Multigrain Muffins with blueberries and lemon zest

Although I love the muffins from my previous muffin post, I wanted to try another muffin recipe from the same cookbook - Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home. I loved the multigrain pancakes I made previously, and I was hoping a similar muffin recipe would be just as tasty (as well as nutritious).

The cookbook promised a crisp crust and an unexpectedly delicate, light interior. I was skeptical, but they were right! They were not heavy, as you would expect a multigrain muffin to be. They were less sweet than other muffins, but the blueberries and lemon zest gave them a nice flavor, so they still tasted good. And you could always add extra sugar, or even some honey, if you wanted them sweeter.

Again - no pictures of these muffins - we ate them too fast!

Mulitgrain Muffins
Ingredients:
1 large egg or 2 egg whites, lightly beaten
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup quick cooking oats

1 cup unbleached white flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour (up to 1/2 cup may be replaced by wheat bran)
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. In a bowl, stir together egg or egg whites, oil, buttermilk, brown sugar, and oats. In another bowl, combine the flours, optional wheat bran, and salt. Sprinkle in the baking soda and baking powder and mix well. Add the liquid mixture to the dry ingredients, and stir just until a smooth batter is formed.
3. Spoon the batter into oiled muffin tins and bake for 20 minutes, until puffed and golden. A knife inserted in the center of a muffin should come out clean. Cool for 5 minutes and remove the muffins from pan.

**Variations:
--Add 1 tbsp of freshly grated lemon peel to the dry ingredients and flod 1 1/2 cups of fresh or frozen blueberries into the finished batter.
--Add 1/2 tsp of cinnamon to the dry ingredients, and fold 1 1/2 cups of chopped peeled apples to the finished batter

*I didn't have any buttermilk, so I used 1/2 a cup of yogurt and 1/2 cup of milk. (I thought the yogurt might give the same tangy flavor to the muffins, but didn't want it to be too thick, so that's why I used half yogurt/ half milk).
*I don't know what whole wheat pastry flour is. I just had plain whole wheat flour, so that's what I used!

Mardi Gras - Pancake Tuesday

Happy Mardi Gras!
In this country we celebrate Mardi Gras with copious amounts of alcohol, spicy food, and delicious King Cake. While I love a good King Cake, I didn't want a whole cake in my house, tempting me every hour to take a bite. So I decided to celebrate today in a more dignified, British fashion - with pancakes! Pancakes are one of my favorite foods, so it's still a treat for me. Because I'm not much of a morning person, the thought of waking up extra early today to make pancakes for my family wasn't appealing to me. So today will be a "Breakfast for Dinner" day!
I'll be making my usual pancake recipe - which is a Martha Stewart Everyday Food recipe. (I always have to add extra flour - at least 1/4 to 1/2 cup more - to get it to a consistency I like.)

AND I'll also try a new recipe I saw in Runner's World this summer. It's a recipe by Cat Cora - who is an Iron Chef on Food Network's Iron Chef America (which I love to watch - so exciting!), and a runner. My husband likes healthy food, and he is trying to avoid too much refined flour and sugar, so I'm making these especially for him!

Walnut and Blueberry Bran Pancakes
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 cup instant oats
3/4 cup sifted all-purpose flour (or a blend of white and whole-wheat flours)
3/4 cup blueberries
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup oat flour or oat bran
1 tbsp baking powder
2 tbsp honey
1 tsp salt
2 eggs, beaten

Pour milk over oats and sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Lightly stir eggs into oats mixture. Add dry ingredients and honey, stirring until combined. When the batter is thoroughly mixed, stir in the blueberries and walnuts. Ladle batches of the batter onto a preheated greased or nonstick griddle or frying pan and cook until tops are bubbly and edges look cooked. Turn over and finish cooking the other side. Makes about 10 pancakes. Serves 4.

I'll update later tonight, or tomorrow morning with pictures!

UPDATE:

The pancakes were delicious! The regular pancakes were again too thin with the recipe as is, so I added almost 3/4 cup more of flour. But once I adjusted the consistency, they were perfect! The Walnut and Blueberry Bran ones were surprisingly good. I expected them to be too healthy tasting! But the honey must have sweetened them well, and the fresh blueberries gave them a nice tangy taste. My husband and I both loved them - so they are a keeper! I couldn't find oat bran or oat flour in the grocery store, so I made oat flour by grinding regular oatmeal in the food processor. I also used a mix of whole wheat and white flour - equal quantities of both.

Pics: All 4 burners ready for cooking; Walnut blueberry batter; classic batter


Pics: Blueberry walnut pancakes cooking; regular pancakes - too thin!; heart shaped cookie cutter to make heart pancakes

Pics: Walnut Blueberry pancakes; classic pancakes (with heart shapes and snowmen)

Pics: The girls' plates - snowmen and hearts; the adult's plates

Bonus pic : my smallest sous chef - wearing my shoes and helping me clean!