1/4 cup unsalted butter, slightly softened
3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons vegetable or light olive oil
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs (room temperature)
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla
1/2 cup yogurt
1 1/2 to 2 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen
coarse sugar (for sprinkling over tops)

Preheat oven to 375°F.

A Note on Variations and Substitutions:

Here is a basic recipe for making Blueberry Muffins. Once you try them, you're sure to get creative (don't forget to share your new recipe with us here at Cooks.com!).

Reserve 1/4 cup of the flour. Toss the berries in the flour to coat. If using frozen blueberries, keep frozen until the last minute to keep them from turning the batter blue.

In a mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar until very light and fluffy (4 to 5 minutes). This is an important step, as it makes the muffins light. Be sure to have the butter slightly softened but not meltingly soft; it should still be slightly cold and pliable. Stop mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl occasionally to mix evenly.

While the eggs are beating, stir or whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt (Note: If using salted butter, decrease salt by 1/4 teaspoon). Mix well.

At the end of the beating when the butter is nearly white, beat in the vegetable oil, then the eggs, beating well after each addition.

On lowest speed, stir in half of the flour. Stir the vanilla into the yogurt and add to butter mixture. Next, stir in the remaining flour.

Finally, add the blueberries (including the flour they were tossed in). Tip: Fill the bottom third of the muffin pans with plain batter (no blueberries). Then mix the blueberries in with the remaining batter and put on top. This keeps the blueberries from sinking to the bottom.

Bake in greased and floured (or paper lined) muffin pans for 17-25 minutes (depends on your oven and/or the size of the pans used). When the muffins are done, a cake tester or toothpick inserted in the center of one of the muffins will come out clean.

Cooks Note: For the moistest muffins, be careful not to overmix the batter once the flour has gone in. It's also important not to overbake to prevent dryness; watch carefully as one minute can make all the difference!

These muffins may be varied by substituting flavored yogurts for plain yogurts, or even sour cream. Try using different fruits such as chopped apples, peaches, etc, along with a complementary flavor of yogurt.

Some good combinations are:

Chopped apples with a tsp. cinnamon and 1/4 tsp. ground fresh ginger.

Chopped peaches with almond flavoring or Amaretto, and topped with slivered almonds.

Blueberries with plain, vanilla or blueberry yogurt.

Chopped bananas with banana or Banilla yogurt (1/2 cup bran may be substituted for an equal amount of flour and goes well with bananas).

As you make your own substitutions, you may need to add a little more flour if the batter is too liquid, or a few drops of milk or water if the batter is too dry until you have the consistency that you need. Muffin batter should have a puffy, melting ice cream like consistency that can be mounded in an ice cream scoop for portioning out into muffin tins. With experience, you'll be able to tell what consistency of batter will make the best muffins and adjustments will become second nature.

If you have a little extra batter leftover after the pans are filled, add some milk or buttermilk and make pancakes!

Submitted by: CM