Fresh blackberry muffins
Lindsey Nair/The Roanoke Times
Wednesday afternoon, when the temperatures had climbed well into the 90s, I decided to bake muffins. You can call me crazy, because that’s exactly what my husband called me.
“But I’ve got these pretty blackberries and they’re going to be past their prime!” I protested. “And I’ve got to use my oven sometimes. I can’t just not use my oven all summer long!”
He shook his head and went next door to visit the neighbor for about an hour, and by the time he got back, I had a rack of beautiful blackberry muffins cooling on the counter. I notice he enjoyed one after dinner last night, too. So maybe it was worth it all along.
I wanted to try this recipe even though I didn’t have the exact ingredients. Call me crazy again, because typically when you tamper with a baking recipe, you’re just asking for a colossal failure. But this time, my calculations and speculations did me in good stead. Maybe I’m starting to learn a little something about the science behind baking. Or maybe I just lucked out.
Regardless, I hope you enjoy this recipe if you’ve got some nice blackberries hanging around. It’s quick and easy enough to make in the morning before breakfast – and that would be a heckuva lot cooler than making them in the blazing high heat of afternoon. My notes are in parentheses.
Have a great weekend! Stay cool out there.
Fresh Blackberry Muffins
Supposed to make 12, but it made more like 15 for me.
1 cup milk (I used skim milk)
1 egg (I used two small farm eggs)
3 Tbsp. butter, melted (and cooled slightly)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup rolled oats (I used quick-cooking oats)
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice (I used a mixture of cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger)
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups fresh blackberries
1/4 cup turbinado raw sugar (I didn’t have any of this. I would recommend using it or increasing the amount of sugar just a little bit in the batter if you like a very sweet muffin)
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease 12 muffin cups, or line with paper muffin liners. Whisk the milk, egg, butter, and vanilla extract together in a bowl.
2. Mix the flour, oats, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, and salt in a bowl. Make a well in the center and pour in the egg mixture. Stir until just combined. Gently fold in the blackberries. Divide the batter evenly into the muffin cups (fill each cup 3/4 way), and sprinkle with the turbinado sugar.
3. Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack.
July 22, 2011 - 9:46 AM
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YUM!! Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Lindsey, thank you for sharing this recipe. I absolutely love blackberries and this sounds so good, I’ll definitely be giving it a try soon!
Sounds wonderful. Wonder if this would work for any berry?
Yumm! Sounds good! and hopefully I’ll be getting some fresh blackberries very soon…
Denise, I would not hesitate to try it with raspberries or wineberries, but I’m not sure about blueberries. I don’t know how much the moisture from the blackberries impacted the turnout. Come to think about it, I believe they’d be OK. After all, the recipe was flexible enough to allow me to use skim milk and an extra egg. Muffin recipes seem much more forgiving than some of their bakery counterparts.
Lindsey,
Can you use whole wheat flour in muffins or is it too heavy?
Win
You should keep some turbinado sugar around. I use it for a ton of different applications, from pork rubs to sprinkling on the outside of fresh-cooked empanadas. It lends a different element of flavor, a depth of sweetness that processed white sugar lacks.
@ Win, I don’t know… with the oats in these, they were pretty dense already.
@ Jeff, it’s on my shopping list
I made them except I substituted chicken broth for the milk and the flavors contrasted too much. I recommend the original recipe as posted it seems to be better in the long run.
Chicken broth? In the muffins?
I can’t think chicken broth would be a good substitute for milk in any sweet baking recipe.
I saw information on this page about a sweet potato pie contest, but don’t see the info any longer. Do you have the link?
That does not ring a bell, Cynthia. I don’t remember running anything about such a contest. I’m sorry!
I can’t either Kristen. I dearly love chicken broth, but have never even thought of using it in sweet baking recipes, or even corn muffins. it might be worth experimenting with in a savory recipe.
I made these the other day and they were GREAT! Thanks for the recipe – its a keeper
!