Blueberry Barley Muffins
Whole Grain Blueberry Barley Muffins
I grew up picking blueberries around our cottage in Northern Ontario… and not just picking a sour cream container worth to get enough to sprinkle on cereal in the morning but rather enough to fill freezers with blue bounty to last until the next season.
I still pick large amounts of blueberries, I’ve become pretty practiced and can usually out pick the other members of my family and now I have my kids along with me – learning to be comfortable in the bush, as well as gaining an understanding of the lasting reward that hard work can bring through a year of blueberries in baking.
These blueberry muffins call for whole barley flour – my preferred whole grain flour for sweet quick breads, I find the taste sweeter than whole wheat flour. Given I also like to diversify the grains in my diet this is also a good means of achieving that. But, if you don’t have access to whole barley flour substitute whole wheat.
Enjoy these, and if you can get out picking take some time to sit in the bush, let your hands do the work while your mind gets to ponder over the issues of the day.
- 3 cups whole barley flour
- 1 1/2 tbsp baking powder
- 1 1/4 cups sugar
- 3/4 cup milk
- 3 large eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 3/4 cup vegetable oil
- 3 cups blueberries
- Preheat oven to 400F
- Prepare muffin tin as necessary, lining steel ones with paper muffin cups or greasing and flouring the tin. Silicon muffin pans don't need prep work.
- Combine dry ingredients and mix thoroughly (flour, baking powder, and sugar).
- Add wet ingredients to dry (milk, eggs, vanilla, oil) and mix everything together
- Gradually add in blueberries so they don't form clumps
- Spoon the batter into the muffin tin and place in oven
- After 25 minutes test the muffins for doneness by inserting a toothpick into the center of one. If batter still clings to it return it to the oven until the toothpick comes out dry.
- Cool the muffins and then remove from the tin.