Baking with Dorie, Great Grains Muffins

Hi!

Today's Baking with Dorie was chosen by ME!

I will post the recipe below or you can find it on page 9 of Baking from My Home To Yours, by Dorie Greenspan. You can also check out the other bakers here.

We love muffins and these sounded so interesting to me. I liked the idea of adding oats, whole wheat flour,cornmeal and maple syrup. I wondered what the texture and flavor would be like.

I made just a half a batch, and we really enjoyed them fresh from the oven for breakfast this morning! I could really taste the hint of cornmeal which was what I was hoping for. They are not a light muffin, but  not heavy either! I added raisins and walnuts....they were perfect! Not too sweet, just right after being overloaded with all the Easter goodies this past week.

We had a great Easter with our kids home!

Here we are celebrating our Birthdays:

The day went by way too fast for me. I always get a bit sad when they leave so it was fun to wake up this morning and get this post ready. It was good to be baking again! It's a beautiful day here and I plan to spend some of it just sitting outside in the sun..it has been a LONG winter!

Have a great Easter Monday!

Great Grains Muffins

1 cup flour

1/3 c. whole wheat flour

1/3 c. cornmeal

1/3 cup old fashioned oats

1/4 c. sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup buttermilk

1/3 cup pure maple syrup

2 large eggs

1 stick {8 Tablespoons} unsalted butter, melted and cooled

3/4 cup quartered, moist, plump prunes or other dried fruits and or chopped nuts

GETTING READY:

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Butter and spray 12 molds in a regular-size muffin pan or fit the molds with paper muffin cups. Alternatively, use a silicone muffin pan, which neither needs greasing nor paper cups. Place the muffin pan on a baking sheet.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, cornmeal, oats, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.In a large glass measuring cup or other bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, maple syrup, eggs, and melted butter. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry and, with the whisk or a rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to blend. Don't worry about being thorough-if the batter is a bit lumpy, that's fine. Stir in the fruit or nuts, if you are using them. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups,.

Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until the tops are golden and a thin knife inserted into the center of the muffin comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes, then carefully lift each muffin out of its mold and onto the rack to cool.