Ricotta Muffins with Dried Blueberries and Walnuts
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- pinch salt
- 1 cup whole-milk ricotta cheese
- 1/4 cup canola oil
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1 egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 3.5 oz dried blueberries
- 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour or line 12 wells in a muffin tin. Set aside.
- In a large bowl or blow of a stand mixer, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
- Beat in the ricotta, oil, milk, egg, and vanilla until smooth.
- Fold in the blueberries and walnuts. Evenly divide the batter into the 12 wells of the muffin tin.
- Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the center muffin comes out clean.
- Cool in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Invert the muffins and serve or continue to cool.
I’m exhausted on all fronts right now but I made these muffins today so I’ve accomplished something! There is always so much work to be done and the pandemic is far from over but we still have to eat. On the pandemic front, I’m still doing my part to stay home, out of stores, and limit delivery so I’ve been trying even harder to use up everything I have in the fridge and pantry. On the everything else front, I’m keeping up my usual rabblerousing.
Fresh blueberries are amazing (I’m always hoping this year will be the one where I get more than three blueberries off my bushes) but they aren’t quite in season yet and are highly perishable. Dried blueberries (I bought mine at Aldi like pretty much everything else), plump when baked, pack a lot of blueberry flavor and can be shelf-stable for literally years. I’m not sure why they are not as popular as dried cranberries (the cranberry industry is strong in the US, though) but I think they are just as tasty and versatile. They can be a little pricy but you don’t need a ton to make a big flavor impact.
This recipe uses a full cup of ricotta. We had opened a container but only used a few spoonfuls as a topping on homemade pizza so I had a lot left. Not wanting to waste it (it expires like tomorrow) I turned it into muffins. I really like cheese in muffins in general (I still dream about my first bite of these blueberry goat cheese muffins I made back in 2009). It makes for a light, fluffy muffin even if you put in some heavier ingredients like dried fruit or nuts. Yum.
I’ve made more muffins in the last 86 days than I have in years. So many muffins! They truly are an easy, portable way to not only make breakfast ahead of time but to use up leftover odds and ends in the fridge from carrots and yogurt to zucchini to applesauce to coconut to oranges to sweet potatoes.
I will admit, I am mostly making these muffins for my husband because I don’t really eat breakfast (well, today, I had some pretzels and dip) but I couldn’t resist these and had one standing at the counter. They are rich tasting without being heavy and the blueberries are fantastic. I can even ignore the fact that they have baby-tooth-like walnuts in them, they are that good.
