Cooking with Colm O'Gorman: blueberry and lemon muffins

Every cook has a few ‘go to’ recipes. A collection of firm family favourites and old reliables. Dishes that are called into service for special occasions or when visitors arrive, when the weather is a bit miserable or when someone needs some a little comfort for whatever reason. This is one of mine. 

I have baked these muffins for birthday brunches, for visiting friends or family, to cheer up a loved one having a tough time, for moments when we are all together again after time apart as well as for a myriad of other reasons. To be honest, I will rustle these up whenever I have an excuse, or whenever the moment calls for something soft and sweet and full of flavour as a way to raise a smile or give a hug. Food is more than fuel, isn’t it?

Cooking for someone is an act of love, of care and concern for the comfort and wellbeing of whomever you will put that plate of food in front of. At least that is how it is for me. Food does not have to be complicated or fancy, it just must taste good, give sustenance and comfort and if at all possible, bring a little joy.

These Blueberry and Lemon Muffins do that and more. I have been baking them for years now, and they are always a huge hit. They are simple enough to make and take no more than thirty minutes to prepare and bake. 

I have often measured out all the ingredients the evening before I bake them, and then thrown them together and baked them the next morning. They are best eaten warm the day they are made, though that is generally never an issue in our house. 

The lot are more often than not scoffed before they go cold. If for any reason you do find yourself with a few leftovers, they can be warmed up easily in a microwave in about fifteen seconds.

Ingredients:

• 225g plain flour
• 70g plus 2 teaspoons of caster sugar
• 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• Some fresh grated nutmeg
• 1 beaten egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 125 ml milk
• 80g of melted butter
• 1 ½ lemons
• 350g of fresh blueberries

Method:

Preheat your oven to 195 Celsius. Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder and nutmeg together in a large bowl. Try to use freshly grated nutmeg as the flavour is so much better than ground nutmeg. Use just a little, around a quarter of a teaspoon will do it. Anymore than that and it will overpower the other flavours.

In a separate bowl, lightly beat the egg. Now add the milk, the vanilla essence, the juice and zest of one lemon along with the melted butter and mix well.

Pour the wet mixture over the dry ingredients and combine them with a spoon. Do not over mix the batter, it is fine if it is a little lumpy and not too smooth. Wash your blueberries and add 200g of them to the batter. You will use the rest to make a glaze to top the muffins once baked.

Spoon the batter into muffin trays. I have some great deep silicone muffin trays I bought online years ago that work brilliantly for me. This recipe gives me between six and eight large muffins, but if you are using smaller trays to will likely get ten to twelve from this recipe. If you are using metal trays, line them with paper, or butter the insides well before adding your batter. The last thing you want is your muffins sticking like glue to your tray.

Pop your trays into your preheated oven and bake your muffins for about fifteen minutes until they are beautifully risen, golden brown and firm to the touch. While they are baking, make the glaze that will top off the finished muffins. You do not have to add the glaze, but it is worth the little bit of extra effort it requires. It adds a real punch of flavour to the finished muffins and is wonderfully sticky and sweet with that little bit of delicious tartness from the lemon juice.

To make the glaze, pop the remaining one hundred grams of blueberries into a small saucepan along with two teaspoons of caster sugar and the juice of half a lemon. Bring to a soft boil and then reduce to a simmer. Cook the fruit down over a low to medium heat, stirring occasionally, until it is like a runny jam. The blueberries will break up as you stir, or you can use a fork to gently squash them towards the end of their cooking time. This will only take six to eight minutes once they come to a simmer. When your muffins are baked, let them cool a little on a wire rack and then just drizzle them with the glaze to finish. Serve them warm. They will pull apart beautifully, revealing lots of sweet fruit and pillowy, soft crumb.