Looking to bake the best homemade Blueberry Lemon Ricotta Muffins?
You can prepare our quick & easy Blueberry Ricotta Muffins recipe at home in less than 40 minutes!
We love to make moist and crunchy muffins in the morning as a breakfast or brunch pastry. They’re a seasonal favourite we often bake in the summer when fresh local berries are in season.
We like to eat hot, steaming muffins right out of the oven, slathered with ricotta, cream cheese, mascarpone or soft butter.
You can also serve Lemon Blueberry Ricotta Muffins as a decadent dessert accompanied by scoops of ice cream or sorbet, lemon curd, whipped cream and blueberry sauce.
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What Are Blueberry Lemon Ricotta Muffins?
Blueberry Lemon Ricotta Muffins are the quintessential morning pastry to bake in the summer in North America.
A sweet aroma wafts through the kitchen after you remove these perfectly crunchy and moist breakfast muffins. Your family will be jumping out of their beds to devour these muffins hot straight out of the oven!
The healthy muffins are flavoured with 3 complimentary ingredients: creamy ricotta cheese, tart lemon juice & zest, and juicy fresh blueberries.
The exterior of the muffin is crunchy while the interior is moist and tender.
Enjoy Blueberry Lemon Ricotta Muffins simply with a cup of tea or coffee or as a grab and go breakfast. We also like to serve them at Afternoon Tea with lemon curd, butter, clotted cream and blueberry jam. They’re a perfect scone replacement.
History of Muffins
A muffin is an individual-sized, baked product most commonly associated with morning mealtime. It’s one of the most popular on-the-go breakfasts that can easily be made ahead and stored in the freezer to enjoy later.
Muffins can refer to two distinct baked goods, a part-raised unsweetened flatbread that is baked and then cooked on a griddle, and a cupcake-like sweet or savoury quick bread that is leavened with baking powder and baked in a mold.
While the most common quick bread muffins are sweetened (such as lemon blueberry muffins, mincemeat muffins and morning glory muffins), there are also savoury varieties such as jalapeno cheddar cornbread muffins and cheddar apple muffins.
The flatbread “English Muffin” variety is of British origin, and dates from at least the early 18th century, while the quickbread originated in Canada and America during the 19th century.
One 19th century source suggests that muffins may be related to the Greek bread maphula, a cake baked on a hearth or griddle. Culinary historians also look to the Old French mou-pain, meaning soft bread, which may have been corrupted into “mouffin.”
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The word is first found in print in 1703, spelled moofin; it is of uncertain origin but possibly derived from the Low German Muffen, the plural of Muffe meaning a small cake. The expression muffin-man, meaning a street seller of muffins, is attested in a 1754 poem, which includes the line: “Hark! the shrill Muffin-Man his Carol plies…”
One of Canada’s top selling cookbooks of the 1980s was Muffin Mania, which helped popularize muffin making from Newfoundland to British Columbia. Homemade muffins were originally prepared as a healthy breakfast option, high-fibre mid-afternoon snack or low calorie dessert.
In 1997, muffins were popularized once again in Seinfeld’s now famous “The Muffin Tops,” episode. Like many muffin lovers, Elaine shared her love for only eating muffin tops. She hilariously talks about the fact that muffin stumps are not worthy of consumption as they don’t have the desirable crunchy texture. She shares the idea of opening a store that sells just muffin tops with her ex-boss and is outraged when he steals her idea.
When he offers her 30% of the profits to help his struggling business, they initially give the unused stumps to a homeless shelter. But after they get complaints about the missing muffin tops by a charity worker, they have to get rid of them elsewhere. Newman eventually takes the muffin stumps off their hands, smiling with glee!
My Family Loves Homemade Blueberry Lemon Ricotta Muffins
One of my fondest memories growing up as a kid was waking up in the morning at our family cottage in Muskoka and smelling freshly baked muffins.
My family’s two favourite recipes were Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins and Lemon Blueberry Muffins. In the summer we’d forage for wild blueberries and incorporate them into out favourite baked goods. My sister was the family blueberry fan while I was mostly obsessed with the marriage of banana and chocolate.
Once you learn to master the perfect morning muffin recipe it’s easy to substitute fresh seasonal fruit. You can tweak the flavourings to compliment the fruits tart, sweet or acidic profile.
We often bake these Blueberry Lemon Ricotta Cheese Muffins in July or August when fresh local berries are in season in Ontario.
I’ve always loved blueberries because they taste like Mother Nature’s candy.
In Canada there are two kinds of blueberries available for purchase. The most common in Eastern Canada are a smaller variety that are distinctively sweet and around the size of a pea. British Columbia produces much larger blueberries that have a less sweet and floral taste.
These muffins are pretty darn healthy, offering Vitamin C thanks to fresh lemons, antioxidant rich blueberries and a boost of protein thanks to ricotta cheese and buttermilk.
Love baking muffins for your family? Check out our healthy muffins for kids list and favourite vegan & vegetarian muffin recipes!
Health Benefits
Our easy Blueberry Lemon Ricotta Muffins are packed full of healthy ingredients!
Consuming dairy provides health benefits — especially improved bone health. Dairy provides nutrients that are vital for health and maintenance of your body. These nutrients include calcium, potassium, vitamin D, and protein.
A rich source of phytochemicals and vitamin C, lemons help boost your immune system and neutralize free radicals that cause disease and skin aging. Lemons also protect against heart disease and help improve blood flow to the brain.
Eggs contain two vital nutrients that are not present in many foods: iodine and vitamin D. Eggs are also rich in tissue-building protein and vitamin B12, which helps your body manufacture blood cells.
Whole wheat flour is rich in vitamins B-1, B-3, and B-5, along with riboflavin and folate. It also has more iron, calcium, protein, and other nutrients than white flour.
Blueberries are a the “king of antioxidant foods, and feature fibre, potassium, folate, vitamin C and vitamin B6.
Buying VS Making Homemade Muffins
Today, muffins are often sold at grocery stores, McDonald’s cafes and coffee shops like Starbucks and Tim Horton’s. Unfortunately most commercially prepared muffins are simply cupcakes without the icing.
Read the ingredients list and you’ll find store bought muffins are full of sugar, fat and “flavourings” rather than real fresh fruit, vegetables and herbs. The excessive sugar, salt, fat and additives in commercial muffin recipes allow the grocery stores and coffee shops to extend the shelf life so they don’t go stale as quickly as a homemade muffin would.
The best way to enjoy healthy muffins is by preparing them at home, allowing you to control the proportion of ingredients. We suggest eating muffins fresh the day they are prepared. If you have any leftovers muffins pack 3-4 in a ziplock bag in your fridge and simply warm them up the next day in the oven. You can use a microwave to reheat muffins but they won’t produce the desired crunchy texture.
Any remaining Blueberry Lemon Ricotta Muffins should be stored in the freezer and can keep for 2-3 months. We like to double our muffin recipes when we prepare them so we have a storage of yummy muffins in the freezer that we can easily enjoy several weeks later.
Best Blueberry Ricotta Muffins
There’s no better early morning comfort food than a steaming, moist Lemon Blueberry Ricotta Muffin enjoyed straight out of the oven.
So what qualities make the best muffins? The perfect Blueberry Lemon Ricotta Muffins must be crunchy on the outside, well leavened so the muffin cap holds its shape and doesn’t shrink when cooled and feature a moist and light interior.
Looking to prepare an easy moist Blueberry Ricotta Muffins recipe? Baking is a science so you can’t just lower a muffin recipes fat and sugar content or you will bite into a chewy, hard and unappetizing product.
Blueberry Lemon Ricotta Muffins Recipe Tips
If you’re looking to prepare muffins on a whim and are missing a few ingredients at home don’t worry! Here are some of our favourite baking tips and tricks.
I like to flavour these muffins with vanilla extract but you can substitute for almond extract or a few dashes of cinnamon or nutmeg.
I’ve used buttermilk in this recipe but you could substitute for plain yogurt instead.
We’ve used full fat ricotta cheese in this recipe but you can substitute for mascarpone for a more decadent treat.
We highly recommend using fresh blueberries in this recipe but if you simply must use frozen berries be sure to add them at the very last step before scooping into greased muffin tins. Be sure to gently stir the frozen blueberries into the batter to avoid having the liquid juice discolour the batter.
Feel free to get creative with this Blueberry Lemon Ricotta Muffins recipe by tweaking the ingredients to suit your preferences. You can top them with an oatmeal crumble or chopped pecans or walnuts for an addictive crunch. You can also switch up the citrus by adding orange zest and juice instead of lemon. The best berry substitutes are strawberries, raspberries and blackberries.
The one tip I give all muffin making beginners is to avoid over-mixing the batter. Light and fluffy muffins are made by reducing the amount of gluten in the batter. If you whip muffin batter with a beater the final product will be as hard as a hockey puck.
For best results, form a well in the dry ingredients and pour your wet ingredients inside. Using a spatula or wooden spoon, gently fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. The finished batter should be fully incorporated, so be sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl so you don’t find unmixed flour. The most important rule to muffin making: when mixing, less is more!
Best Muffin Tools & Equipment
Before making a batch of homemade Blueberry Lemon Ricotta Muffins make sure your kitchen is outfitted with essential bakers tools.
- Mixing Bowl Set: It’s important to have a set of durable mixing bowls. We love stainless steel mixing bowls with a good grip. When making muffins you’ll typically need a large mixing bowl to sift your dry ingredients into, and a medium or small mixing bowl to beat your wet ingredients.
- Measuring Cups: Ensure you have a set of measuring cups with a flat top rather than a spout, so you can easily use a knife to level off your dry ingredients like flour and sugar.
- Measuring Spoons: We love these durable stainless steel measuring spoons that will help you accurately measure spices, baking soda and baking powder.
- Whisk: This stainless steel whisk has a great grip and is helpful when beating eggs into other wet ingredients.
- Sieve: It’s essential to have this tool in your kitchen so you can ensure all your dry ingredients are separated and don’t clump in the wet batter.
- Bakers Scale: Use this digital scale to weigh flour and other ingredients that require a weight measurement.
- Spatula: We love this rubber spatula as it also acts as a spoon so you can easily drop batter into each greased muffin cup.
- Muffin Tins: We only use silicone muffin tins as they allow you to easily remove baked muffins from the tin with minimal baking spray required.
- Baking Spray: Ensure your cupboards are stocked with baking spray so your muffins don’t get stubborn and refuse to slide out of the pan.
- Cooling Rack: A sturdy cooling rack is a must to ensure your muffins cool without falling apart or getting soggy. They need breathing space to let out the steam before storing.
- Storage Containers: We love doubling our muffin recipes so we have leftovers to store in the fridge or freezer to enjoy later.
You May Also Enjoy These Muffin Recipes…
- Christmas Cranberry and White Chocolate Muffins
- Savoury Cheddar Welsh Rarebit Muffins
- Blueberry Lemon Muffin Tops
- Buckwheat Gluten Free Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Healthy Vegan & Vegetarian Muffins
- Healthy Muffins For Kids Recipes
- Ginger Spiced Banana Pear Muffins
- Banana Pumpkin Muffins
- Fresh Strawberry Cream Cheese Muffins
- Sweet Potato Muffin
- Banana Rhubarb Muffins
- Savoury Cheese and Onion Muffins
- Banana Prune Muffins
- Healthy Kiwi Muffins
- Moist Buttermilk Banana Muffins with Chocolate Chips
How To Make Blueberry Lemon Ricotta Muffins
Blueberry Lemon Ricotta Muffins
Equipment
- muffin tin
- measuring cups
- measuring spoons
- Mixing bowls
- Spatula or Wooden Spoon
Ingredients
- 2 cups All Purpose Flour
- 1/2 cup White Sugar
- 1/4 cup Brown Sugar
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
- 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
- 1/2 tsp Kosher Salt
- 1/4 cup Butter melted
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1/2 cup Buttermilk
- 1/2 cup Ricotta Cheese
- 1 tbsp Grated Lemon Zest
- 1 tbsp Lemon Juice
- 2 Eggs
- 1 cup Fresh Blueberries plus 1 tbsp flour
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F and prepare muffin cups by greasing with cooking spray.
- In a large bowl sift together the flour, sugars, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- In a separate bowl add the butter, vanilla, buttermilk, ricotta, lemon zest, lemon juice and eggs. Whisk until the mixture is well combined.
- Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients. With a wooden spoon gently fold the mixture until just combined. Do not overmix.
- In a small bowl toss the blueberries with the flour and then add to the batter and gently fold to combine.
- Divide the batter into the prepared muffin cups. Bake for 18-20 minutes. Cool in pan for 5 minutes then rest on cooling racks.
Nutrition
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