Tag Archives: muffin

July Is National Blueberry Month

Blueberry season is here! And there is nothing more fabulous than having fresh blueberries to eat.  They’re so wonderful that they even have an entire month devoted to them; July is National Blueberry Month.

Just by themselves, blueberries are a wonderful snack.  In a fruit salad, they are amazingly tasty.  Baked into a myriad of treats such as muffins, cobblers and pies they are indescribably delicious.

Blueberry Basics

Blueberries are native to North America and related to cranberries, another distinctive North American fruit.  They are high in antioxidants; anthocyanin which is beneficial for collagen especially as it relates to capillary and vascular support, and ellagic acid which is helpful in protecting against cancer.  Blueberries are also rich in vitamin C, manganese and are a good source of fiber.  Studies show them to be effective in helping to protect against Age Related Macular Degeneration (ARMD), colon cancer, and ovarian cancer.

Organic or conventional?

Domestic, conventionally grown blueberries have been found to have over 40 different pesticide residues. Some of these pesticides are known or potential cancer-causing agents, others are suspected to be hormone disruptors or neurotoxins. Unfortunately, a number of them are also toxic to honeybees (required to pollinate the blueberries, go figure). This means that when buying blueberries it’s important to choose organic over conventional.

Some years the pesticide level is high enough that blueberries are a part of the Environmental Working Group’s Dirty Dozen [https://www.ewg.org/foodnews/full-list.php] list. Other years they aren’t in the top twelve. However, even if they’re not on the top twelve list, they’re still close to it. Buying organic means that you do not have the high levels of pesticides often found in conventional produce.

If you’re fortunate enough live near a pick-your-own, organic/sustainable/regenerative agriculture blueberry farm it can be the work of a morning to pick several pounds. Blueberries freeze quite well; that one day of hot sweaty work can yield a year-long bounty of delicious treats.

How to eat blueberries

“By the handful fresh out of mama’s picking bucket.”

Sun-ripened, fresh off the bush blueberries are bursting with flavor and definitely hard to pass up. When my children were little and we used to go blueberry picking I used to joke that it was a good thing I was a fast picker. With three little girls who all LOVED blueberries, their picking efforts often meant serving as tasters to make sure what was going into mama’s bucket passed inspection.

This is one of the first recipes I make each year after going blueberry picking (once my family is done plundering the basket). These muffins make a great snack and always go quickly in my house. They're moist, super tasty, and, if you’re trying to make them last, they do freeze well.

Best Blueberry Muffins

Ingredients
  

  • 1 cup gluten-free oatmeal1 cup gluten-free flour
  • 1 teaspoon lemon zest
  • 1/2 cup pecans, chopped
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 cup organic whole milk
  • 1/4 cup organic sour cream
  • 2 tablespoons melted organic coconut oil
  • 1/2 cup honey (use raw and local)
  • 1 cup blueberries

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 350 F
  • Grease muffin tin
  • In a large bowl mix together dry ingredients
  • Add milk, sour cream, coconut oil, and honey, blending well
  • Fold in blueberries
  • Divide mixture into muffin tins
  • Bake 15 minutes or until done

For another delicious blueberry recipe check out these mojitos.

Persimmon Raisin Muffins

It's persimmon season!  I love these tasty little fruits, with their rich fragrant scent and amazing flavor. Luckily for me, there is a pick your own place not too far away.  Each year I go and pick pounds and pounds of them.  I eat as many as I can before they get so ripe and so soft that they are in danger of sliding out of the fruit bowl and off the counter.  They have to be pretty soft before they are ripe enough to eat so this window is pretty small.

When I get to this point I turn the rest into pulp to store in the freezer.  This allows me to make cakes, cookies, and other persimmon delights for as long as the supply lasts. Apparently you can make jam from persimmons but I somehow never seem to get around to doing that.  I'm also not sure if I would use it as I'm currently the only one in the house who likes persimmons.

One of my favorite things to bake with persimmons are these muffins.  They're a great treat with a rich dark flavor that is so reminiscent of the crisp fall weather.  I'm sure they would freeze well but somehow they've never lasted long enough for me to test that theory.

Persimmon Raisin Muffins

Ingredients
  

  • 3 cups white whole wheat flour
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 cup persimmon pulp
  • 1 egg
  • 1 cup sucanat
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla
  • 1 cup raisins
  • 1 cup chopped pecans

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 375°F
  • Grease loaf pans
  • Sift together flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powder and salt
  • In a separate bowl beat egg, add persimmon pulp and sucanat
  • Add vanilla, raisins and pecans
  • Add sifted ingredients and mix well
  • Spoon into greased muffin tins
  • Bake 15 minutes or until tops spring back when tapped
  • Remove from oven and cool in tins 3-4 minutes before moving to wire rack
  • Finish cooling on wire rack

cinnamon muffin recipe

Rainy Day Muffins: A Delightful Cinnamon Raisin Recipe

I'm happy but sad.

Happy, yes I am, mostly because I am sitting here eating this delicious muffin.  Sad, yup, that too, because I'm not sure I'll be able to replicate it.

It's raining here today...for the third day in a row.  Big bolts of lightning, huge crashes of thunder and a torrential downpour.  Enough to make me decide that I needed some muffins and a cup of tea to cheer myself up.
 
Not sure what kind of muffin I wanted I decided to rummage and see what we had. Leftover flours in the freezer, millet, corn, oat and wheat yielded just enough flour to feel "muffin-y."  I had some applesauce, a few raisins, some pecans, mixed those together with a couple of glugs of oil, an egg, cinnamon, vanilla, baking powder, baking soda, salt and voila!  It tastes scrumptious.  I just wish I had remembered to measure before I started throwing things into the bowl.
 
But the important thing to remember here is to be creative with your food.  If you have a little of this, a little of that try it, you'll never know but you may find a new favorite.  If you start with good ingredients you'll usually end up with a pretty successful result.  I think part of what makes this creation so successful is that it is basically a cinnamon raisin muffin with pecans but the balance of the different flours is what makes it special.  A previous family favorite of greens and beans was also a "smattering" recipe it came about because I had a lot of little bits of leftovers.
 
To the best of my remembering (in other words guesstimating amounts) here is the recipe.
 

cinnamon muffin recipe

Cozy Cinnamon Raisin Muffins with a Nutty Twist

Ingredients
  

  • 3 C. *King Arthur Gluten Free Measure for Measure
  • 1 C. applesauce
  • 1/3 C. avocado oil
  • 3/4 C. sucanat
  • 1 t. vanilla
  • 2 t. cinnamon
  • 1/2 C. pecans - crushed
  • 1 C. raisins
  • 1 t. baking soda
  • 1/2 t. baking powder
  • 1 t. salt
  • 1 egg

Instructions
 

  • Mix all ingredients together
  • Spoon into greased muffin tin
  • Bake 375 F for 15-18 minutes
  • Rest 2 minutes in tin before transferring to a wire rack to cool. Enjoy!

Notes

*King Arthur Gluten Free Measure for Measure
PS: My friend Mary who stopped by for tea tells me that these are "Yum yum yum!" hope you enjoy them too