Last month my family and I were on our annual ‘Grant Tour’, meaning we were visiting the family. My husband and my families are mostly in Oregon, so once a year we travel through Oregon for three weeks straight, visiting aunts, uncles, siblings, grandparents, nieces, nephews, cousins, and old friends. It’s a marathon whirlwind of social time. By the end of that time, as grateful as I am for all the wonderful hospitality shown by friends and family, I just want to make a meal of my own.
Usually, the last few days of vacation are spent at my mother and father in-laws’ house. It’s a quiet few days, we’ve seen everyone for the year and we are just winding down and packing to go home. Now around my in-laws’ house, there are a lot of Himalayan Blackberries, especially on the sides of the road. Mountains of them it seems like. An invasive noxious weed in Oregon they nonetheless produce oodles of delicious blackberries, that I love to eat. WARNING: Before you eat Himalayan Blackberries, just be careful that the berry bushes have not been sprayed with a herbicide, a common method to kill the blackberry bushes near the roads. You can tell when the blackberry canes have been sprayed because they look limp and start turning brown within a day or two. Anyway, the berries were just ripening the day or two before we were supposed to leave for home. So my oldest son, Finn, and I went on a berry-picking excursion determined to make something scrumptious to eat with our hard-earned blackberries. I don’t know if you’ve ever eaten the first crop of Himalayan Blackberries but they are VERY tart. We needed to add some sugar to these berries! We didn’t have enough berries for a pie but we did have enough blackberries for some muffins. My son Finn is a big fan of berries and bread products so really muffins were what we needed to make.
Maybe it’s just me but, I have the hardest time cooking and baking in somebody else’s kitchen. I spend 80% of the time looking for random utensils or pans I need, 15% of the time wondering how somebody can be out of flour or eggs, (probably because we ate them all while visiting), and about 5% of the time actually cooking. So anyway, this recipe is a direct result of either not having what I normally need to bake with or I just couldn’t find things. Regardless, I’m glad I had to improvise because these muffins were way better than the old recipe I used. I wish that happened more often to me when I improvise. Side Note: This muffin recipe would work for any berries, just exclude the extra sugar that the berries are tossed in. Unless they are tart berries, then sugar away. I also think tart blackberries would make an excellent Summer Berry Pie.
Blackberry Muffins
Easy, moist, delicious muffins.
Ingredients
Dry
- 2 1/2 cups white flour or half wheat if desired
- 1 Tbl baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
Wet
- 1 cup sugar or evaporated cane juice
- 1 egg
- 3 Tbl heavy cream
- 1/2 cup plain yogurt
- 1/4 cup buttermilk
- 8 Tbl unsalted butter melted
- 1 lemon's worth of zest large lemon
- 1/2 juice of a lemon large lemon
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Berries
- 2 1/2 cups blackberries sliced in half lengthwise
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 375℉
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Add cupcake papers to the muffin tins
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Wisk together in a medium bowl: flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.
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In a large bowl, mix with a baking spatula or wooden spoon: sugar, egg, yogurt, buttermilk, melted butter, lemon zest, and vanilla.
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Cut the blackberries in half and add to a small bowl.
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If the blackberries are very tart then add 1/8 cup of sugar into the blackberries and stir.
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Combine the wet and dry mixture with a wooden spoon until just combined.
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Fold the berries into the the mixture.
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Fill the muffin papers to barely level with the edge of the cups of the tin.
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Bake for 15-18 minutes.
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Let the muffins cool in the tin until they are cool enough to remove without burning your fingers.
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Eat with lots of butter.
Please share your favorite treat to make with blackberries. Maybe I’ll get a chance to make it next year.
