In Florida, June means blackberries

The wild blackberry bushes that grow around our property are scraggly and thorny little unfriendly things for most of the year, but in May, we always get excited to see them begin to decorate themselves with little green, tight clusters of would-be berries.

Slowly, as the summer heat rises along with the chiding of the cicadas, and the thunderstorms bring furious afternoon rains, the berries turn sour red, and finally deepest, darkest, sweet purple. And for a week or two, between the erratic rains, my kids (and sometimes myself) will forget the heat, the biting bugs and the thorns and do our berry-picking best to gather all we can!

And when three red faced, sweaty little children come into the kitchen to present their hard-won bounty of blackberries in little cups or the saggy, stained front of their shirt, or in purple, thorn pricked hands, a wise woman would do well to be prepared to accept the gift and return it with interest.

Of course, the berries are perfect as they are: fresh and raw, and those who gather enjoy the perks. But isn’t everything made better with butter? (It’s a rhetorical question, I know the answer.) In times past, I’ve opted for cobblers, but I decided that muffins are what we need this summer.

Do me a flavor…

The sour dough discard and the sour cream deepen the flavor and really help to balance out the sweetness of the crunchy streusel. Each bite is dynamic and satisfying, tangy and bright, sweet, warm, soft, velvety and buttery.

And of course, the blackberries, vanilla extract and lemon are self explanatory. You can see how this can quickly turn into a good time.

Cooking with freshly milled whole wheat is a joy to me, but I find that simply substituting it in place of all-purpose flour in recipes is a little like transliterating poetry from one language to another. Things get lost, or mixed up, or just, odd. That’s why I’m happy to share these recipes that are in the native, home milled, whole wheat language.

In this recipe (and most others where I want a light texture with plenty of moisture) I use a combination of soft white wheat and Khorasan (also known as kamut) wheat.

Freshly Milled Whole Wheat Blackberry Lemon Muffins

Handy AND Dandy

This little zester zests the lemon, obviously, but it also shreds the cold butter for the streusel, and when inverted, strains the lemon seeds from falling into your batter!

The large crystal size of the turbinado sugar give the streusel a bold crunchy texture.

What bird?

Go make yourself some muffins!

Whole Wheat Wild Blackberry Lemon Muffins with Streusel Topping

Recipe by Courtney

Prep time

minutes

Cooking time

minutes

Ingredients

In your stand mixer:
1 stick softened butter
3/4 cup sugar
Dry Ingredients:
1 1/3 Cups of freshly milled wheat (half soft white, half khorasan or kamut)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
Remaining Ingredients:
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup sour cream
juice from 1/2 of a lemon
(optional) 1/4-1/3 cup sour dough discard
1 to 2 cups berries
Streusel Topping:
1/4 cup turbinado sugar
2 tbsp flour
2 tbsp cold, shredded butter
zest of 1 lemon

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 F so it’s ready when you are. Go ahead and mill the wheats as well.
Measure the milled flour into a separate bowl to be sure you have the right amount (1 1/3 cup total), then add in the salt and baking powder and stir. (Alternatively, if you’re using all-purpose flour, use 1 1/2 cups instead.)
Cream the softened butter and sugar in the standing mixer with the paddle attachment until pale and fluffy.
Make the streusel topping at this point so that the lemon can be zested before it will need to be cut and squeezed later.
Simply combine 2 tbsp of cold, shredded butter, the zest of 1 lemon, 2 tbsp of flour and 4 tbsp of turbinado sugar in a small bowl, stirring and pressing until it looks a bit like sand and pebbles, then set aside, or back in the fridge until needed.
Once the butter and sugar have whipped together in the standing mixer, add in 1 tsp vanilla, two eggs, 1/2 cup of sour cream, juice of 1/2 lemon and 1/3 to 1/2 cup of sour dough discard, if using. Be sure to scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl at this point as well.
Incorporate well, then reduce to low and add in the flour mixture, being careful not to over mix.
Turn off the mixer and gently fold in 1 to 2 cups of berries with a spatula.
Drop equal sized portions of batter into a lined muffin pan. The batter will be thick. This is typically enough to make one dozen standard sized muffins. Do your best to equally distribute your streusel topping on the muffins. I find this is done quickest and easiest if you use your hands.
Bake at 350F for 25 minutes. It might be a good idea to check at 20 minutes, inserting a fork to see if it comes out clean. Be sure to insert your fork on the side though, not through the streusel topping, as it will stick to the fork and give you an “inaccurate reading”.
Enjoy!

Notes

Be sure to cream the butter and sugar together well before adding in the eggs and other ingredients. This step ensures a fluffier texture. Having softened butter will make all the difference.
On the other hand, cold butter works best for making the streusel topping. And it is easiest to zest your lemon before you cut it and squeeze the juice, so zest it in a side bowl in which you’ll mix up the streusel topping first. You can even start with making the streusel and then set it in the fridge until it’s needed at the end
You can certainly use all-purpose flour for this recipe and still achieve a great muffin. I would just bump it up to 1 1/2 cups of flour instead of the 1 1/3 called for with the milled whole wheat.
The lemon zester is a great tool. It’s perfect for shredding small amounts of cold butter, zesting the lemon and, when flipped upside down, makes a handy strainer for seeds when squeezing lemon juice directly into the mixing bowl.
You can use any type of berry, fresh or frozen, and still achieve a great muffin!

HE ME & THREE

Freshly Milled Whole Wheat Blackberry Lemon Muffins