Blackberry Muffins
These bakery-quality Blackberry Muffins are filled with jammy berries and orange zest and topped with sparkling sugar!
Muffins can be as simple as stirring together a basic batter and dropping some fruit into it. This is fine, but can be kind of boring, and when you find out how easy it is to make truly bakery-quality muffins at home, you’ll never go back to the old way.
We don’t need anything fancy, or even a special pan. A standard muffin pan and easy-to-find ingredients will give us all the flair we need.
By going beyond just vanilla extract and using almond extract, as well, we get a depth of flavor not found in most homemade baked goods. The tang that buttermilk adds is worth the addition to your grocery cart, and a little orange zest goes a long way to make these muffins super special.
Then, there’s an optional but highly encouraged final touch that make these blackberry muffins on par with anything you’d buy from a fancy bakery. Read on to find out what it is!
Why you’ll love this recipe for Blackberry Muffins
- Any type of blackberry you have on hand can be used – fresh or frozen.
- The buttermilk + blackberry combo is the perfect balance of sweet and tart.
- The golden-brown bakery-style tops look just as good as they taste.
Blackberry Muffin Ingredient Notes
These blackberry muffins are made with buttermilk.
While many blackberry muffin recipes include sour cream, this ones does not have sour cream. Instead, it relies on buttermilk to serve a similar purpose.
There’s just something magic about buttermilk. Not only is it the perfect tenderizer in buttermilk chicken marinade and buttermilk chicken tenders, but it shines in bake goods like Black Forest cupcakes, chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting recipe, and these muffins with blackberries as well.
Buttermilk serves two purposes in baked goods – flavor and function.
It has a nice tang to it, kind of like sour cream or yogurt. This satisfying tang pairs really well with rich, sugary baked goods.
And thanks to acidity from the lactic acid, buttermilk helps break down long strands of gluten in baked goods. What does this mean? A more tender final product when you make your blackberry muffins with buttermilk.
Have extra buttermilk after making muffins? Try my turkey burger salad that has a creamy homemade dressing made with buttermilk.
Two extracts are important for this blackberry muffin recipe.
Most blackberry muffin recipes only call for one type of extract, and it’s almost always vanilla. But I really encourage you to invest in a bottle of almond extract for your baking cabinet.
One bottle will last forever, and the signature flavor that almond extract adds to baked goods like this blackberry muffin recipe and lemon curd cake cannot be replicated any other way.
Almond extract is often used in wedding cakes, so adding almond extract to anything instantly makes me think of cake. Make your muffins with blackberries taste more like cake, with one little splash of extract!
I love a little orange zest in these muffins with blackberries.
While I always add a little lemon zest to blueberry muffins, I find that orange zest pairs even better with blackberries.
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While you can certainly make muffins with blackberries and lemon zest, something about a pinch of fresh orange zest makes the blackberries really sing.
Try it once and you won’t be able to go back to blackberry muffins made without the zest! Orange lovers may also want to check out my best orange chicken recipe and citrus salad dressing.
What kind of blackberries?
Fresh? Frozen? Wild? Conventional?
The great news here is that any type of blackberry you have on hand can be used for this blackberry muffin recipe!
If using fresh, be sure to wash the blackberries and pat them completely dry before stirring them into the batter.
If using frozen, no need to thaw! Just throw the frozen blackberries right in, and you’re all good. You can also use frozen blackberries in place of blueberries in my blueberry lemon smoothie!
If your berries are very large, cut them in half crosswise if possible (if they’re frozen, don’t worry about it).
Wild blackberries are perfect for muffins, because they are usually a little smaller than grocery store blackberries, so you don’t have to worry about cutting them.
No matter which kind you use for these blackberry muffins, be sure you fold the blackberries in by hand, with a rubber spatula.
You’ll want to use a stand or hand mixer to make the rest of the batter, but when you get to the addition of the berries, switch over to a spatula so that you don’t crush the berries.
Blackberry Muffin Recipe Tips
If you want to keep the color of the berries from bleeding into your muffin crumb, roll the blackberries in a small spoonful of flour before adding them to the batter.
This also keeps the berries from sinking to the bottom of the muffins while baking. Honestly, I usually skip this step, but thought I would include it here for anybody who wants it.
Finish your blackberry muffins with sparkling or demerara sugar for a bakery-style garnish.
My #1 trick for making homemade muffins look and taste more like the muffins from your favorite bakery or coffee shop is sprinkling the tops with sparkling or demerara sugar.
Demerara sugar is a very coarsely ground cane sugar with a light tan color. Because the crystals are so big, they don’t fully melt in the oven, which means that when you bite into your muffin, you’ll get a little crunch of sugar.
If you do purchase a box of demerara sugar for this blackberry muffin recipe, you can also use it to sweeten coffee, tea, and even make brandy old fashioneds with it.
I can also personally vouch for King Arthur Flour’s sparkling sugar (affiliate link), which is large sparkly grains of white sugar, and what I’ve used for these photos. It’s expensive, but one jar lasts me for several years.
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Blackberry Muffins Recipe FAQs
Maybe you used all of your blackberries in a tequila mojito, but you still want to make muffins.
No worries. This base recipe can be used with any type of berry. I’ve tried this blackberry muffin recipe with strawberries, fresh cranberries, blueberries and raspberries, and all have turned out great.
The only change I make is that for strawberries, I will chop them into bite size pieces for baking.
And any of these berries are great additions to a yogurt parfait bar, too!
Like my pear muffins, these muffins will keep for 2 to 3 days in an airtight container, at room temperature. Quick tip – if you have one on hand, add a piece of white bread to the container.
This will help prevent the muffins with blackberries from getting sticky and overly soft. But if not, no worries. Your muffins will still be just fine!
The secret to moist muffins lies in a few key techniques. First, don’t overmix your batter. You want to mix it until JUST combined, then stop. Overmixing can lead to dense and dry muffins.
And, be sure to bake only until a toothpick comes out clean (or even with a few moist crumbs, honestly). Overbaking is the enemy of moist muffins.
Blackberry Muffin Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 stick room temperature unsalted butter 8 tablespoons
- 1 ¼ cups granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons grated orange zest
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup buttermilk
- 12 ounces fresh or frozen blackberries, halved crosswise unless berries are very small about 2-1/4 cups
- 2 tablespoons demerara or sparkling sugar optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
- In standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter and granulated sugar 2 minutes or until light and fluffy. Add eggs, orange zest, almond extract and vanilla extract and beat until well combined.
- Add half of flour mixture, then buttermilk, then remaining flour mixture, mixing on low until just combined between additions. Use a rubber spatula to gently fold in blackberries.
- Divide batter evenly between muffin cups and sprinkle tops with demerara or sparkling sugar, if using. Bake 28 to 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of muffins comes out clean. Cool muffins in pan on wire rack 10 minutes. Remove muffins from pan and transfer to wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
- Home Chef Tip: If you want to keep the color of the berries from bleeding into your muffin crumb, roll the blackberries in a small spoonful of flour before adding them to the batter. This also keeps the berries from sinking to the bottom of the muffins while baking.
These muffins are super tasty. Blackberries are a really underrated berry. These muffins were sweet and a little tart. Great recipe!