Leave it to Cook's Illustrated to develop a recipe that uses sour cream (which I can use lactose-free sour cream) and vegetable oil (instead of butter). It's my perfect recipe. The results are lightly sweet, uber-tender, tangy and delicious muffins for breakfast, brunch or an afternoon treat. These will be a nice addition to your go-to recipe list.

Blueberry Muffins

Adapted from Cook's Illustrated, Best Recipes

makes 12 standard-sized muffins, recipe can be doubled

Ingredients

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (10 ounces)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar (7 ounces)
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 1/4 cups sour cream (10 ounces)
1 1/2 cups frozen blueberries, preferably wild
zest of one lemon

Directions

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray standard muffin tin with nonstick vegetable cooking spray. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt in medium bowl until combined. Whisk egg in second medium bowl until well-combined and light-colored, about 20 seconds. Add sugar and whisk vigorously until thick and homogeneous about 30 seconds; add vegetable oil in 2 or 3 steps, whisking to combine after each addition. Add all of the lemon zest and the sour cream in 2 steps, whisking just to combine. Add frozen berries to dry ingredients and gently toss to combine. Add sour cream mixture and fold with rubber spatula until batter comes together and berries are evenly distributed, 25 to 30 seconds (small spots of flour may remain and batter will be thick). Do not overmix!

Use ice cream scoop or large spoon to drop batter into greased muffin tin. From my experience, these muffins do not rise a significant amount. For tall muffins, fill to the top of the tin. Bake until light golden brown and toothpick or skewer inserted into center of muffin comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes, rotating pan from front to back halfway through baking time.

Invert muffins onto wire rack, stand muffins upright, and cool 5 minutes. Serve warm, or room temperature.

Inside of muffin (didn't get the perfect distribution of blueberries, but still delicious)!