Are they muffins? Are they cupcakes? No, they’re Blueberry Muffin Petit Fours! This soft, tangy, and berry-licious treat is a perfect fit for weddings, garden parties, or when you’re craving a fancy breakfast. Topped with an oat crumble and cream cheese icing, every bite is divine!
⭐ Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Blueberry Muffin Petit Fours aren’t quite muffins or cupcakes but are still filled with juicy berry goodness, lemon zest, and a dollop of sweet cream cheese frosting. The sweet oat crumble on top gives every bite a delightful boost of sweetness that’s sure to change the way you think about regular blueberry muffins!
These gourmet blueberry muffins are just as moist, crumbly, and buttery as a classic muffin, but will surely mix up your usual breakfast routine. They’re even a great fit for fancy garden parties, weddings, and other big celebrations! Decorate each easy petit fours with the tangy frosting, crumble, and fresh blueberries to wow your crowd.
Impress your guests with more French desserts at the party! Serve the muffins next to my Salted Caramel Macarons and Pear Hazelnut Tart for a French moment!
❓ What are petit fours?
Petit fours (meaning “small oven” in English) are bite-sized desserts from France. When you think of petit fours, you may think of mini glazed layered cakes with jam in the middle, but they can also be in the form of muffins, biscuits, and even savory appetizers.
Most petit fours recipes are quite simple to make, but can be finicky because of their small size. I love using these tall, cylinder silicone molds in order to create these bite-sized cakes with ease!
🍴Ingredients
- Salted oat crumble - This deliciously sweet crumble is made from oats, all purpose, flour, brown sugar, salt, and unsalted butter. Sprinkle a little on top of the baked muffins for an extra hit of sweetness. Bonus: any extra crumble would be a delicious decoration on carrot cake (just in case you needed an excuse to bake another deelicious dessert)!
- Blueberries - Fresh are best! Use my tips below if you want to make the muffins with frozen blueberries instead.
- Vanilla or lemon extract - This depends on how much lemon you like in your blueberry muffins. Vanilla extract will ensure they turn out warm and balanced, but lemon zest adds an extra tang. Use what you love!
- Lemon zest - If you’re going to make a fancy blueberry muffin, there has to be plenty of lemon zest! It adds a beautiful brightness and vibrancy to every single bite.
- Cream cheese frosting - The creamy and tangy topping to your fancy muffins. You could also use this frosting for topping cherry mini cakes and strawberry cheesecake cookies!
📖 Step by Step Instructions
Trust me - if you’ve baked blueberry muffins before, you can tackle this blueberry muffin petit fours recipe like a seasoned pro. The oat crumble, muffin batter, and cream cheese frosting all come together quite easily:
Step 1: Make the salted oat crumble. Pulse the oats in a food processor to break them up. Next, add them to a bowl of a standing mixer along with the flour, brown sugar, and salt. Mix to combine. Add the butter in chunks and continue mixing until the mixture is thoroughly combined and crumbly. Set aside.
Step 2: Put the dry ingredients together. Whisk the flour, salt, and baking powder together in a bowl.
Step 3: Make the wet mixture. Whisk the water, oil, eggs, and lemon/vanilla extract together in a large bowl. Pulse the sugar and lemon zest together in a food processor, then add to your wet mixture.
Step 4: Make the muffin batter. Add the dry mix to the wet in two parts, mixing until just combined. To finish, gently fold in the blueberries.
Step 5: Bake the muffins. Pour the blueberry muffin batter into each mold. Add a sprinkle of salted crumble on top, then bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Step 6: Frosting time. While the muffins are baking, make the cream cheese frosting by beating the butter and cream cheese together in a bowl. Slowly mix in the powdered sugar and vanilla paste until the frosting is smooth and fluffy.
Step 7: Decorate and enjoy! Pipe some frosting on top of each cooled muffin and sprinkle more salted crumble on top. Enjoy!
👩🏻🍳 Expert Tips
- You’ll need cylinder baking molds to make this recipe. They always come in handy when you’re craving mini baked goods, like these petit fours or Cherry Chocolate Mini Cakes.
- The baking molds will cause your muffin batter to dome slightly in the oven. For the perfectly symmetrical and classic petit fours look, trim the top with a serrated knife so it’s flat.
- Don’t remove the muffins from the molds too early! Just like a bundt cake, the muffins are likely to collapse if you were to take them out of the molds while they’re still piping hot.
- If you don’t have vanilla paste to use in the frosting, replace it with vanilla extract instead.
💭 Recipe FAQs
Not a problem! Turn these petit fours into simple blueberry muffins by baking the batter in a lined muffin tray instead of the molds.
Yes, but they need to be fully thawed beforehand! When baking blueberry muffins with frozen blueberries, rinse the berries under warm water to thaw and then dry them really well using paper towels. Once they’re dry, you’re good to go!
I don’t recommend making these more than 2 days in advance. They’re so moist and soft when they come out of the oven and leaving them for longer than a few days could dry them out.
Absolutely! The beauty of petit fours lies in their versatility. While blueberry is a classic choice, you can experiment with flavors like sweet potato, red velvet, or even green tea. Just ensure the consistency is right for the small cakes, so they maintain their delicate structure.
Petit fours, beloved by pastry chefs, require precision and patience, given their small size and intricate designs. However, with the right recipe and some practice, they can be recreated at home, especially when baked to perfection for around 20-25 minutes and allowed to cool on a wire rack.
More cake desserts worth celebrating with!
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Blueberry Muffin Petit Fours
Equipment
- Silicone Baking Molds or Muffin Liners & Muffin Tin
Ingredients
Salted Oat Crumble
- 1 ⅓ Cup (108 g) Oats
- ¾ Cup (93.75 g) All Purpose Flour
- ½ Cup (110 g) Brown Sugar
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- ½ Cup (113.5 g) Unsalted Butter, Cold, cut into cubes
Blueberry Muffins
- 2 ½ Cups (312 g) All-Purpose Flour
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- 1 Tablespoon Baking powder
- ⅔ Cup (157.73 g) Water
- ¾ Cup (168 g) Canola oil
- 3 Eggs
- 2 teaspoons Vanilla or Lemon Extract
- Zest of 4 Lemons
- ⅔ Cup (133 g) Sugar
- 1 ⅓ Cups (197 g) Blueberries
Cream Cheese Frosting
- ¼ Cup (56 g) Unsalted Butter
- 1 Cups (227 g) Cream Cheese
- 1 Cups (120 g) Sifted Powdered Sugar
- 1 Tablespoon Vanilla Paste
Instructions
Salted Oat Crumble
- Place oats into a food processor and pulse until they've broken up - pulsing for about 15 seconds1 ⅓ Cup Oats
- Add your oats, flour, brown sugar and salt into the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix with a paddle attachment.¾ Cup All Purpose Flour, ½ Cup Brown Sugar, ¼ teaspoon Salt
- Add butter in chunks into the mixture and continue mixing until thoroughly combined. Sprinkle on top of blueberry muffins before baking and/or on top of the cream cheese frosting once frosted.½ Cup Unsalted Butter
Blueberry Muffins
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and prep your silicone baking mold by spraying with baking spray evenly or prepare a muffin pan with liners.
- In a medium bowl add flour, salt, and baking powder whisking to combine.2 ½ Cups All-Purpose Flour, ¼ teaspoon Salt, 1 Tablespoon Baking powder
- In a separate large bowl, add water, oil, eggs and extract into a bowl and whisk until smooth.⅔ Cup Water, ¾ Cup Canola oil, 3 Eggs, 2 teaspoons Vanilla or Lemon Extract
- Place lemon zest and sugar together in a food processor and pulse for a few minutes. Then add sugar mixture into the bowl of wets and mix to combine.Zest of 4 Lemons, ⅔ Cup Sugar
- Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in two separate parts, mixing until just combined. Then add blueberries, folding them into the batter gently.1 ⅓ Cups Blueberries
- Add batter into each mold or muffin liner until they are ¾ of the way full and add a sprinkle of salted crumble on top.
- Then bake muffins until a toothpick can be inserted into the middle of the muffin and it comes out clean. For the silicone mold muffins, this should take approximately 18-20 minutes. Let the muffins cool for ten minutes in the molds before turning upside down and removing the muffins from the mold. If your mold was greased well, the muffins should slide out easily.
- If using a muffin tin, they can take between 22 and 26 minutes to bake.
- You are of course welcome to choose whether you want to cut off the domed portion of your muffins into a perfect cylinder or simply let them be!
- Allow muffins to cool completely before frosting.
Cream Cheese Frosting
- Beat together the softened butter and cream cheese on medium speed until it’s smooth and somewhat fluffy.¼ Cup Unsalted Butter, 1 Cups Cream Cheese
- Scrape down the sides, then add in the powdered sugar slowly and vanilla paste1 Cups Sifted Powdered Sugar, 1 Tablespoon Vanilla Paste
- Place cream cheese frosting in a plastic bag or pastry bag and cut off the tip. Add a dollop of frosting onto each muffin, sprinkle with salted crumble and enjoy!
Notes
- What if I don’t have the right baking molds? Not a problem! Turn these petit fours into simple blueberry muffins by baking the batter in a lined muffin tray instead of the molds.
- Can you bake these with frozen blueberries instead? Yes, but they need to be fully thawed beforehand! When baking blueberry muffins with frozen blueberries, rinse the berries under warm water to thaw and then dry them really well using paper towels. Once they’re dry, you’re good to go!
- Can you make these muffins ahead of time? I don’t recommend making these more than 1 day in advance. They’re so moist and soft when they come out of the oven and leaving them for longer than a few days could dry them out.
Brooke
Hey there, I just tried your recipe and the silicone mould was filled 3/4 full with a tsp of crumble on top. Although they filed so much that leveling them would have left practically no crumble on top. Is this what happens for you? As in the picture I can also see very little crumble.
Thanks!
Emily
Hi there Brooke! Great questions - when I fill my molds to 3/4 of the way full usually they don't overflow. If yours did - you could always trim off the bottom so that you can preserve thee crumble! Or perhaps reduce the amount of batter in your molds to make up for the amount of oven spring that's happening. As for the crumble, you can certainly add the crumble both onto the top of the muffin or simple to the top of the blueberry muffins after they've been frosted! I tend to add a bit of crumble onto the top of the muffins and touch on top of the cream cheese. Depending on your preference, you can add much more or less!