Blackberry & Thyme Muffins
Muffins are my go to, easy, homemade breakfast food. There are a gazillion different ways you can make a muffin. Whole wheat, vegan, naturally sweetened, more of a cupcake than a muffin, savory for dinner muffins. My favorite way to make muffins is egg free and dairy free, mixing a fruit or vegetable with an herb. I make mine dairy free because I can’t eat dairy and I make them egg free only because I was out of eggs once and needed a substitute and found flax eggs work great.
Combining fruit and some sort of savory herb is one of the best ways to enliven a recipe. For sweet/savoury muffins my favorite two herbs to use are rosemary and thyme. I love the combination of blackberries and thyme or strawberries and lemon thyme. Blueberries and rosemary are fantastic together. So is rosemary and raisins.
The recipe I am sharing with you all today is one of my favorites Blackberry and Thyme. I’ve made this recipe maybe a 100 times over the last ten years. It never fails to be a winner. The basic recipe was inspired by the basic muffins recipe from the Joy of Cooking, 1972 edition. Over the years I’ve tweaked it and made it my own.
Blackberry Thyme Muffins
Ingredients:
2 cups of all purpose flour
1/4 cup of sugar (I use unbleached cane sugar with a bit of the molasses left in it)
2 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp of thyme leaves
1/2 tsp of salt
3/4 cup of non dairy milk (I use unsweetened soy, though I have used almond and oatmilk with equal success)
2 tbsp of oil ( I use avocado or olive oil)
1 flax egg ( 1 tbsp of ground flax seed and 2 tbsp of warm water or milk mixed)
dash of vanilla extract (the real stuff please!)
1 cup of frozen or fresh blackberries
Directions:
Start by heating your oven to 400ºF. By the time you have mixed up the muffin batter the oven should be ready.
Next, mix up the flax egg in a small bowl and then set aside.
In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, thyme and salt. Then measure out in a liquid measuring cup the non dairy milk, oil, and vanilla.
Add the flax egg and the liquids to the and food the ingredients all together quickly. You don’t want to over mix or you will get peaked muffins. I do about 7 folds and then add in the berries. Do 3-4 more folds of the batter to mix in the berries and that it.
Lastly, generously butter your muffin tin and spoon the batter into each cup. Bake the muffins for 18 minutes. Check muffins for doneness (ie. nothing sticks to a toothpick when you pull it out). Let the muffins cool for 5 minutes and then remove from the muffin tin.
if they aren’t gone immediately, they should last in a container at room temperature for 2-3 days. I find that the thyme helps them last longer. So does rosemary.
Enjoy!
If you try this recipe let me know in the comments below.
*Remember to adjust for your own altitude and humidity. I’m in the high desert where it relatively dry. You might not need as much liquid in more humid place. *
