Ricotta Blueberry Muffins

Remember the 3-cheese sauce Wey wanted to cook? We couldn't find gorgonzola cheese here and Wey had opened the 500g tub of ricotta. We had to use it quick.

I have never made muffins before because I find the texture too heavy and the size too big - could never finish one and on those occasions my friends served them, I couldn't find convenient flower pots or waiters' behinds to stuff the unfinished food like Mr. Bean did. Then I read on my box of frozen blueberries a suggestion to make 'ricotta blueberries muffins', but there was no recipe. So I turned to Nee, and adapted the following recipe from her banana muffins.



These muffins turned out so soft I couldn't stop raving as I ate them, especially when they were still warm. However, I forgot that Nee's recipe had bananas which are sweeter than blueberries so the muffins were rather bland because I had used 100g of sugar only. For the recipe below, I've increased the amount of sugar but you can adjust it. I also used smaller muffin cups (so my muffins are like cupcakes) but to me, muffins aren't muffins unless thay are all puffed and cracked on top. My batter turned blue (esp. the second batch because it'd been sitting in the fridge) because I'd put in too much blueberries so in my recipe I've reduced the amount but you can always increase it.



Ricotta Blueberry Muffins
125g butter
130 to 150g castor sugar
2 eggs
100g blueberries, either frozen or fresh
2/3 cup ricotta cheese
125ml fresh milk
240g plain flour
1 t baking powder
1 t bicarb of soda

1. Oven on at 160 C. Line 12 large muffin cups with paper cases, or more if you make smaller muffins.
2. Beat butter and sugar till fluffy, add eggs one by one, beating well after each addition. After the last egg is added, turn machine on high for a couple of seconds so that the mixture turns from a thick batter into a light, airy whipped-butter like mixture . Add the ricotta cheese and mix well but do not overmix.

3. Sift the flour, baking powder and baking soda together. Add the milk and flour alternately, using a hand whisk to mix. Finally add the blueberries and mix well quickly using a few folding strokes and a spatula (careful that you don't mash them up).
4. Spoon batter into the paper cups. I did fill my batter upto 60% as advised by Nee, but I prefer puffier muffins so I'd fill them a little higher (70%?) next time. Bake 25 to 30 minutes, test with a wooden skewer that should come out clean if muffins are done.