I never knew coffee was such a big part of the Dutch culture until I moved to the Netherlands. Just about everyone drinks coffee here, and not just one cup. Actually on average the Dutch consume 1.84 cups/day (6.7kg/capita) according to an article published in Worldatlas. This ranks the Netherlands #3 for top 10 coffee consuming nations, following Finland and Norway taking 1st and 2nd respectively.
Since living here I have learned that coffee is not simply just for drinking. It is also offered to welcome someone into your home or office, and it is used as an excuse to get together with a friend or colleague. Coffee is an integral way of starting a conversation with someone, and sometimes it is a way of bringing a cozy (gezellig) feeling into a room. At my children’s hockey games there is always a line of parents along the sidelines drinking coffee. You can say that coffee is very much ingrained in the Dutch psyche, where a cup of coffee is appropriate and very normal anywhere and at any time.
As for me, an American who used to drink coffee with a lot of sugar and some kind of flavored cream, I now prefer my coffee black. Yes, I’ve drank so much coffee in the past 7 years that I have acquired a taste for just the coffee itself. I still however like my cup of coffee with an American blueberry muffin instead of a Dutch apple pie, but unfortunately the Dutch don’t do blueberry muffins!
So, you guessed it, I now have the tastiest blueberry muffin recipe and can bake them whenever I feel like having them. The ingredients in this recipe are very simple and I usually have most, if not all, the ingredients on-hand. Whether you have access to a bakery that makes blueberry muffins or not, you can’t compare it to a freshly baked version you make yourself at home. The best part about baking them yourself is that you can make a BIG batch, allowing you to treat yourself to more than just one muffin per cup of coffee.
Recipe adapted from Simply Recipes.
Blueberry Muffins
These blueberry muffins are not too sweet, perfect with a cup of coffee or tea.
Ingredients
- 3 cups of all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 10 tablespoon unsalted butter (1-1/4 stick), softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1-1/2 cup plain yogurt
- zest of 2 lemons
- 1-1/2 cups fresh blueberries
- 1 tablespoon flour (for the blueberries)
Directions
- Step 1 Preheat the oven to 375 degrees (176 celsius).
- Step 2 DRY INGREDIENTS: In a large bowl whisk together all the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt. Set aside.
- Step 3 WET INGREDIENTS: In a separate large mixing bowl cream the butter. Then add the sugar and beat until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating until incorprated after each one. Beat in the yogurt. And lastly beat in the lemon zest.
- Step 4 Beat in half of the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients until just incorporated. Then add in the remaining dry ingredients and beat until once again JUST incorporated. Do not over-mix. This will cause your muffins to be more solid and hard.
- Step 5 Put the blueberries in a bowl and dust it with about 1 tablespoon of flour. This will help avoid your batter from turning purple-ish blue. Then fold in the berries to the batter. (You can also use frozen blueberries.)
- Step 6 If your batter is very thick, this means you are on your way to baking the best blueberry muffins.
- Step 7 Use standard 12-muffin tins. Distribute the muffin batter equally. Bake until muffins are golden brown on top, about 25-30 minutes.
- Step 8 Set on a wire rack and cool for 5 minutes.
- Step 9 You can enjoy these muffins warm, or store them in an air-tight container and enjoy them the next day.