We can probably all agree that the best part of the muffin is the muffin top. The fact that it tends to be slightly crisp on the outside and fluffy in the middle makes it so much better than the bottom part, with its fluffy interior but slightly limp exterior. While all this sounds well and good, Ina Garten has a method for perfecting that outer crispiness on blueberry muffins without affecting the fluffiness on the inside.

Her trick is to sprinkle white sugar on the batter once it’s been prepared and poured into the muffin tins. This gives the muffin tops a more delicate but even crunch, as muffins are normally topped with larger sugar crystals that provide more sporadic crunchiness. Try this move with our cardamom blueberry muffin recipe. Combine plain flour, ground cardamom, baking powder, and salt in one bowl, then mix together melted butter, brown sugar, and white sugar in a separate receptacle, along with eggs, vanilla extract, and Greek yogurt. Combine the contents of the two bowls along with the blueberries. Pour the batter into your prepared muffin tins then sprinkle that magical sugar on top. Bake for 5 minutes at 400 F, then for 15 minutes at 350 F.