweetness and fresh blueberries so nicely.

These blueberry muffins are bound to be a crowd pleaser! Bring them to school, your next early morning meeting, as a thank you to a teacher or neighbor, and you’ll be sure to win the title of everyone’s favorite person 😉

Sprinkle of Science

How to Make Brown Butter Blueberry Muffins

How to Brown Butter

• When browning butter, you want to swirl the pan occasionally once the butter is melted and it starts to cook.
• It should become foamy with audible cracking and popping noises. If this isn’t happening you may need to turn up the heat slightly.
• Once the crackling stops, continue to swirl the pan until the butter develops a nutty aroma and brown bits start to form at the bottom.
• Once the bits are amber in color, about 2 to 3 minutes after the popping stops, remove from heat and pour everything (bits and all) into a medium mixing bowl to cool.
• For best results when browning butter, avoid using a nonstick pan. I like to use a 10-inch stainless steel skillet.
• Learn all my tips and tricks for browning butter perfectly in my How to Brown Butter article here.

How to Make Moist & Tender Brown Butter Blueberry Muffins

• Do not over-measure your flour: I recommend using a digital kitchen scale to measure your ingredients, but if you don’t have one, use the spoon-and-level method. Learn more about the importance of measuring flour correctly here.
• Don’t overmix: Be very careful not to overmix, this will create rubbery muffins. Once the dry ingredients are combined with the wet, gently stir until *just* combined. Since we’re adding in blueberries, I actually like to leave a few streaks of flour. They’ll get stirred into the batter with the berries.
• Use buttermilk: Using buttermilk helps create moist and tender muffins. More on buttermilk below.
• Use brown sugar: Brown sugar is more hygroscopic – a fancy way of saying it attracts and holds in more moisture. I actually use brown and white in this recipe for the best of both worlds. Don’t reduce the sugar here – learn more about sugar’s role in baking here.

Can I Substitute the Buttermilk in Brown Butter Blueberry Muffins?

I’ve done extensive side-by-side testing of buttermilk in baking and find that it makes a pretty big difference in muffins. Buttermilk creates a finer crumb and brings more moisture AND flavor. So I’d highly recommend using real buttermilk if you can. DIY substitutions don’t always compare. To learn more, check out my Buttermilk 101 post here.

If you don’t have buttermilk on hand, use whole milk with a spoonful of lemon juice or vinegar – but note that your muffins won’t be as moist or as flavorful.

What to do with Leftover Buttermilk?

Did you know you can actually freeze buttermilk and then defrost it at some later date for a future recipe? Learn all about freezing buttermilk here.

How to Bake TALL Muffins

I recently experimented with the science of muffins and how to achieve beautiful, TALL muffins that look like they belong on the shelf of a fancy bakery. Check out my 3 tips for baking tall muffins here!

Hint: Chilling your muffin batter overnight makes for the BEST ever muffins!!

Can I Use Frozen Blueberries in Muffins?

Yes! You can use fresh or frozen in this Brown Butter Blueberry Muffin recipe. Just make sure they’re ripe for optimum flavor. If using frozen, don’t defrost before adding to your batter. I typically like to use organic blueberries.

If chilling the muffin batter overnight, add the frozen blueberries to the mix in the morning – otherwise, their color might bleed into your batter.

How to Stop Muffins from Sticking to the Liner

This can sometimes be caused by the brand of liners. This is my favorite brand that I order in bulk from Amazon. If you find your liners still get stuck and end up ruining your muffins, don’t worry – I’ve actually written an entire article about how to prevent muffin or cupcake liners from sticking here.

How to Store Brown Butter Blueberry Muffins

Brown Butter Blueberry Muffins will stay fresh and moist for up to 3 days if stored in an airtight container at room temperature. If you need to store these muffins longer, check out the freezing instructions just below.

Can I Freeze Brown Butter Blueberry Muffins?

Yes! Freeze Brown Butter Blueberry Muffins in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Defrost on the counter or in the microwave before serving.

How to Make

Brown Butter Blueberry Muffins

By: Tessa Arias

4.97 from 31 votes

Yield: 12 muffins

Prep Time: 25 minutes mins

Cook Time: 22 minutes mins

Total Time: 47 minutes mins

Review Print

Brown Butter Blueberry Muffins are crazy moist, tender, fluffy, and flavorful. Topped with a cinnamon streusel crumb topping for the best muffin top ever! Everyone will think they’re from a bakery! Perfect breakfast or sweet snack.

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Ingredients 

For the muffins:

• ▢ 1 stick (113 grams) unsalted butter
• ▢ 2 cups (254 grams) all-purpose flour
• ▢ 1/2 cup (100 grams) light brown sugar
• ▢ 1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated sugar
• ▢ ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
• ▢ 1 tablespoon baking powder
• ▢ 3/4 cup (178 grams) buttermilk*, at room temperature
• ▢ 1 large egg, at room temperature
• ▢ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ▢ 1 1/2 cups (210 grams) blueberries, fresh or frozen (don't thaw first)

For the crumb topping:

• ▢ 1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated sugar
• ▢ 3 tablespoons (24 grams) all-purpose flour
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ▢ 2 tablespoons (29 grams) unsalted butter, melted

Instructions 

• Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a standard muffin tin with paper liners.

Brown the butter:

• In a small stainless steel skillet set over medium heat, melt the butter. Swirling the pan occasionally, continue to cook the butter. It should become foamy with audible cracking and popping noises.
• Once the crackling stops, continue to swirl the pan until the butter develops a nutty aroma and brown bits start to form at the bottom. Once the bits are amber in color, about 2 to 3 minutes after the popping stops, remove from heat and pour into a medium mixing bowl, being sure to get all the toasted bits on the bottom. Set aside to cool.

Make the crumb topping:

• While the brown butter cools, combine all the topping ingredients in a small bowl. Mix with a fork until the texture resembles wet sand.

Make the batter:

• In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugars, salt, and baking powder.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the cooled browned butter, buttermilk, egg, and vanilla. Pour into the dry ingredients and stir with a rubber spatula until just combined. Gently stir in the blueberries. Do not overmix. Batter will be thick. Divide evenly among the muffin tin cups.
• Use your fingertips to sprinkle the crumb topping over the muffin batter in pans. Bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 20 to 22 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool for 5 minutes before removing the muffins to the rack to cool completely.
• Serve or store in an airtight at room temperature for 3 days. Reheat in the microwave for about 15 seconds if desired. Muffins can also be frozen in an airtight container for up to 3 months.

Show us!If you make this recipe, be sure to snap a picture and share it on Instagram with #handletheheat so we can all see!

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Recipe Notes

*I recommend sticking with real buttermilk in this recipe, if possible, but whole milk with a spoonful of lemon juice or vinegar can be substituted if needed. Note that your muffins won’t be as moist or as flavorful. I don’t recommend using 2% or skim milk. Learn more about buttermilk and buttermilk substitutes here.

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Photos by Ashley McLaughlin.