The Surprising Spice That Can Make Your Blueberry Muffins Taste Even Better
If you're planning to make blueberry muffins from scratch, you might as well go all out. Even if you're just using up leftover blueberries before they go bad in the back of the fridge, there's no denying that they make for a tasty breakfast treat. Whether you prefer them on the softer side, loaded with blueberries, or served with a spread of butter, there's one spice that can transform any blueberry muffin recipe. According to Epicurious, it's not cinnamon, nutmeg, nor is it even spice associated with baking for that matter, but rather ground coriander.
Coriander is most often used in savory dishes or paired with cumin, but its chemical compound also has an unexpected effect on blueberry muffin batter. That chemical compound is linalool, and it's one that is also present in, you guessed it, blueberries. That's why when manufacturers produce artificially flavored blueberry products, they use linalool to mimic the taste. Coriander on the other hand is naturally-occurring linalool, which means when you add it to your blueberry muffin batter, it intensifies the flavor of the blueberries.
How much coriander should you add to your blueberry muffins?
Considering blueberries are the star ingredient of a blueberry muffin, it makes sense that the more of them you add, the better it'll turn out. Unfortunately, it's easy to go overboard, and when that happens, as Food Geek explains, it prevents the batter from rising and holding together, leaving you with a crumbly muffin.
With coriander, however, you can add more blueberry flavor without jeopardizing the texture of your muffin. As Serious Eats shares, a little goes a long way with the spice, and you'll only need ¼ teaspoon of ground coriander seed per batch of a dozen muffins. Simply add it in with the dry ingredients along with the flour and sugar, and once the wet ingredients are incorporated and the batter is then baked, the linalool will be properly activated. If you want your blueberry muffins to really pack a punch, make sure you have coriander on hand wherever you bake them.