Whole Grain Blackberry Muffins

Back when I lived in Texas year-round, I started to alter my daily habits beginning about early April. My bed comforter would be rolled up (or kicked) to the end of my mattress. Jeans were the last thing I'd pull out to wear in the morning. Cold showers and four rapidly slurped ice waters were necessities after a run. Wearing my hair down, ever? - Forget about it. By late June I'd practically be living in my swimsuit, and all I would want to eat everyday would be snow cones (that is until I discovered frozen watermelon). By August I would have been burned by the metal latch on a car seatbelt too many times to count, and unless I were completely immersed in water or completely immersed in melting ice cream, I wouldn't venture outside between the hours of 2pm and 6pm. 

Not living in Texas year-round, however, I find that my most missed experiences are frequently summer heat-related. I want to sweat a little, burn my feet on the concrete, watch the fuzzy heat waves rise up in the distance. Maybe it's because I don't have to pay to do laundry here, but I don't mind having to do an extra wash because I somehow sweated through two (or three) shirts today.

And so this visit home has taken my family to a tiny town north of here in the three-digit weather at 5pm, no less, to pick blackberries. Duck Creek Family Farms began a couple of years ago as a small side operation for a single family. The popularity of the concept - visitors come, grab a few buckets off the bed of a trailer, and pick ripened berries directly off the bush - has grown, and the family has maximized their acreage, planting blackberry bushes right up the edge of their house. The weekend before we went picking, eighty-seven cars lined up in the small front yard for a chance to take home bags of those sweet summer fruits. 

My family brought back three big buckets. We've since polished off about one bucket, mainly from sneaking into the fridge every ten or so minutes to grab a handful, but I also managed to save a cup and a half to make these muffins. These are almost vegan, and vegan substitutions here are easy. This is also a tiny recipe because I made mini muffins so if you want more, double it!

Whole Grain Blackberry Muffins

Makes approximately 30 mini muffins and 12 standard-size muffins.

Ingredients

1 cup whole wheat flour (You can use regular all-purpose flour or any combination of the two as well).

1 tbsp. baking powder

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg (or a vegan substitute)

1/2 cup milk (or soymilk, rice milk, etc.)

1/2 cup applesauce

1 tbsp. oil

1 1/2 cup blackberries

1/4 rolled oats, optional

Method

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour your muffins tins, or else prepare them with paper muffins cups.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and sugar. Add the egg, milk, applesauce, and oil, and mix well. Set aside. In a small bowl, use the backside of a spoon to crush 1/2 cup of blackberries. Stir this into the muffin batter. Then toss in the remaining blackberries and the oats, and mix the batter well. 

Pour the batter into the muffin tins until the tins are about 2/3 full. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes for mini muffins, and 20-25 minutes for standard-size muffins. After they bake, remove the muffins from the oven, and allow them to cool for about 10 minutes. If you did not use paper muffin cups, run a knife around the sides of the individual tins in order to loosen the muffins before you remove them. This is important because you don't want the muffins to pull apart around the chunky blackberries. Serve with . . . leftover meringue frosting from your tres leches cake!