Janice Carr’s Mixed-Grain Muffins

As soon as I saw this recipe–thumbing through, I might add, since I have not gotten there yet in my reading of The Cornbread Gospels–I knew I was going to make it for my playgroup. It looked like the perfect combination of healthy and tasty–and what kid does not like muffins? Plus they allowed for any combination of whole grain flours, which is fun because I tend to not like some of the typical ones (whole wheat, quinoa, and rye, for exs).

When they first came out of the oven, I won’t lie to you, I thought they were a flop. Mine were not “high rising” and they were awfully crumbly. Maybe it was because I doubled the recipe or maybe it was the less well known teff flour. But I served them with room temperature European butter and honey or maple syrup (their choice) for drizzling and suddenly it did not matter that they were squat or needed to be eaten with a fork in some cases. More of these babies were eaten than cupcakes at my daughter’s birthday celebration playgroup. Which, to be fair, might have also been because those were not so healthy. Either way, these whole grain muffins were a hit!

I recommend you give these a try. And let me know if you do how they turn out and what combination of flours you used. I used my 2 favorites (except cornmeal, of course, which was already present), oat and teff flours.

Janice Carr’s Mixed-Grain Muffins
The Cornbread Gospels, Crescent Dragonwagon

vegetable oil cooking spray
paper muffin cups

3/4 cup unbleached AP flour (plus extra as needed, which I did not)
3/4 cup stone ground yellow cornmeal
About 1 cup assorted whole grain flours–I used 75% oat flour and 25% teff flour
2 T baking powder (no that is not a typo)
1 t salt
1/3 cup butter, room temp
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup milk (I had to sub a mix of sour cream, cream and water, which might have been my problem as well)

Preheat oven to 400 F. Line 12 cup muffin tin with paper cups and then lightly spray them and the pan around them. Set aside.

Whisk together the flours and cornmeal, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

Cream the butter and sugar and then beat in the egg. Combine the butter mixture with the milk and the flour mixture, mixing everything gently until just combined. Folding is a good way to do this. The mixture should be moist but thick–be prepared to add more flour if necessary, up to 1/3 cup.

Scoop the batter into the muffin cups, dividing it equally between 12. Bake until the muffins are golden brown and crusty, 15-20 minutes. Serve them hot, within minutes of removing from oven if possible, with butter and honey or maple syrup.