Hey guys! I’m hoping you’re all having wonderful weeks, and that you’re ready to bake again. I know that for me right now, turning on my oven is a serious price to pay for the temperature of my house, so it better be good. This one is worth it!
I’ve been asking what other small-batch recipes you guys want to see, and I got multiple requests for Lemon Blueberry Muffins, so here we are today with 6 muffins for you. I love this recipe because it’s super versatile- if you don’t want the lemon flavor, replace the juice with milk, and omit the zest entirely. Can’t find blueberries? Replace them with blackberries, raspberries, or even chocolate chunks! You do you guys, this recipe is here for it.
How to Make High-Altitude Blueberry Muffins
This recipe is super simple. First, go ahead and grease your muffin tin and line it with papers if you’re using liners. You want to grease the pan as well just in case your muffins creep over the edges- you don’t want them to stick and fall apart! Then, stir together the dry ingredients; flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and lemon zest.
In another bowl, stir together the wet ingredients- that’s lemon juice, canola oil, vanilla extract, and 1 egg. Beat those together until the egg is well incorporated, and then pour it all into the dry mixture.
Stir it together until mostly incorporated, but there should still be a few pockets of flour remaining. Add the blueberries and continue mixing just until there are no dry spots left. This gives the blueberries a light coating of flour, which helps keep them from sinking to the bottom of the muffins while baking! At this point you want to let the batter rest for about 20 minutes, which helps give the baking powder a little more power.
Then, scoop them evenly into your 6 cupcake cups. The batter will be thick, and should reach almost the top of the baking cups. Sprinkle them generously with coarse sugar- or if you don’t have any coarse sugar, you can just use granulated sugar- and pop them into the oven to bake!
Tips & Tricks for High-Altitude Blueberry Muffins
This recipe is super easy, and it’s a great go-to for high-altitude blueberry muffins. Here are my tips to help out!
- Can this recipe be doubled? Yes, absolutely! You can double this recipe easily to have a standard 12 muffins out of it instead of the small-batch version.
- Why do I have to let the batter rest before baking? This process allows the baking powder some time to absorb with the other ingredients in the recipe, giving it a little more rising power in the oven so you get those tall muffin tops!
- Can I leave the lemon out? You can replace the lemon juice with milk, and remove the zest all together if you want a more classic blueberry muffin flavor.
- Can I use other berries instead of blueberries? Yes, you can turn these blueberry muffins into any berry muffin you prefer. Raspberries or blackberries are great choices, although I would skip strawberries as they have a pretty high water content.
- I am at about 5,000 ft above sea level, and I find that people who live between about 3,000 ft and 7,000 ft above sea level do not need to make any adjustments to my recipes.
That’s it guys, muffins are a simple anytime bake, especially when you’re only making 6. Enjoy!
Small-Batch Lemon Blueberry Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 cup flour
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 2 tbs. lemon zest (from about 2 lemons)
- 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice (from about 2 lemons)
- 3 tbs. canola or vegetable oil
- 1 egg
- 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup fresh blueberries (generous half cup)
Instructions
-
In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and lemon zest. In a small bowl, stir together the lemon juice, oil, egg, and vanilla extract until the egg is well incorporated.
-
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, and stir together gently until there are just a few pockets of flour remaining. Add in the blueberries, and stir together until there are no more dry pockets of flour. Let the batter rest at room temperature for about 20 minutes.
-
While the batter rests, preheat your oven to 425 degrees, and grease a muffin tin to prevent any sticking. Line with paper liners if desired in addition to greasing the tin. Scoop the batter evenly into your prepared baking tin. The batter will be thick, and should reach nearly the top of each muffin cup.
-
Sprinkle the tops generously with coarse sugar (or granulated if you don't have any coarse sugar) and bake for 16-18 minutes, or until golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Cool and enjoy!
Hello and welcome! My name is Nicole, and Dough-eyed is a food blog for people who want to bake for their family and friends in high-altitude areas. Think of me as a friendly voice there with you in the kitchen, here to give you confidence when you’re baking, and to help you with the struggles of baking at high-altitude. Come back every week for new recipes, tips, and advice on high-altitude baking!
Hi there
Can I double this recipe ?
Hi there- yes of course! You should have no issues with doubling.
Omg muffin tops! Finally!! Just made these by doubling the recipe and substituting fresh orange zest and juice and also used frozen blueberries (did not defrost) as that’s what was on hand. I have never had a muffin recipe turn out with yummy gorgeous muffin tops at 7k altitude. Even with so called high altitude recipe alterations or from other high altitude baking sites. These are amazing!! Tall, golden, deliciousness with a bright pop of flavor. Everything you’d want in a blueberry muffin. I really love having a small batch recipe that’s super easy to double in a pinch whenever you need a few more servings. I can’t wait to make these again with fresh berries and lemons. Thanks so much!
So glad these worked out for you- they are one of my favs for sure!!
Wow, just wow! I’ve made these twice now and they are my new favorites! So very good. I’m at 5,300 ft. and these were just great.
So glad to hear you love them!
These were an absolute disaster, worst recipe I've ever made. They didn't rise at all.
Total waste of time and money!
So sorry to hear these didn't work out for you, we love them at my house, and I've never seen them not rise before.
I made these muffins and they taste horrible. No flavor, dry, weird after taste, and they are completely burned on the top after baking for only 15 minutes. I added raspberries instead of blueberries and the only good part about them is the moist raspberries inside. Made these to bring to a party but they're going right in the trash. I'm at 7000ft.
Can you make this recipe as a quick bread in a loaf pan? If so, should it be doubled? For muffins, are paper libers abdolutely necessary? Can you make these as mini muffins?
Thank you, can’t wait to try one version or another!
Hi there- you can make this in a loaf pan if you double the recipe, yes. The bake time will be a bit longer in that case as well. And you do not have to use paper liners if you'd prefer to just grease your muffin tin. Similarly, you can also make them as minis, but the bake time will be a bit shorter so keep an eye on them! Hope that's helpful!
I am at 5,000 feet here in Colorado, and made these muffins. They were delightful, tart, tasty and beautiful. Thank you for this recipe!
Yay, glad you liked them!!
These tasted yummy, but were super dense. And I've never baked muffins at 425. Seems pretty high.
What do you think maybe caused the denseness?
It didn't work for me…. Too much lemon juice added here so it gave me asour taste👎🏾👎🏾👎🏾
So sorry to hear that, it's definitely a lemon-forward recipe. You can replace lemon juice with milk as well.
I just made these using blueberries and eliminating the lemon juice. I used Pillsbury GF flour, Lactaid milk and Lakanto baking sugar. I used my jumbo muffin pan, and baked them for 25 minutes; yielding 4 good sized muffins. They came out delicious!! I might add a touch more sugar next time, but these baked nice and high, fluffy and tender ❤️ Thanks for the recipe!
Can I use whole wheat pastry flour in this recipe? I’m at 4500’ altitude.
Hi there- I don't have a lot of experience swapping out whole wheat pastry flour, but it's my understanding that it should be easy to swap in a recipe like this 1 for 1.
These came out great – I did make some minor alterations. I doubled the recipe but instead of 2/3 lemon juice I did 1/3 cup lemon juice and 1/3 cup of milk. I also rubbed the lemon zest and the sugar together with my fingers first before adding as it brings out more lemon flavor of the zest. Finally I baked for 5 min on 425 then turned down the oven to 350 for the remaining 12 min. They were perfectly risen with a light golden color on top, and moist. I'm at 5300 feet.
I've made these several times and everyone loves them!
Recipe worked for me as is in several locations from 3800-8000 ft.
So glad you like them!!