I’m a sucker for a good muffin but they have to be moist and fluffy with round, crackly tops to satisfy my cravings.  These Lemon Blueberry Almond Ricotta Muffins check all the boxes for me – a light lemony flavor, beautiful bursts of blueberries in every bite and a sweet crunchy almond topping for texture.

Take a look at those sugary, crackly domed tops!  Do you know how you get those at home?  It’s easier than you think – you just have to start baking the muffins at a higher oven temperature for the first five minutes, then you reduce the heat (without opening the door) for the rest of the baking.  Voila!  Muffin perfection.  (As a note, I find I get the VERY best tops when I bake them on the top rack in my oven.)

This is a very thick, luscious batter so you have to be gentle folding in the blueberries.  Try not to break them, but don’t stress if a few burst.  I use a large cookie scoop to scoop the batter in to the muffin wrappers and use an entire scoop in each wrapper.  Fresh blueberries are my favorite, but you can use frozen blueberries in a pinch, just don’t defrost them before folding them in.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp almond extract (can substitute vanilla)
• 1 cup ricotta cheese (whole milk)
• 2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 2 eggs
• 2-1/4 cup AP flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 cups blueberries
• 1 Tbsp flour

Topping:

• 1/2 cup sliced almonds
• 3 Tbsp sugar

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 425.  Line about 16 regular size muffin cups with liners.
2. In your mixer bowl, add the softened butter, sugar, and almond extract and beat for 2-3 minutes until creamed.
3. Add the ricotta, lemon juice and lemon zest and beat together until well combined.  Beat the eggs in to the mixture one at a time.
4. In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
5. Add in the dry mixture to the wet mixture and stir on low till just combined, it will be thick.
6. In a small mixing bowl, toss the blueberries in the 1 Tbsp flour.
7. Gently stir the blueberries in to the mixture by hand.  The mixture is thick, so just do it slowly and gently until the blueberries are dispersed throughout the batter.
8. Scoop batter with large 3 Tbsp cookie scoop in to the prepared muffin pans.
9. Sprinkle the additional sliced almonds and sugar over the top of each muffin.
10. Bake on the top rack at 425 for 5 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350, (don’t open the door) and bake for an additional 15-17 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool for five minutes.  Remove from from muffin pan and transfer to cooling rack until completely cool.