I like to fill my muffins extra high, so what traditionally would make a dozen muffins only yields about 10.  You could distribute the dough to 12 muffins if smaller muffins are preferable and adjust the cooking time by a few minutes.  The first time I baked these oversized muffs, they were a little underdone, so be sure to set a tester inside to verify that they are cooked through. Raspberries are a bit fragile,  so rather than folding them in the batter and risking them breaking up, I filled the batter halfway, and actually placed the individual raspberries in the muffin batter by hand.  I repeated the process and by adding more  raspberries on top.  This helped the berries retain their integrity during the baking process.  While it takes a little extra effort, I think the results are well worth it.  In addition, you don’t have a muffin with berries at the bottom.

Yield 10 extra large muffins

Ingredients:

for muffins:
  • 2½ cups all-purpose flour (I love Bob’s Red Mill pastry four)
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoons baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ cup brown sugar
  • ¾ cup white sugar
  • ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 1/4 cup buttermilk
  • 2 tablespoons Meyer lemon juice
  • 2 teaspoons Meyer lemon zest
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 1½ cup fresh raspberries
  • confectioners sugar for dusting (optional)

for streusel:

  • 1/2 cup flour
  • 4 tablespoons of very soft butter
  • 4 tablespoons of golden brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon Meyer lemon zest

Directions:

Make streusel first by combining all ingredients for streusel in a bowl.  Using your fingers, begin to crumble ingredients between your fingers until streusel comes together into large clumps, a little large than the size of a pea.  Place bowl in freezer while you prepare the muffin batter.  Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Line muffin tin with parchment muffin liners, and lightly spray the top part of exposed muffin tin with cooking spray.  In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and meyer lemon zest.  Using an electric mixer, with the paddle attachment, combine brown sugar, white sugar, and blend until well combined, scraping down the sides as needed.  Add buttermilk, egg, vanilla, lemon juice and mix until well incorporated.  Next add the flour mixture and combine just until absorbed.  Distribute half of the batter in the prepared muffin tins and place three to 4 raspberries into the batter (the batter will be  thick and not pourable).  Top the muffins with the remaining half of the batter and repeat the process with the remaining raspberries on the top.  Remove the streusel from the freezer and distribute the crumbs evenly among the muffin tops, lightly pressing the streusel in the batter as best you can.  Bake muffins in oven for about 20-25 minutes.  Insert toothpick making sure it comes out clean.  If muffins require a bit of extra cooking, reduce temperature to 350 and bake an additional 5 minutes.  Remove from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes.  Use a knife to separate muffins as they will have most likely run into one another.  Carefully remove individual muffins to a cooling rack and dust with confectioner’s sugar if desired.  Enjoy!!!