If you've ever wondered if you could substitute crème fraîche for sour cream in muffins, the answer is yes! At least in this recipe. I wish I'd tried it sooner, but I'm in the habit of buying sour cream so I just never have crème fraîche on hand. But earlier this week we bought a carton of La Bonne Vie French-Style Cultured Crème Fraîche, and I took the opportunity to experiment. These extremely moist blueberry muffins were the result.
Replacing Sour Cream with Crème Fraîche
If you are not entirely familiar with crème fraîche, it is a cultured cream that's similar to sour cream, but richer, thicker, and a little less tart. It has a higher fat content, which makes it especially nice for baking because it adds richness without heaviness. It's also very smooth, so it blends easily into batters. This particular batter was indeed smooth and quite thick -- almost like cookie dough.
I scooped it with a scooper from my new favorite scooper set which comes with a ½ cup size scoop. I didn't realize how much I'd love the color coded handle on these guys.
Here's a photo of the baked muffins. They turned out soft and tender with a slightly more mellow flavor than the sour cream version. I added a little lemon zest because the lemon makes the blueberry flavor pop, but the muffins don't really taste lemon-y at all. Also, sorry about the weird lighting in this photo. We got new windows that have a tint, so I'm struggling to make natural light work with my iPhone pictures.
Here's a photo of the brand of crème fraîche with a bottle of vanilla bean powder on top -- another thing I purchased on a whim and am still looking for ways to use. For the muffins, I sprinkled some in with the streusel. It made it a little bit darker, which was a benefit in this case.
Variations
After making a batch of blueberry muffins and sending it off to my favorite taste testers, I had to try a cherry variation with chopped frozen cherries and chocolate chips. For that one, I used a little almond extract in place of some of the vanilla. Again -- excellent! Now I can't stop making these and want to try a peach cardamom version.
Muffin Tips
I'm sure you've read a million muffin tips by now so I'll just list my favorite ones.
- Grease muffin tin with salted butter for extra flavor. When you grease the pan with salted butter, that salty butter flavor hits your tongue first and tastes better than if you'd used a paper liner.
- You can make 10 really tall large muffins by piling, or don't pile batter quite so high for 12 muffins. I like the look of the taller muffins.
- Preheat oven to 425 and bake for 6 minutes, then drop heat to 375 and bake until done (about 18-20 more minutes).
- When measuring the crème fraîche, I recommend going by weight because it can have different consistencies. In this recipe I used 210 grams, which is the amount in a 7.5 oz carton. It's slightly less than a cup. If using sour cream, just use a full cup and the usual 230 oz.
- Bring cold ingredients to room temperature.
- This batter works well with frozen, unthawed blueberries. Keep them in the freezer until the last minute, then fold them in. You can toss with flour if you'd like, but given how thick the batter is, or just allow for some charming blue streaks.
If you already have sour cream, you can absolutely use it here. But if you happen to have crème fraîche or feel like trying something a little different, it's a really nice upgrade.
Recipe
Crème Fraîche or Sour Cream Blueberry Muffins
Ingredients
Streusel Topping
- 2 tablespoons salted butter
- ¼ cup flour
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 1 pinch cinnamon and powdered vanilla bean (optional)
Blueberry Muffin Batter
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (250 grams)
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt or ½ teaspoon if using unsalted butter
- 8 tablespoons salted butter plus more for greasing pan (114 grams)
- ⅔ cup sugar (130 grams)
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon lemon zest
- 1 cup sour cream or crème fraîche (210 grams)**
- 2 cups frozen blueberries
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425F. Line 10 to12 muffin cups with paper liners or just grease generously, coating the top edges so the crowns won't stick.
Streusel Topping
- Melt the butter gently in a saucepan or in the microwave. Mix together the flour, sugar and cinnamon (and a little vanilla powder if you have some), then combine with the butter and stir until crumbly. Set the mixture in the refrigerator while you prepare the muffin batter. Note: If using unsalted butter, add a pinch of salt.
Blueberry Muffins
- In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- In a mixing bowl, using an electric mixer, beat together the softened butter and sugar until creamy. Beat in the eggs, one by one, then add the extract and lemon zest. Stir in the sour cream or crème fraîche.
- Fold in the flour mixture until it is evenly blended.
- Fold in the blueberries and stir until fully blended.
- Fill the muffin cups. Batter should be thick and reach the top, try to pile it toward the center. It should definitely be thick enough to pile and not at all soupy. Sprinkle streusel topping over.
- Bake the muffins at 425 degree for the first 5 minutes, then reduce the heat to 375 and bake for about 15 minutes or until golden brown on the outside and full baked inside.
Anna says
Thanks for trying them!
Sue K says
Sorry I forgot until now to comment about these. I made them and they turned out really good. The texture is so soft. I used fresh blueberries which worked fine. I think I might put a little more lemon in them next time or somehow in the streusel. I really like lemon and blueberry together.
Sue K says
I suppose I could make 1/2 blueberry, 1/2 mini choc chips?
I’m all set to make blueberry but do have mini chocolate chips in the pantry too.
Anna says
He will love these! I wonder if your grandson would prefer blueberry over a mini chocolate chip version?
Sue K says
These sound great! I just learned my grandson’s new favorite muffin is blueberry. That is a relief to me because I was growing weary of the previous favorite. I don’t think I’ve ever purchased crème fraîche!