Simply Raspberry Muffins

Author Notes

There are only two places from which I've had muffins I like (apologies to everyone out there who is a muffin fanatic, I don't know if I'm picky, or what. I'm just more of a scone girl). Muffins from some unknown bakery that one of my old bosses lived next to and muffins from Joanne Chang's Flour bakery. Her's are everything a muffin should be, so light, tender and crumbly, they just barely hold together, but with a shiny, sturdy, almost crisp top. Sweet, but not too sweet, and packed with lots of fruit.
So, when I was at Flour a while back, and flipping through her new(ish) cookbook while waiting for my lunch, I decided to check out her muffin recipe. I was immediately struck by how vehement she was that everything needs to be room temperature. Hmmm. Maybe, just maybe that actually mattered. It does! As much as having extremely cold ingredients matters for making shortcrust or biscuits. It has revolutionized my muffin baking!
So, here are some simple raspberry muffins, based somewhat off of Joanne Chang's recipe, particularly the use of creme fraiche, (if I had a photographic memory or owned the book, I would probably just use hers since they are so good, but alas, it is not the case) and my experience with a number of other muffin attempts including those from The Best Recipes, which are quite tasty as well.
No streusal, no extra flavorings (except for some requisite vanilla, oh and I browned the butter because, why not? And it adds a little voluptuousness), just lots of raspberries. Yum! My favorite berry. Of course, if you wanted to, you could also replace half of the raspberries with chopped peaches. That would also be delicious. Nor would I try to stop you if you wanted to add some lemon zest. But really, I don't think you can go wrong if you're just all about the raspberries. - fiveandspice —fiveandspice

Test Kitchen Notes

These could easily be named "Simply the Best Raspberry Muffins." The tender, cakey base isn't overly sweet, not even distantly related to the leaden hockey pucks that often masquerade as muffins. Fiveandspice adds a few genius touches: brown butter flecks the batter and perfumes the muffins with its nutty flavor, and the combination of creme fraiche and buttermilk add a lovely, tart dimension that's echoed by the fresh raspberries. There's also a generous dose of sea salt, which means your tongue hits lovely little bursts of saltiness every now and again. Note: these muffins are divine just out the oven. - A&M —The Editors