Brown Butter Blueberry Muffins

Recipe: Browned Butter Blueberry Muffins

Source: http://joythebaker.com/2009/07/browned-butter-blueberry-muffins/

Time: 65 minutes, includes cooling time

Ease: 5

Taste: 10

Leftover Value: 10

Down the Drain or Keep in the Strainer: Keep in the Strainer!

I want to make something perfectly clear before I begin.  I have never, ever been into blueberry muffins.  I have never, ever been into muffins that didn't involve chocolate chips throughout.

Yet.

These muffins, oh my, these muffins.  They make me forget all about, what were they again? 

I found Joy the Baker through who else but the Pioneer Woman?  And I'm so happy I did.  This girl knows her stuff, and every one of her recipes I have made has been fantastic.

The first time I made these I had no idea what it meant to brown butter, so I winged it.  I'm pretty sure I failed miserably, because since then I have really learned what it means to brown butter.  The muffins hadn't suffered too much, because they were still edible and delicious.  But perhaps they were even more delicious the second and third time I made them with true blue, er...browned butter. 

Here is what Ms. Joy tells us to do: "Keep an eye on the butter.  It will melt, froth, and begin to crackle....The crackling will subside and butter will begin to brown fairly quickly.  Remove from heat when butter solids become a medium brown color and butter smells slightly nutty,"

Wha...wha...what??

First of all, the crackling is hardly "crackling".  From this term, I'm expecting a Rice Krispies snap-CRACKLE-pop sound.  Not quite.  This sound is slightly reminiscent of what...wait for it....butter sounds like in a frying pan.  However, there does reach a point where there is no longer any sound coming from the butter.  I used this the gauge when my brown butter was close to done.

Another issue I have is that no matter the lighting of the kitchen or the coloring of the pan, it is pretty difficult to determine that the butter has officially become brown.  This leads me to wonder things like, How brown is too brown?  and  Did the butter actually change color, or has it looked this way the entire time?

Whether I got it right each time or not, I will say this, this batter is so divine I could skip the baking step, grab a spoon, and call it quits right there.

Thankfully, I have learned to exercise restraint and times have not gotten that desperate.

I love the topping on these muffins, after all, what is there to dislike about the crunchy buttery delight that flour, butter, and sugar make when mixed together?

As I said before, baked goods with fruit aren't normally my thing, but these are like vanilla cake dressed up as something a little healthier. 

I don't even mind the purple stuff at the bottom.*

*Note: Every time I have made these I have used fresh frozen blueberries and it tastes darn good.  Translation: I buy blueberries in bulk, freeze them, and then can make these muffins whenever I want.