{guest post submitted by Ashley of Our Family Stone}

One of my least favourite parts about winter is the lack of exciting fresh food available. We live in a part of Canada that all summer has an abundance of fresh apples, peaches, melons and berries. It seems each week a new and exciting ingredient is ripe for the choosing and I am ready for the challenge. Then Fall rolls in, the supply slowly dwindles and before we know it we’re left with overpriced imports and bland tomatoes.

In a desperate effort to help my culinary spirit survive the winter I spend hours washing and freezing berries, primarily raspberries to carry us through those long winter months. Then on the days when the rain is falling (because here winter means rain, very rarely snow) and the dreary is starting to set in, I gather my supplies, pre-heat my oven and reach into the freezer for a bag of my precious berries. In a matter of 5 minutes, I’ve whipped up a delicious batter (that I must say I enjoy raw as much as I do cooked) ready to hit the oven and make my house smell a little bit like summer.

I originally found this recipe on Food.com, and while it’s excellent on its own I decided to make a few adjustments, both to make it more healthy (because who doesn’t want to eat healthy, awesome things?!) and to make it suite the ingredients in my fridge better. It’s taken some tweaking but it’s finally reached perfection and I’m here today to share it with you.

Ingredients

• Whole Wheat Flour 1 Cup
• All Purpose Flour 1 Cup
• Sugar, Granulated ¾ Cup
• Baking Powder 3 tsp
• Salt ½ tsp
• Skim Milk (can sub 1%) ½ Cup
• Half/Half Cream (can sub sour cream) ½ Cup
• Vegetable Oil ½ Cup
• Lemon Zest 1 Lemon
• Juice of Lemon 1 Lemon (approx. 1 ½ tsp)
• Eggs, Large 2
• Raspberries** (Fresh or Frozen UNTHAWED) 1 Cup

 Preparation

1. Pre-Heat Oven to 400 degrees F

2. Line 12 Muffin Tins with Paper Liners (you can grease pans and not use liners but these are delicate muffins that can lose their shape)

3. Combine Flours, Sugar, Baking Powder, Salt and Lemon Zest in a Medium sized bowl

4. In a small bowl combine milk, cream, oil, eggs and lemon juice. Whisk together and set aside

5. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients

6. Add wet mixture and stir only until no lumps remain

7. Gently fold in Raspberries. Caution: over stirring will cause your berries to break up and your muffins to be pink

8. Fill Muffin Cups 3/4 full of batter

9. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until muffins are golden brown I usually find 21 minutes is perfect

10. Remove from oven and allow to cool 10 minutes before removing from muffin tins to cool

 

These muffins freeze extremely well and are a favourite in our house. Here’s hoping our raspberry supply lasts us a few more months and that summer comes back soon! Happy Baking Everyone!

**You can substitute other berries in this muffin. Blueberries would be an excellent exchange

Ashley Stone is a Mommy to two beautiful girls, the wife of a handsome husband, and the voice of Our Family Stone. She spends her days working with her kids in tow, baking, crafting, blogging, cleaning and trying to go to the bathroom alone. She started blogging 6 years ago because she wanted to feel like an “author” and to relieve the excess noise in her brain. Ashley has something to say about everything, pop on over to Our Family Stone and you’ll find that out!