Berry Muffins with Wheat Germ

[monksandbones]

This is my go-to muffin recipe at the moment, but every time I've made it so far I've engineered it from a semi-related recipe for much richer and fancier lemon-berry-streusel muffins. It occurred to me that I could write my version down, and if I was going to write it down, why not here?

Dietary and accessibility notes: These are not vegan muffins, and unfortunately, I don't have the vegan baking expertise to suggest how they could become vegan. The recipe requires some stirring/whisking and spooning batter into muffin cups, but nothing so demanding that I feel my lack of an electric mixer, although it would certainly be possible to use one.



Dry ingredients:

1/2 cup (125 mL) wheat germ
1 1/2 cups (375 mL) all purpose flour
1/2 cup (125 mL) whole wheat flour
3/4 cup (175 mL) sugar
2 tsp (10 mL) baking powder
1 tsp (5 mL) baking soda
1/4 tsp (1 mL) salt
1/2 tsp (2 mL) nutmeg

Liquid ingredients:

1 egg
1 cup (250 mL) buttermilk (or 1 tbsp/15 mL lemon juice plus 1 cup milk)
1/2 cup (125 mL) vegetable oil (or 1/3 cup plus milk to make up difference)
1 tsp (5 mL) vanilla extract

Berries:

3/4–1 cup (175-250 mL) fresh or frozen blueberries or raspberries (or whatever)





Preheat oven to 375ºF (190ºC). Place muffin tin liners in cups of muffin tin.

In a large bowl, stir together the dry ingredients until thoroughly mixed (I use a whisk for this).

In another bowl, combine the liquid ingredients and mix well (I use the whisk for this, too, once I've finished mixing the dry ingredients).

If using frozen berries, scoop a spoonful or two of the dry ingredient mixture into a small bowl, pour in the berries, and toss to coat (this is optional, but I find it helpful for breaking up any clumps of berries before I add them to the batter, and for preventing any new clumps from forming).

Pour the frozen berries and any loose flour mixture back into the dry ingredients. Pour liquid ingredients into dry ingredients and mix, stirring until just blended (I continue to use the whisk for this stage).

Spoon the batter into the muffin cups (note that this recipe makes a fairly stiff batter) and bake for 25–30 minutes, or until done. Devour. Makes 12 muffins.

Comments

[acelightning]

The only non-vegan components are the egg and the buttermilk. I don't know whether "egg replacer" (sold in most health food stores, and possibly even some ordinary supermarkets) would work in this recipe - is there anyone reading this who's used egg replacer?

But you could certainly substitute soy milk or almond milk (I think almond milk might go especially well with the whole wheat and the fruit), adding the lemon juice for acidity. Actually, since commercial white and brown sugars aren't vegan (they're filtered through charcoal made by burning beef bones!), use "raw" sugar, which will have some of the acidity that commercial brown sugar has, and might be enough to react with the baking soda. Or skip the baking soda (and lemon juice, unless you want it for flavor) and just double the baking powder.

[chagrined]

I've used egg replacer for muffins and cakes with no problem. Not that I'm a baking expert, but they seemed to turn out fine.