Sundays with Dorie: Great grains muffins

I’m so sad that I can’t be part of Tuesdays with Dorie, a group of bloggers who bake a different recipe from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From My Home to Yours (remember that book I want for my upcoming birthday?) each week and blog about it on Tuesdays. They closed off membership late last year, before I got into the blogging game. Dorie’s so cool, I guess there are just too many fans who want to bake along with her.

But there’s no reason I can’t have my own day with Dorie, right? So yesterday officially became Sunday with Dorie in my house. My mum had recently taken her book out of the library and emailed me this muffin recipe. With oats, whole wheat flour, cornmeal and prunes (I love the humble prune!) it looked like a good, breakfasty muffin recipe for the weekend.

You can find more recipes at barbara-luijckx.com

Muffins are one of my all-time favourite breakfasts. When I was a kid it was a red-letter day when my mum baked blueberry muffins, with wild blueberries picked during summer and frozen for use all year round. I don’t make them much now because in a household of two there are always leftovers, and muffins are one of those foods that are never much good a day later (though warming them in a low oven and slathering them with butter does perk them up somewhat).

While I’m on the subject of muffins, can I tell you my number one tip for quick and easy muffin-making in the morning? Before you go to bed combine all the dry ingredients in one bowl and all the wet ones in another and refrigerate. When you get up, all you have to do is preheat the oven, combine the wet and dry ingredients, fill the muffin tin, and voila, breakfast in 20 minutes.

I must say, Dorie’s muffins turned out very nicely. They’re surprisingly light, not too sweet and have a subtle maple flavour, while the cornmeal lends a delightful crunch. I can’t say how much my mum tinkered with the original recipe (I know there was some alteration involved and I suspect the original might have had some sugar in it too) but I think her version is perfect just as it is.

Great Grains Muffins
Adapted from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan

Makes 12 regular or 6 jumbo muffins

1 cup all purpose / plain flour
1/3 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup cornmeal
1/3 cup rolled oats
½ tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
2 eggs
½ cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup maple syrup
¼ cup brown sugar (optional, for a sweeter muffin)
1 cup buttermilk
¼ cup prunes or other dried fruit, chopped into bite sized pieces

Preheat the oven to 400F / C and grease or insert liners into a 12-muffin tin.

Combine flours, cornmeal, oats, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl.

In another bowl whisk together eggs, oil, maple syrup and buttermilk. Add to dry ingredients along with prunes and fold everything together until just combined.

Bake in the middle of the oven for 18-20 minutes, until the tops are golden.