Milk Street’s Lemon-Raspberry Olive Oil Muffins are my ideal of what a muffin should be. The crumb is soft, plush and beautifully marbled with jam and berries — which are not sparse. The exterior is nicely browned, with turbinado sugar on top to add a little bit of sweetness and texture. They’re soft, sweet, tart, and satisfying — a perfect rival for the bakery muffin.

Why you should put jam inside your muffins

Raspberry and lemon are a solid pairing. A little citrus zest accentuates the sweetness in the berries, giving you that push and pull of tart and sweet, while the acid from the lemon juice complements and brightens the sweeter notes in the raspberries.

Fresh fruit releases moisture when baked, which can render the interior soggy and prevent it from baking up properly. This recipe strikes the perfect balance of fresh fruit and fruit jam, so you get a double dose of fruit flavor without the sog. The jam and berries are gently folded into the batter leaving pink swirls throughout every muffin.

Finely ground cornmeal in the dry ingredients absorbs excess moisture without contributing to gluten-formation, while adding another dimension of earthy sweetness.

A cup of whole-milk yogurt adds richness and subtle tartness, but the lactic also helps produce a tender crumb by weakening the gluten structure—something we take advantage of in many of our baked goods, like ouryogurt flatbreads and easy-stretch pizza dough.

Why we add olive oil to muffin batter

Olive oil might seem like an odd choice for fruity muffins, but it’s the best fat for this particular job. Unlike butter, oil is a liquid at room-temperature, and baked goods made with olive oil stay softer longer, even after they’ve cooled. Olive oil also adds a rich, complex layer of peppery fruitiness that balances the sweetness of the fruit and the jam. This is the time to use a high quality extra virgin olive oil you really like the taste of.

Three techniques for better muffins

This batter uses a favorite Milk Street technique: rubbing citrus zest with sugar to release the fragrant oil in the zest. In just 30 seconds, the sugar turns from white to yellow, filling your kitchen with a lovely citrus scent. It’s not only pretty, but ensures the lemon flavor is evenly distributed throughout the muffin.

Take care not to over-mix. For tender muffins, fold just enough so that there are no dry spots but no further than that. Be similarly gentle with the raspberries, so they don’t break apart, and be mindful when incorporating the jam, which should leave streaks of red all throughout. (You especially don’t want to over mix that.)

Sprinkle a little turbinado sugar on these and they’re ready to bake. Turbinado has a large, less refined sugar crystal that adds a rich, almost molasses-y flavor and sparkling crunch. It can be found in most grocery stores in the baking aisle, but if you can’t find it, a little white sugar on top is a fine substitute. (My hack for sourcing turbinado sugar is to snag a few of those packets of raw sugar you often find at coffee shops and restaurants. )

With golden crispy edges and berry-studded interiors, these muffins are wonderful on their own — but they’re even better with some softened butter and more raspberry jam.

Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Pinterest.

And if you're looking for more Milk Street, check out our livestream cooking classes with our favorite chefs, home cooks and friends for global recipes, cooking methods and more.

Willow Montana

Willow Montana is the Production Manager of Digital Media at Milk Street. Willow spends their days coordinating and planning video shoots, managing schedules and overseeing the execution of digital projects. They studied Baking and Pastry Arts at Johnson and Wales University and worked in restaurants while putting themself through six more years of college. They hold a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in English Literature and a Master’s of Fine Arts in Publishing and Writing. Willow is a firm believer in living a slow, quiet life and making things by hand. When they aren’t following the developers around with a camera at the Milk Street office, they may be found at home shaping loaves of sourdough, caring for dozens of houseplants and, occasionally, out in the wild at a punk rock show.