One Muffin, Many Ways

Late last year I blogged about the tasty Michigan flours from Jennings. Since discovering how great the flours are I have been making healthy whole grain muffins regularly. The flours are also certified organic. Jennings provides various recipes for use with the flours. The one that I use most often was developed by Mattie Jennings and is below.

Spelt Flour Shortcake
2 ½ cups spelt flour
½ tsp baking powder
¼ cup oil
¾ - 1 cup buttermilk (I add a bit of vinegar or lemon juice to soy milk to make vegan buttermilk)
½ cup sugar
¼ tsp baking soda
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
a little honey

Mix all together and bake at 350 degrees F for about 20 minutes.

I mix the dry ingredients together and then the wet ingredients together before combining the two. Only mix until just combined. I have used the recipe as shortcake served with strawberries or blueberry-strawberry fruit compote. And, I have made many batches as muffins. The recipe makes a dozen and works well with the spring wheat, spelt, or multi-grain flours. For muffins, I find that when I add fruit, the baking time often is longer. And, if I bake them on the outdoor grill, the baking time is shorter.

I have used the spelt, multi-grain, and spring wheat flours. I have even baked spelt blueberry muffins outdoors on our gas grill when it was too hot to bake indoors. The multi-grain flour is heavier than the others.

Sweet Variations:
- Blueberry
- Cherry, almond slices, and almond extract (instead of the vanilla extract)
- Banana, blueberries, and walnuts
- Walnuts, cranberries, 1/3 cup orange juice, regular soy milk instead of buttermilk (used less because of the OJ)
- Pumpkin and walnuts
- Apple cinnamon with streusel topping

Savory Variations (be sure to refrigerate muffins with cheese):
For the savory I had to make a few adjustments. I cut the sugar to 1/3 cup and did not add the vanilla.
- Farm Country Cheese sharp cheddar with sage leaves (frozen last summer) with multi-grain flour
- Dancing Goat Creamery goat cheese with basil leaves (frozen last summer) and the first chives of spring with spelt flour.







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