BLUEBERRY MUFFINS

Tasted Costco's blueberry muffins, fell in love with it and set out to make a batch of my own. I have used the 1-2-3-4 oil cake recipe for this.

Blueberry muffins recipe: I have halved the recipe of the 1-2-3-4 oil cake to make 12 blueberry muffins.

INGREDIENTS

6 tbsp oil (any flavorless oil)
1 cup minus 2 Tbsp sugar
1-1/2 cup all-purpose flour (or 1-1/2 cup minus 3 Tbsp. whole wheat flour)
1 tsp baking powder OR 1/4 tsp soda powder plus 1 Tbsp. lemon juice
2 eggs
3/4 tsp plus 1/8 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla essence (less of the essence is enough, because blueberries will impart its own flavor)
1 cup frozen blueberries
1/3 cup hot milk

METHOD

In a bowl add the flour, salt, baking powder and 6 Tbsp. sugar. Whisk it together.

Separate egg yolks and whites. Pour vanilla essence on the yolks.
Pre-heat the oven to 350-degree F.
Measure 1/2 cup (8 Tbsp) of sugar and keep it ready.
Beat the egg whites using a cake mixer on high speed until frothy and the volume has increased, about a minute. It won't be stiff at this moment.

Now on maximum speed, beat the egg whites and while beating, gradually add the sugar, maybe 2 Tbsp at a time. Put in all the sugar. The egg whites should be whipped till stiff peaks are formed.

Put in the egg yolks and essence all at once and beat on high speed for about 5 seconds.

Add the oil and again beat for 5 seconds.
Then add in 1/2 cup of flour (mixed dry ingredients) and turn on the beater on low speed. Gradually increase the speed and mix until the flour is just incorporated.

Now there is the milk and dry ingredients to mix in. Heat the milk in the microwave. Alternately add the hot milk and flour and mix on low speed until all the flour is just incorporated. Finish off with milk, but before adding the whole milk, check the consistency of the batter. The batter should be thick so that the blueberries don't sink to the bottom. So, add the final splash of milk only if necessary.

Now all that remains is mixing in the blueberries. Add in 3/4 of the blueberries to the batter. Reserve the rest for topping the cupcakes just before baking. Use the spatula for mixing in.

Use a spoon to fill the batter into the muffin tray. Fill 2/3 of the muffin cup. Top each cup with 3 blueberries each.

Bake at 350-degree F for 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

PINEAPPLE-UPSIDE CAKE

For the cake, use the same batter, Line the pan with pineapples and pour the batter on top of the pineapples. Bake in a pre-heated oven for 400℉ for 30 minutes.
I used an 8-inch round pan. I tried applying oil and dusting the pan with flour instead of lining the pan with parchment paper. But the cake did not invert smoothly. I inverted the cake within 10 minutes of baking the cake.
I made the whole-wheat flour version. For pineapple cake, all-purpose flour is better than whole wheat but for blueberry muffins, whole wheat works and tastes equally good.

NOTES

Muffins made with whole wheat flour works well. The blueberries mask the nutty flavor of the whole wheat flour.
1/2 cup of granulated sugar is just right amount for whipping the sugar. More than that the sugar will not dissolve in the egg whites, that's why I added the rest of the sugar in the flour. But the sugar does not dissolve in the batter when added finally in the batter. So next time add the remaining sugar (6 Tbsp.) after the egg yolks and oil is added and then whip up the batter till fluffy, about a minute. The same thing can be done for 1-2-3-4 cake too. Adding the sugar to the flour is not working well. I am not getting a good feeling about it.
3/4 tsp plus 1/8 tsp is the right amount of salt. I have used table salt. 3/4 tsp is a tad bit less. The same amount can be used for 1-2-3-4 cake as well.

chakkavarratti