Family Alive

It’s rare that I find a recipe that will be my “standby”. I’ve shared my Best Buttermilk Pancake recipe, that has become a new standby. I love homemade blueberry muffins, and I’m always trying new recipes. Recently, I found a delicious recipe (that I’ll share another day) that had pretty much set itself in as my new standby muffin recipe. But… while I was in Chicago visiting Michele, she made this fantastic recipe (originally found at Allrecipes.com). These are moist, full of flavor, sweet, nutty, with lots of possibilities for subbing/changing things (check out the reviews on the Allrecipes.com page for ideas), as well as super easy. I’ll be making a double batch tomorrow to freeze for quick and healthy breakfasts. These are a definite new muffin standby!

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup oat bran
• 1/4 cup quick cooking oats
• 1/4 cup wheat germ
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup blueberries
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 banana, mashed
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 12 cup muffin pan, or line with paper muffin cups.
2. In a large bowl, stir together the all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, sugar, oat bran, quick-cooking oats, wheat germ, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Gently stir in the blueberries and walnuts. In a separate bowl, mix together the mashed banana, buttermilk, egg, oil and vanilla. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, and mix just until blended. Spoon into muffin cups, filling all the way to the top.
3. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the tops of the muffins spring back when lightly touched.

Notes: I didn’t have wheat germ, so I substituted ground flaxseed meal. It was great… and it’s full of very good stuff for you. I also topped them with a bit of crumbly brownsugar/butter/oat/nutmeg/cinnamon mixture. Not necessary at all, but it was a nice little sweet touch.