Whole-Wheat Blueberry Muffins

Now then ... where were we? Oh, yeah, we were baking! Yes, I realize that these are pictures of blueberry muffins, and it's not exactly blueberry season right now. (Not where I am, anyway.) But it was blueberry season before I went on my brief and much-needed hiatus. (There were weddings and landscaping and job hunts and just a lot of breathing going on around here in the last month. Your patience was much appreciated!) Regardless, aren't they breathtaking? I love the color of raw blueberries - they're almost but not quite purple - and then when they're baked they most definitely are purple. So I'm not quite sure why these aren't called purpleberry muffins. But we aren't here to debate the merits of the recipe's title; we're here to talk about the taste. And their taste, my friends, was not what I was hoping for.



I saw the recipe's title, Black and Blueberry Muffins, and of course I though 'Wow, they'll be so beautiful when they're baked!' and they were, as we've already covered. And then, THEN I saw the ingredient list: whole wheat flour, wheat germ, ground cinnamon and I thought 'Wow, they're pretty darn good for you, too!' - good for you in the sense that whole-wheat flour cancels out the sugar and white flour. Of course I don't believe that, and I hope you don't, either, but I'm easily swayed by anything whole wheat. It's just how I'm wired. When I want dessert but I know I shouldn't it's easy to rationalize it. Whole wheat! Wheat germ! And I'm sold.

But I should have known better.



You all know my trials and tribulations with breads, and I'm pretty sure that part of my issues come from the fact that I've been baking with whole-wheat flour and it's just ... different ... as were these muffins. They were gorgeous, there's no doubt about that, but they were just ... chewy. And for me that just wouldn't do. Brad didn't like them, either, and that's saying something because the man is absolutely addicted to sugar. So ... I took them to work. But I only gave a couple of them to my cubie partner - and she loved them! I was shocked. When I went home for dinner I packed them all up and brought them back to her. She was pleased, and I was pleased to get rid of them.

So consider yourself warned: If it's a crumbly blueberry muffin you're after look elsewhere. But if you're brave and want to take these on (and maybe tell me I'm nuts and how I went wrong) then these are what you're looking for.

But hey, at least I got some pretty pictures out of them, right?



Whole-Wheat Blueberry Muffins
Adapted from AllRecipes
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Ingredients:
1 cup whole-wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup wheat germ
2/3 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 eggs, beaten
2 cups half and half
2 cups fresh blueberries

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degress. Prepare muffin pan by greasing wells or using paper liners.
2. In a large bowl, whisk flours, wheat germ, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. In another bowl, whisk half and half and eggs. Incorporate wet ingredients into dry, stirring until just combined. Fold in berries. Scoop batter into muffin pan. If there are any empty cups, fill them with ice cubes.
3. Bake 20 minutes or until tester comes out clean when inserted into center of muffin.