Blueberry Banana Cornmeal Muffins

I decided to experiment with some muffins.

I had a over-ripe banana and some blueberries. I've made banana muffins. I've made blueberry muffins. I've made banana and blueberry muffins. But I have not made blueberry banana cornmeal muffins! Well, until now.

Notes: These came out nicely. They were a little flat. I think I added too much liquid, so I wrote the recipe without the extra 1/2 cup of milk. But they're sweet and a little dense. The blueberries add a nice little sweet/tart burst.

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1 cup cornmeal
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 cup yogurt (or sour cream if you have it)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup maple syrup
1-2 small bananas
1 cup blueberries

Directions: Heat the oven to 350.

Mash up the banana in a large bowl. Add in the yogurt and maple syrup.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, salt, sugar, and baking soda. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir until just combined. Fold the blueberries in gently.

Bake for 18-20 minutes, cool and enjoy!

Spelt Blueberry Banana Muffins

The impulse baker strikes again.

I bought blueberries at the store this morning because they were on sale. I figured they'd be great in my museli. There were a few too many for them to all fit in my container. Extra blueberries? The impulse baker knows just what to do with those!

Notes: These muffins aren't too sweet, so they're great for breakfast.

I've read in various places that you can use chia seeds as an egg substitute. I tried it for these and it worked great. You don't even know the chia seeds are in there.

This recipe can admit of lots of substitutions. Don't have yogurt? Use sour cream. Don't want dairy? Swap the regular milk for almond or coconut. I know people think baking has to be perfectly exact, but think of it this way: people have been baking long before there were measuring cups and conversion charts. It can't be that fussy!

Ingredients:
2 cups spelt or whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 cup brown sugar
4 tablespoons melted butter
1 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 tablespoon chai seeds
3 tablespoons water
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 banana
1 cup blueberries

Directions: Heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Start by adding the chia seeds and water to a small bowl. Stir them together and set aside so that the seeds become sticky.

Add the brown sugar and butter to a bowl. Whisk them together until the brown sugar is mostly dissolved. Add in the chia mixture, yogurt, milk, and vanilla and whisk to combine.

Mash your banana and add it to your wet ingredients. Add flour, salt, spices, and baking soda to the bowl and stir everything to combine. Fold the blueberries into the mix.

Spoon the mix into your muffin tin. Bake for 18-20 minutes until a tester comes out clean. Enjoy!

Farmer's Market Creation: Spelt Blueberry Spice Muffins

I cannot tell you how proud I am of myself for making this recipe.

It is the first time I've ever made up a baking recipe. I can make things up when it comes to cooking because there aren't any exact measurements. Baking is another story: it requires at least a little knowledge of one of my worst subjects, which is chemistry.

My parents were visiting and we went to the Swarthmore farmer's market. We're big breakfast people: we love eating breakfast out and making big breakfasts at home. We decided we wanted some muffins and found some beautiful blueberries at the market.

I have lots of cookbooks with lots of muffin recipes, but none of them looked that great to me. Plus, they all required baking powder. I have yet to restock my pantry completely, so I didn't have any. This lead me on an internet quest to see what I could use as a substitute. Once I started looking around, I decided I would piece together my own muffin recipe.

Notes: I beam with pride in telling you that these were yummy. I still kind of can't believe that my Frankenmuffins turned out so well. They were moist and flavorful.

These are not vegan, but I found lots of recipes for vegan muffins in my quest. As long as you have baking powder at your disposal and you get the amount and consistency of liquid right, I think you could make them dairy free pretty easily. For instance, you could add coconut milk instead of sour cream and more almond milk in the place of the butter.  You could probably add applesauce instead of eggs.

My dad was my guest photographer for the finish photo (he reads the blog -- Hi, Dad!).

Ingredients:
2 cups of spelt flour
1 cup of sour cream
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 cup of almond milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup of brown sugar
4 tablespoons of melted butter
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon of kosher salt
1/2 pint of blueberries

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350.

In one bowl, mix together your flour, salt, spices, and baking soda. Set aside.

In another bowl, add your melted butter and whisk in your brown sugar so that the sugar dissolves a bit (it will look thick-ish like molasses). Whisk in your egg. Stir in your almond milk, sour cream, and vanilla. Stir just until the mixture is smooth.

Add your dry ingredients to the wet mixture in thirds, mixing just to combine after each third (over-mixing makes for tough muffins). Finally, fold your blueberries into the batter.

Divide the batter into your muffin tin (I use the paper cups, it makes my life easier).

Bake at 350 for 18-20 minutes.

Serve them up for the breakfast-loving people in your life and enjoy!

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