Blueberry Pecan Muffins

 

Ahhhh, the joys of summer harvest! A soft and oh so delicious muffin, chock full of luscious blueberries and pecans, and topped with cinnamon sugar, fresh from the oven. What better way to start the day? 

 

We are so very fortunate to be able to buy these berries in bulk at a reasonable price. I'm enjoying a lot of great produce from other sources, as well as our garden, so I will be sharing more delectable treats and recipes as the summer harvest progresses. For now, on to the muffin recipe!


Blueberry Pecan Muffins

1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
2 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
2 T flaxseed meal
1 T baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1 egg
1 cup almond milk
2 T each canola oil and coconut oil, melted
Cinnamon sugar for topping

Turn the oven on to 375 degrees and grease a 12 cup muffin tin.

Sift together all dry ingredients except for the nuts. Combine with the nuts in a medium mixing bowl. That's right, I still sift, and it does make a difference in how the muffins turn out. Whisk together all wet ingredients and gently stir into the dry ingredients. I was taught by my Home Ec teacher to only stir about 11 times, so I try to do that. I added the berries after the 11 stirs and then stirred 11 more times. The idea is to keep the muffins from turning out tough and full of air holes.

By ice cream scoopfuls add batter to the greased muffin tins. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar and then bake for 25 minutes. Enjoy!

Berry Rhubarb Preserves

I know it's been forever since I posted here but so much has been going on that it would take forever to share all. You can stop by my Art blog as well though to see some of the latest happenings.
While still in Oregon I was lucky enough to be given lots of rhubarb and harvest enough raspberries from my patch to make some preserves. I had some blueberries on hand as well so I combined 4 cups each of the two types of berries along with 8 cups of chopped rhubarb. All those stringy looking pieces among the berries are actually grated lemon rind, about 2 tablespoons. I also added the juice of half the lemon.
Preserves are different than jam in that you only add half the amount of sugar per cup of fruit. So I added 8 cups of sugar and then brought the mixture to a boil, stirring frequently. Be sure to put this in a large deep pot as the mixture does bubble and splash so you can be burned. I lowered the temp to allow the mixture to boil slowly, stirring frequently to make sure it doesn't scorch. After the mixture has thickened a bit, about 30 minutes of cooking I ladle it into sterilized jars, clean the rims, add the lids and and rings and tighten them down. I water bath process for about 10 minutes. Your yield will depend on the amount of fruit you use so I always have extra jars sterilized just in case. This is a good way to combine end of season fruits, make your sugar go farther, and create a delicious topping for toast, pancakes or waffles, or ice cream.