Bakery Style Blueberry Oat Muffins

Bakery Style Blueberry Oat Muffins breakfast These blueberry oat muffins are tender soft and bursting with blueberries. They are easy to make with simple pantry ingredients like quick oats, flour, sugar, oil and buttermilk. breakfast muffins Bakery Style Blueberry Oat Muffins muffins, blueberries

These blueberry oat muffins are tender soft and bursting with blueberries. They are easy to make with simple pantry ingredients like quick oats, flour, sugar, oil and buttermilk. They are far from bland and boring - we livened up the flavors with lemon zest, cinnamon and just a touch of almond extract along with the vanilla for a bakery style flavoured beautifully domed blueberry oat muffin. We got you covered with step by step photos and clear instructions on how to get perfect bakery style muffins.

Bakery Style Blueberry Oat Muffins

Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins Recipe Ingredients

  • BLUEBERRIES: Fresh blueberries are what we recommend for this recipe. This recipe could also work with other berries too like raspberries or blackberries and chopped strawberries as substitutes.
  • FLOUR: This blueberry muffin recipe uses all-purpose flour. The batter is thick but fluffy yet sturdy enough to keep the blueberries elevated so they won’t all sink down. No need for any special flour like oat flour or whole wheat flour for this recipe although if you would like to substitute 1 cup of the all purpose flour for whole wheat for more nutritional value you can but I wouldn’t do more than that otherwise it could affect the texture of the muffins - they could become a lot more dense.
  • QUICK OATS: We recommend quick oats for this recipe but not instant oats or steel cut oats. Instant oats can cause muffins to be mushy as they are precooked and powdery. Old-fashioned rolled oats are whole oats, thicker flakes that keep their shape and give baked goods a hearty, chewy bite - not what we want for this recipe. Quick oats are chopped smaller and rolled thinner, so they absorb liquid faster, yielding a softer, smoother, and more uniform texture - that is exactly what we want so definitely use those for this recipe.
  • BAKING POWDER & BAKING SODA: They create a good rise. In addition to leavening, the baking soda helps brown the exterior.
  • VANILLA EXTRACT: This of course adds its signature flavor to almost all baked goods
  • ALMOND EXTRACT: This is optional but I love the flavor it adds to the muffins - just a splash goes a long way.
  • LEMON ZEST: I would definitely not call these lemon blueberry muffins because they don’t taste very lemony but the lemon zest really adds flavor and I would definitely not miss out on adding it to the batter. Blueberry baked good can taste pretty bland thus the add ins to help create a really nice flavor base for these muffins.
  • CINNAMON: This might sound odd in a fruity muffin but trust me it adds to the flavor of these muffins - it’s subtle but a really nice touch. Cardamon would be nice for a more spiced version as well.
  • EGGS: I use large eggs. Just 2 and room temperature
  • SUGAR: Originally I made these with a blend of brown sugar and granulated sugar and that is great but for simplicity I have written the recipe using granulated sugar - and I tend to always make them that way now. 1 cup sugar is all you need for the batter and it adds sweetness and moisture to the batter
  • OIL: The oil helps keep these muffins moist and adds to the overall texture and flavour. You can use Vegetable oil, canola oil, or melted coconut oil or even a light olive oil.
  • BUTTERMILK: Buttermilk gives baked goods just the best texture, moisture and helps with the leavening as well as adding to the flavor. If you do not have any buttermilk - make it by combining 1½ cups of milk and 2 tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice. Allow it to sit for 5 minutes and voila you have simple homemade buttermilk

Bakery Style Blueberry Oat Muffins Ingredients

How To Make Blubbery Oat Muffins (detailed instructions in recipe card below)

  1. Whisk the dry ingredients: flour, oats, leaveners, sugar, and salt, lemon zest and cinnamon
  2. Whisk the wet ingredients: oil, eggs, buttermilk, vanilla and almond extract if using.
  3. Combine Ingredients: Gradually add in the the dry ingredients into the wet while stirring until just combine.
  4. Fold in Add Ins: Add blueberries to batter and gently fold them into the batter.
  5. Rest Batter: While the oven is pre heating, cover bowl with towel and set aside. Resting the batter thickens it letting flour starches absorb liquid, which builds structure for bakery style, tall, domed muffin tops. It also helps with tender crumb and deeper flavors.
  6. Transfer Batter to Muffin Tin: Spoon muffin batter into muffin pan - I like to use a cookie scoop
  7. Sprinkle over Topping: Sprinkle over the tops with coarse sugar and some quick oats.
  8. Bake: Initial high baking time 7min (at 425) then reduce temp to 350 and continue baking until muffins are set and baked through.
  9. Cool: Cool muffins in tin on rack for 5-10 mins then remove and place on rack to cool completely.

Bakery Style Blueberry Oat Muffins Directions

Tips For Making Great Muffins Every Time

There are a lot of tips out there - here are a few that I implement often to get nice domed bakery style muffins! Of course these are optional but if possible are a great way to get a taller bakery style muffin top.

  • BAKING MUFFINS AT INITIAL HIGH TEMPERATURE: The initial high blast of heat will help these beauties rise and dome/puff up really nicely. Don’t forget to turn up the temp and let the oven come back up to it between batches.
  • SPACING OUT BATTER: Or spacing out the liners in the muffin pan allows the heat from the oven to circulate around each muffin equally, helping muffins to rise, bake, and brown more evenly. Spacing them out also allows you to fill the liners to the brim without the tops overflowing. So that means for a standard 12 muffins tin you would make 6 muffins and would need 2 trays to bake the muffins. This definitely does work but most of the time I just use one single pan cause I simply want to make them all together - one and done!
  • DO NOT OVER-MIX BATTER: This will create a drier denser muffin - but at the same time make sure the ingredients are well incorporated and distributed within batter.
  • RESTING BATTER: This is optional but we like to rest the mixed batter while preheating the oven which usually takes 15 mins. Resting muffin batter for 15 to 30 minutes allows flour to fully absorb liquids and relax gluten. It helps crate thicker batter, taller domes, and a more tender, moist crumb
  • DO NOT OVER-BAKE MUFFINS: As soon as the tester comes out with just a couple crumbs you are done - over baking will also create drier muffins (the muffins will continue to bake from heat of pan)
  • PREHEAT OVEN PROPERLY: Each oven heats and bakes differently so please take this into consideration and keep an eye on all baked good minutes before they are suppose to be done - and make sure your oven is properly preheated before baking - this will make all the difference. I have an oven thermometer that I rely on instead of relying on the oven to tell me.
  • MEASURE CAREFULLY: Measure all of the ingredients carefully before starting recipe. Try to use the same measuring tools to keep things consistent. Ie - do not use diff measuring cups to measure out ingredients. Using the same set of measuring utensils throughout a single recipe keeps your ingredient ratios consistent.
  • CHECK FOR DONENESS A FEW MINS EARLY: Check the doneness at the 12 minute mark and feel free to tent with foil if tops of muffins are browning too quickly. There is always a range of baking times in recipes for a reason - because all ovens and baking pans are different and distribute heat differently.
  • ROOM TEMPERATURE INGREDIENTS: All refrigerated items should be at room temperature so the batter mixes together easily and evenly. So try and take them out of the refrigerator ahead of time to allow for this.

Bakery Style Blueberry Oat Muffins

Blueberry Oat Muffin Storage & Freezing

  • STORAGE: Blueberry oat muffins can be kept at room temperature in a closed container or a sealed zippered bag for up to 2-3 days. I prefer the texture of these muffins the day they are baked though and they are so good I don’t think they will last more than that long.
  • FREEZING: To freeze blueberry muffins, allow them to cool completely then wrap them individually in plastic wrap, then place in an airtight container or bag and store in freezer for up to 2 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge or at room temperature. Warm up in the microwave if desired.

Bakery Style Blueberry Oat Muffins

More Recipes You Will Love:

Recipe

Servings: 12 muffins
Prep Time: 15 mins
Bake Time: 20 mins
Non Active Time: 15 mins (resting batter)
Total Time: 50 mins

Ingredients

  • 1 cup quick cooking oats (not instant)
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 3 teaspoons baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 tablespoon lemon zest
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1½ cups buttermilk
  • ¾ cup vegetable oil
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • ⅛-¼ teaspoon almond extract (optional)
  • 2 cups blueberries

For Topping (optional)

  • 2 tablespoons quick cooking oats (plus more if needed)
  • 2 tablespoons of turbinado sugar or coarse sugar (plus more if needed)

Directions

  1. Whisk together the quick oats, flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, lemon zest and cinnamon in a medium size mixing bowl.
  2. In a separate large bowl whisk together the eggs, buttermilk, oil, almond extract if using and vanilla extract.
  3. Gradually add in the dry ingredients while stirring until just combined. A few steaks of flour in the mixture is fine. I like to use a spatula.
  4. Add the blueberries to batter and gently fold or stir them in. The batter will be very thick.
  5. While you preheat the oven to 425°F, cover the batter bowl with a clean towel and allow the batter to rest. This is optional but will help get nice and tall muffins.
  6. Line a 12 count muffin pan with only 6 muffin paper liners (every other muffin cup/well). This will ensure you get bakery style tall muffins. Fill the liners to the top with batter.
  7. Top muffins with a sprinkle of coarse sugar and quick oats.
  8. Transfer pan to preheated oven and bake for 7 minutes at 425ºF, then keep the muffins in the oven and oven door closed and turn the temperature down to 350°F and continue to bake for 11-14 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
  9. Allow the muffins to cool in the pan on wire rack for 5-10 mins before removing from pan and onto cooling rack.
  10. Repeat with the remaining batter, making sure to turn up and allow the oven temperature to reach back up to 425°F before placing second batch in to bake for the first 7 mins of baking time. (Of course if you have two muffin tins and your oven can hold both at the same time on the same middle rack you can bake them all at the same time)

Recipe Notes

  • Resting the batter and spacing out the batter in the muffin tin is totally optional but it is recommend to get nice bakery style muffins with tall domed shape muffin tops.
  • We often dust the blueberries with a little flour before adding them to the batter but we did not do this for this recipe as the batter is quite thick and can hold up the berries well.
  • If you do not have any buttermilk - make it by combining 1 ½ cups of milk and 2 tablespoon of white vinegar lemon juice. Allow it to sit for 5 minutes and voila you have simple homemade buttermilk
  • How do I tell when my muffins are done baking? I like to always keep my eye on baked goods 5 minutes prior to when the recipe says they are done. I take my muffins out once the edges turn golden brown. To be extra sure they’re baked through, insert a toothpick into the center of one of the muffins. If it comes out with some batter stuck to it, they’ll need a little more time. If the toothpick comes out clean or mostly clean with a few crumbs, they’re all done! Don’t over bake. they will continue to cook while cooling in hot pan.

Bakery Style Blueberry Oat Muffins