Whole Grain Strawberry Muffins with Walnuts and Chocolate
So I was hoping to have a Famous Fridays post ready for you today but the storm and all the subsequent power losses which keep cropping up have seriously cramped my style, not to mention my cooking!! However, in between power losses yesterday which were brief but unexpected and enough to give anyone the power-loss jitters, I managed to beat the shut off and turn out a batch of these yummy, whole grain muffins. I had to. Everyone knows that a snow day = mandatory baking!! Anyhoo, some are topped with chopped walnuts, some with dark chocolate chips, because some of us just had to have chocolate (nerves are running kinda thin around here!!) and I thought if you've been going through the weather craziness lately (or all the other kinds of craziness around) you'd want to bake up a batch of these too. Behold the soothing power of the muffin!!
I love baking muffins--not only do they result in individual hand-held treats, but they generally are quick and easy, don't require a mixer and are usually ready in under 30 minutes, another boon for those of us impatient folks. These fulfill all of those requirements and more..they're actually relatively healthy, (particularly the ones without the chocolate chips) as they're made with a mix of white and rye flour, only use maple syrup as the sweetener so there's no refined sugar involved, and are full of fresh strawberries. What's not to love, right?!!
And because of all this, they're not overly sweet and make for a fun but not terribly decadent breakfast.
Or snack.
Even post-storm and full power, we are still loving them (they reheat really well and the melty chocolate is to die for!!) and I know that I will be adding them to my regular muffin repertoire. Doesn't everyone have a muffin repertoire?!! Yikes! Think I'll quit while I'm ahead! Have a fun weekend and I'll be back next week as the days turn brighter and hopefully less stormy!! Have a good one everybody!
Whole Grain Strawberry Muffins with Walnuts and Chocolate
Makes 1 dozen muffins
Prep Time: 10 minutes; Bake Time: 22-25 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 cup rye flour (I used a dark rye version)
- 1 cup unbleached, all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 cup sour cream, room temp (I used a mix of full and low-fat--I think you could use low-fat on its own but not fat-free)
- 3/4 cup pure maple syrup
- 1 cup hulled and diced fresh strawberries
- 3/4 cup chopped walnuts (you might want to use less if you are using the chocolate chips)
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips (I used dark chocolate)
- Turbinado sugar for topping
The Recipe
1. Make sure rack is centered in oven and preheat to 400ºF. Spray a standard muffin tin with nonstick baking spray and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk both of the flours, baking soda and salt together and set aside. In a separate large bowl, whisk the eggs together until smooth and frothy and then whisk in the sour cream and maple syrup until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Add the berries into the flour mixture and toss to coat so that they don't sink to the bottoms of the muffins. Pour in the egg mixture and use a rubber spatula to fold the wet and dry ingredients together just until no traces of flour are visible. Pour the batter evenly into the prepared muffin cups. Sprinkle half with the nuts and half with the chips. Then sprinkle all of the tops of the muffins with some turbinado sugar.
3. Bake for about 22-25 minutes, until muffins are golden brown and a tester inserted into the center comes out clean.
4. Let the muffins cool in the pan on a wire rack for about 15 minutes. Then remove the muffins from the pan and let cool completely on the wire rack. These are best the day they're made but pretty terrific reheated for a short time in the oven even 3 days later. Keep well wrapped at room temperature for 3-4 days.
Enjoy!
Note: Recipe adapted from Better Baking by Genevieve Ko. I tinkered with some of the proportions and added the chocolate chips (of course!). Also the original recipe says to cook them for 18 minutes but mine were not cooked at that point so I cooked them another 7 minutes. Check your muffins and go by how a tester appears.
