Blueberry Banana Muffins (Small Batch) #MuffinMonday

Overripe banana and juicy frozen blueberries make these blueberry banana muffins some of the best I’ve ever baked. Small batch of six! Highly recommend! 

I never worried about getting rid of ripe bananas when my mom was around. Her attitude (and my maternal grandfather’s, for the matter) was that when it comes to bananas, the darker, the better. Sadly, after several months of declining health, Mom passed away three weeks ago. I am blessed to tell you that she was here at home with us and her transition was peaceful. 

After she died, I had one last black banana to use up so I made these muffins. She would have really liked them but I console myself that in heaven, there are probably all the muffins she wants. And all the super ripe bananas too. 

Banana Blueberry Muffins - Small Batch

This recipe makes six normal sized muffins. My husband declared them chock full of blueberries and so they are. We think that’s a good thing and I hope you agree. 

Ingredients

1 cup or 125g all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup or 60ml canola or other light oil, plus extra for the pan

1 medium overripe banana (mine weighed 65g without peel)

1/3 cup, packed, or 66g brown sugar

1 large egg

1 cup or 125g frozen blueberries

Method

Preheat the oven to 400°F or 200°C. Prepare your six-cup muffin pan by brushing it will a little canola oil. 

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.

In another bowl, add the banana, oil and egg. Mash the banana with a fork. 

Then use the fork to mix the three together thoroughly. 

Add all but six of the frozen blueberries to the dry ingredient bowl and fold gently so they are covered with the dry ingredients. 

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredient bowl.   

Fold until well combined. Adding the frozen blueberries to the batter while they are still frozen means they don’t mush or fall apart while you fold them in. They do add moisture as they thaw while the muffins bake so don’t be worried that the batter is more like a dough as you spoon it into the muffin cups. 

Spoon the batter equally into the 6 muffin cups. Top each with a single reserved blueberry.

Bake for 5 minutes in your preheated oven then decrease the oven temperature to 350°F or 180°C WITHOUT opening the oven door, and bake for 15-18 minutes more until domed and set. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean or with just a couple crumbs attached.

Let cool for a few minutes.

Enjoy!

It’s the last Monday of the month so that means it’s Muffin Monday time. Check out the muffins my fellow bloggers are sharing below.

• Banana Crumb Muffins from Jolene's Recipe Journal
• Blueberry Banana Muffins (Small Batch) from Food Lust People Love
• Lemon Cranberry Corn Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Matcha Chocolate Chip Muffins from Passion Kneaded
• Orange and Strawberry Whole Wheat Muffins from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Sourdough Banana Carrot Muffins from Zesty South Indian Kitchen

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all of our lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday can be found on our home page.

Pin these Blueberry Banana Muffins! 

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Fresh Blueberry Syrup

The blueberry flavor really shines in this fresh blueberry syrup and, with only four ingredients, it could not be easier to make. Serve it in/on everything from ice cream to pancakes and cocktails.

I was reminded recently during a trip to France, how many different ways we can cook fruit. Syrups, like this one, that are pourable, along with thicker concoctions with more fruit and less sugar like coulis or compote, and, of course, the sweetest of all, straight up jams, preserves and jellies. And I've probably missed out a couple.

When our host for this month’s Foodie Extravaganza chose National Blueberry Month for our theme, I knew I’d make one of the above. I settled on fresh blueberry syrup when I came across a cocktail calling for fruit syrup and I thought, ooooh, great idea!

So there will be a cocktail in our near future. Meanwhile, you can use it to my rhubarb fool one, just sub the blueberry syrup for the rhubarb syrup.

Fresh Blueberry Syrup

This syrup is lovely over pancakes, waffles or ice cream.  Once cooled, I also like to brush it on cakes or muffins as a glaze. This makes about about 2 1/4 cups or 532ml of syrup, unstrained.

Ingredients

1 lb or 450g fresh blueberries

1 cup or 240ml warm water

1 1/2 cups or 300g white sugar

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

Method

Put the blueberries, water, and sugar in a medium pot over low heat and stir until the sugar dissolves, about 5 minutes. 

Increase heat to medium and bring a gentle boil, stirring often, until the syrup starts to thickened, about 15 minutes. 

The blueberries should break down but if needed, you can press them with a potato masher to break them down more quickly.

Cook for a further 15 to 20 minutes more OR until the syrup is of your desired syrup consistency, keeping it mind that it will thicken a bit more as it cools. I cooked mine down by about a third, stirring frequently. 

Stir in the lemon juice. You can choose to strain out any blueberry solids, if desired, but I like the little bits of blueberry in the syrup.

Use immediately or cool in a sealed jar. 

Enjoy!

Are you a fan of blueberries? If so, July is your month! As I mentioned above, we are celebrating National Blueberry Month today. Check out the links below. Many thanks to our host, Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm. 

• Blueberry Lemon Turnovers from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
• Fresh Blueberry Syrup from Food Lust People Love
• Grilled Pork Chops with Herbed Blueberry Sauce from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Grilled Peach and Blueberry Salad from Palatable Pastime
• Keto Mini Blueberry Coconut Flour Pancake from Sneha's Recipe
• Oatmeal Spice Cake Mix Cookies with Blueberries from Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice

Foodie Extravaganza is where we celebrate obscure food holidays by cooking and baking together with the same ingredient or theme each month. Posting day is always the first Wednesday of each month. If you are a blogger and would like to join our group and blog along with us, come join our Facebook page Foodie Extravaganza. We would love to have you! If you're a spectator looking for delicious tid-bits check out our Foodie Extravaganza Pinterest Board.

Pin this fresh blueberry syrup!

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Peach Blueberry Pound Cake #BundtBakers

This peach blueberry pound cake batter is made with pureed peach, and blueberries folded through, before baking to a rich, buttery finish. Top it with peach puree glaze and more blueberries for a wonderful seasonal dessert everyone will love. 

Sometimes food holidays don’t make a bit of sense - I’m looking at you, National Cherry Month in February when there are NO CHERRIES in any US stores, never mind farmer’s markets, unless they are imported from far afield. 

Who chooses these national month celebrations anyway? If you know, please do enlighten me!

Sometimes they do get it right though. According to some food holiday lists, it’s National Blueberry Month right now and that seems appropriate since it’s actually blueberry season. Since peaches are also ripe and juicy, I decided to combine the two. 

Peach Blueberry Pound Cake

If you can’t get nice peaches, nectarines or apricots could be substituted here. I recommend freezing your blueberries until right before you mix them in. (I simply measure them out earlier in the day and put the measuring cup full in the freezer.) This helps them stay suspended in the batter. This recipe makes one 6-cup Bundt. I use my Nordic Ware 6-cup Anniversary Bundt Pan < affiliate link.

Ingredients

2/3 cup or 150g unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature, plus more for greasing the pan

1 medium ripe peach, pitted

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

2 large eggs

3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 2/3 cups or 208g all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the pan 

1 cup or 200g sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

1/2 cup or 70g blueberries, plus extra for decoration, if desired

For the glaze:

2/3 cup or 83g powdered sugar

Method

Heat your oven to 325°F or 163°C. Generously butter and flour a 6-cup Bundt pan and set aside.

Add the pitted peach and the lemon juice to a food processor or blender, and blend on high until completely puréed. 

Measure out a leveled 1/2  cup of the purée - leaving the balance in the food processor - and transfer it to a mixing bowl along with the melted butter, eggs and vanilla. Whisk to combine and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, add the flour, granulated sugar, baking powder and salt, and whisk to combine. 

Pour the flour mixture into the peach mixture, and whisk well until the batter is thoroughly combined.

Fold in the blueberries.

Spoon the batter into the prepared Bundt pan and smooth it out with your spatula.

Bake until golden brown on the top and a wooden skewer inserted into the center comes out clean, about 55-50 minutes. Turn the cake carefully around about three-quarters of the way through baking to insure it bakes more evenly. 

Aside: I don't know if everyone has this issue but when I want to rotate my Bundt pans, they get caught on the baking shelf bars and don't turn smoothly. I avoid this problem by setting my Bundt pan on a flat pan to bake. Smooth turning! If you've got a round pizza pan, it's ideal for this purpose. 

While the cake bakes, make the glaze. Completely scrape down the sides of the food processor then add the powdered sugar.

Blend on high until combined. Cover and set aside until it’s time to glaze the cake.

Remove the Bundt from the oven.  

Allow to cool for 10 minutes before turning it out onto the wire rack. Cool completely before glazing. 

When the cake is cool, put it on a serving plate then spoon the glaze over the top. 

Decorate with more blueberries, if desired. (Hint: more blueberries are always desired, especially this month.)

Enjoy! Freshly baked, I packed up this li'l cake and took it to the beach with my husband, sister, mom, and two teenage nieces. Thumbs up, all 'round. So, I'd like to add that it travels well. 

As mentioned above, it’s National Blueberry Month so my fellow Bundt Baker friends are sharing recipes with those little orbs of fruity sweetness. Or sweet fruitiness. Your call. Many thanks to our host, Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm. Check out the links below. 

• Patyco Candybar: Blueberry Bundt Cake with Warm Orange Frosting
• Palatable Pastime: Blueberry Coffee Cake 
• Sneha's Recipe: Lemon Blueberry Muffin Bundt
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Lemony Bundt with Blueberry Jam Filling
• Food Lust People Love: Peach Blueberry Pound Cake

#BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all of our lovely Bundts by following our Pinterest board. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about BundtBakers, can be found on our home page.

Pin this Peach Blueberry Pound Cake!

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Blueberry Orange Buttermilk Muffins #MuffinMonday

These wonderful blueberry orange buttermilk muffins bake up golden and fluffy with lots of flavor from orange zest, juice and sweet blueberries! 

Blueberries muffins always remind me of abstract art because of the way they burst and drip in unpredictable ways. What is predictable is the lovely flavor they add to baked goods, especially muffins. 

The inspiration for the blueberry orange combination came from the immense bag of clementines my husband came home from Costco with the other day. We’ve been eating and eating them but still have too many. 

I have mulled wine mulling on the stove right now with a couple and I am going to add some to mince pie filling shortly, but meanwhile these muffins used up two more! Hallelujah.

Blueberry Orange Buttermilk Muffins

With only a 1/2 cup or 100g of sugar, these muffins are just the right amount of sweet. These are the perfect breakfast or snack with a cup of coffee, hot tea or cold milk. 

Ingredients

2 cups or 250g flour

1/2 cup or 100g sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

2 clementines or 1 normal orange (for zest and 1/4 cup or 60ml juice)

2 eggs

3/4 cup or 180ml buttermilk

1/3 cup or 75ml vegetable oil

1 cup or 150g blueberries 

Method

Preheat your oven to 375°F or 190°C.  Butter your 12-cup muffin tin or line it with paper liners.

Add the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a large mixing bowl. Grate in the orange zest and mix.  

Juice your orange. In another smaller bowl, whisk together the eggs,  buttermilk, juice and oil.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ones and stir until just mixed through. Some flour may still be showing and that's more than okay.

Set aside at least 12 blueberries for popping on the top of the muffins before baking, if desired. 

Fold in the rest of the blueberries.

Divide the mixture between the muffin cups in pan.

If you saved berries for the top, now is the time to pop one or two on the top of each cup.

Bake the muffins in your preheated oven for about 18-23 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean and the muffins are lovely and golden. Leave them to cool for a few minutes then remove the muffins to a wire rack to cool completely.

Enjoy!

It’s Muffin Monday, a day we celebrate the last Monday of every month. Check out the list of wonderful muffins my blogger friends are sharing!

• Blueberry Orange Buttermilk Muffins from Food Lust People Love
• Chocolate Clementine Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Cranberry Gingerbread Muffins from Jolene's Recipe Journal
• Easy Cranberry Apple Muffins from Zesty South Indian Kitchen
• Eggnog Muffins from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Samosa Muffins from Magical Ingredients
• 'Tis the Season Muffins from Culinary Adventures with Camilla

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all of our lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday can be found on our home page. 

Pin these Blueberry Orange Buttermilk Muffins!

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