Meyer lemons really shine in these blueberry ricotta muffins! Their subtle flavor and the floral notes in their zest add depth to the blueberries without overwhelming them. If you’ve been holding off buying Meyer lemons when you’ve seen them in the store, you have to try this easy stir and scoop muffin recipe. And don’t forget the crumb topping! It puts these muffins over the top!
As promised I have one more Meyer lemon recipe for you! Meyer lemons are a wonderfully versatile fruit and I hope y’all give them a try.
Whether you want to try Chilled Meyer Lemon Souffles, or you’re thirsty for a Meyer Lemon Drop Martini, or you just want some breakfast (spoiler alert – this is where the blueberry ricotta muffins come in! š ), I think I’ve shown at some of the wonderful ways you can use them.
I’ll have more recipes for you in the future, but let’s talk about muffins now.
Let’s talk specifically about muffin recipes. They are all too small! Want a dome topped muffin bursting with yummy goodness? Too bad! Most muffin recipes call for a fairly small amount of filling for each cup.
While I’m good with using a moderate amount of batter per treat if I’m making cupcakes which are then covered in frosting, like Carrot Cake Cupcakes, I like my muffins to look a little overstuffed. They should burst up and out and seem substantial!
Since my first batch of muffins was tasty, but small and flat-topped, it was time to experiment and find out how to make dome topped muffins.
Tips for Dome Topped Muffins
- Use more flour. You can’t have both moist and dense muffins and dome topped and light muffins! Commercial bakeries add more flour for dome-topped muffins, and they probably know what they are doing. š
- Higher heat to start. A higher initial oven temperature gives the leavener a chance to work to its full potential. Related to this, room temperature eggs and other ingredients, since you don’t want the ingredients working against you. In this case it meant pulling out the ricotta ahead of time.
- More leavener! I think this one is rather obvious. Though you can certainly have too much of good thing here, a little extra can help.
- And. This is the big one! MORE BATTER. Yep, if you use more batter, you will get bigger muffins. However, don’t just add more batter. More of a thin batter will run out of the muffin wells and give you weird muffins. What you want is a thick batter and to fill those wells almost up to the top.
Put all these tips together and you too can have pretty, dome-topped, substantial blueberry ricotta muffins.
Oh, and also make sure your baking powder and baking soda are fresh! This isn’t an issue for me since all this recipe testing uses up leaveners long before they can go flat, but for those who don’t bake often, it’s good to keep an eye on it. Write down the date you opened them on the container and toss them if they are more than six months old.
Once I had dome-topped muffins, it was time to think about the topping.
Guess what happens when you use no topping and want some blueberries on top? They can turn wrinkled and dry! Just say no to sad, dry blueberries.
Instead, add a crumb topping (which takes just a few minutes of mixing with your fingers) to protect those blueberries and make extra yummy, happy muffins. Because who doesn’t want happy muffins?
– Happy Baking, Annemarie
Meyer Lemon and Blueberry Ricotta Muffins
Ingredients
Crumb Topping
- 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 3 tbsp unsalted butter, melted or very soft
Blueberry Muffins
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp table salt
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 3/4 cup ricotta, whole milk or part skim, room temperature
- 2 tsp Meyer lemon zest
- 2 tbsp Meyer lemon juice
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 8 tbsp (1 stick, 4 oz) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries
Instructions
- Pull out the eggs and ricotta to warm them up to room temperature! Begin melting the butter so it's ready to be added later.
- Combine all the topping ingredients, working them together with your fingers until all the flour is moistened and it looks like wet sand.
- Preheat oven to 425F. Grease and flour a standard 12-well muffin pan.
- Mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar in a medium bowl. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, ricotta, lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla. Pour in the butter while whisking and incorporate. Add the dry ingredients along with 1 cup of the blueberries to the wet ingredients and fold them in with a few swift strokes.
- Divide the batter among the 12 muffin wells. Top each muffin with a portion of the remaining blueberries. Then top each with some of the crumb topping. Don't worry about being too neat adding the crumb topping.
- Bake for 5 minutes at 425F. Then reduce the temperature to 375 and bake for 11-13 minutes more, or until a toothpick comes out with just a few moist crumbs. Let the muffins rest in the pan for 2-3 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack.
Notes
- If you forgot to take out your eggs ahead of time, fill a bowl with warm water (a bit warmer than body temperature) and put them in the bowl for a few minutes. If they are still cool, add more warm water and do it again.
- I wouldn't recommend frozen blueberries since the batter needs to be room temperature and frozen blueberries behave better when cooked from frozen. However, if you don't mind having blue muffins, you can thaw them and use them in the recipe.
Emily says
Always a hit at our house. These are delightful when we can find meyer lemons here on the Midwest. I’m going to make these for a bridal shower as mini muffins.
Andrea says
I just made these muffins and they are so good! I almost don’t believe that I made them they’re that good! They are so light and fluffy and delicious!
justalittlebitofbacon says
And yet you did! I’m glad you enjoyed them. š
RBK says
I had A LOT of ricotta cheese to use and not that many blueberries, so I doubled this recipe, then divided it, used one half for the blueberry recipe exactly as it’s published, and the other half I mixed in toasted sesame seeds instead of blueberries (and no crumble topping). Both turned out fantastic, fluffy and very flavorful.
justalittlebitofbacon says
I’m glad you enjoyed the muffins with and without blueberries! They are a great way to use up ricotta. š
Arlyn says
Very yummy muffins – and easy to assemble!
I stumbled upon this recipe in my search for muffins that required ricotta cheese (something you buy and then end up using just a fraction of….)
I did reduce sugar to 3/4 cups and in place of lemon zest and lemon juice, I used 3 Tbsp of lemon curd. I tried my best to bring the ingredients to room temperature, including the frozen blueberries, but it is likely that the batter was still on the cool side. I had to extend baking time by 5 minutes.
Muffins look and taste amazing. Let’s see how long it takes my husband to devour them!
justalittlebitofbacon says
I feel you on the ricotta. I’m always trying to find ways to use it myself. I’m glad you are enjoying them and interesting idea on the lemon curd!
Kerin says
Hi. What can I substitute for Meyer lemons? I have regular lemons and some navel oranges on hand.
justalittlebitofbacon says
Kerin, either would work. With regular lemons in place of the Meyer lemons they will just be more lemony but still great. And oranges will give you blueberry orange muffins.
Tina says
Wow!!! Iām always looking for recipes with ingredients to balance out the graininess of gluten free baked items and let me add ricotta to the list! These were amazing – I also cut the sugar by 1/3 and used half coconut sugar to cut down on sweetness and I think these are perfect šš»
justalittlebitofbacon says
Thatās great, Tina! Iām glad they worked with the gf flour for you.
Judy Yerman says
I made an error and forot to put the sugar in the flour mixture so I added it ater eerything was mixed. My muffins did not want to come out of the greased and floured tins so I ended up with blueberry/lemon crumble. It tasted great though. Do you think the sugar oops caused them from not wanting to come out of the pan.
justalittlebitofbacon says
Very probably! Sugar is very sticky and maybe it didn’t fully mix in, or maybe it was an overmixing issue. Baking can be fussy! (I actually made the recipe myself just last week and they popped out of the tin just like usual.) I hope you try the recipe again and remember the sugar.
Amanda Backes says
I forgot to add the sugar too lol! Ended up having to over mix a bit with my hands to add it back in. I used silicone liners and they came out perfect, and taste delicious!!!
Mikey says
great recipe. so much tastier than others I’ve tried. added a little cinnamon to the crumbs.
justalittlebitofbacon says
I’m glad you enjoyed the muffins! Cinnamon sounds like a great addition.
Gail says
these are the prettiest blueberry muffins i have made! I had left over ricotta and blueberries and lemon juice. What a perfect combo! I appreciate all your tips. I did not do the topping so they were a little beige on top but it did not effect the flavor.
justalittlebitofbacon says
Awesome! I’m glad you loved them, Gail. š
Lindsay says
Accidentally left the sugar out – oops! Still delicious!
justalittlebitofbacon says
Oooh! I’m glad they still worked! š
Linda says
I am so happy that I found this recipe through a Google search! I just baked it- absolutely amazing! I love the extra crispness the 5 minutes of higher heat gives. Even my husband, who doesn’t eat sweets much, loves it! Thank you!
justalittlebitofbacon says
Thank you for the comment! It is amazing how that 5 minutes makes a big difference.
Samantha says
Loved the recipe! Next time I’ll try adding cinnamon to the topping. Had to extend baking time by 10 minutes
justalittlebitofbacon says
Cinnamon would be very nice! And that’s why it’s good to check – ovens are variable. š
Coley | Coley Cooks says
I LOVE meyer lemon in anything and I just picked up a few from the market now that they’re back in season. Plus, I’m a sucker for anything with ricotta and I always have blueberries on hand. Cannot wait to try!
justalittlebitofbacon says
I can’t resist anything with ricotta either. š
Cheer says
This will forever more be my go to for blueberry muffins, my family who isn’t even crazy over any muffins raved about these and talked amongst themselves about how great they are, many thanks!
justalittlebitofbacon says
Thank you for the lovely comment. I’m so glad everyone loved these muffins! I just made another batch this past weekend myself. š
Marge Currier a.k.a. MOM says
These are bound to ‘be fabulous. Pictures are very professional, no surprise here. Directions are easy enough and the combination of blueberries and lemon is genius.
Love, Mom, a.k.a. Marge
justalittlebitofbacon says
Thanks, mom! š If you were closer, I’d send you over a few.
Julia @ HappyFoods Tube says
Blueberries and lemons! Now this is a delicious combination already and adding ricotta to the mix – wow, they must taste amazing! Crumb topping – what a great way to protect the blueberries! Love this recipe! š
justalittlebitofbacon says
Thanks, Julia! All I know is that they disappeared almost as soon as I made them. š