Baking with what you are given

This is my second year as a member of a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program. Last year my eyes were too big for my stomach and the full vegetable share proved too much for me, even while “sharing” the box with Twin and my dad. This year, it’s just me and Dad, reduced to a measly half share of veg. I still have the full share of fruit to feed the Blackbird’s habit. I hope to have more posts specifically about my CSA box.

Last week’s fruit share from Lancaster Farm Fresh was (yet another beloved) pint of blueberries and a jar of organic strawberry jam from Oak View Farms. The very next day, I noticed Aviva Goldfarb’s tweet about her new recipe up on PBS.org’s kitchen explorers: blueberry raspberry oatmeal muffins. Perfect and easily adaptable to what fruit or spices you might have on hand.

I like checking out sites like Dash and Bella and Kitchen Explorers because the Blackbird begs to be a part of my baking. I can’t get her to cut up veggies with her little toddler knife, but she sure can crack an egg (supervised, of course).

So, I messed with Aviva’s recipe a bit: I used plain yogurt, adding strawberry jam, instead of raspberry flavored yogurt; added some lemon zest; a touch of salt; less baking powder and flour; and for the final (optional) touch I used up some of the vanilla crumble topping I had left over from last week’s sour cherry, white current, blueberry buckle (dying that I didn’t take pictures of THAT).

I think if I were to change anything, I would add a tiny touch more of the flour back into the batch, but otherwise, the greek yogurt and lemon zest gave just the right amount of zing and the salt helped brighten up the fruit flavors. This makes a very hearty muffin. I brought these along for Sunday’s Beach Day/Women’s Group–Family Edition.

Inspired by Aviva Goldfarb’s recipe on PBS.org’s Kitchen Explorers: Blueberry Raspberry Oatmeal Muffins

Blueberry Strawberry Oat Muffins

• 1 cup + 1 1/2 Tbsp. rolled oats, divided
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
• 1 tsp lemon zest
• 1 cup + 1 Tbsp. all-purpose flour, divided
• 2 tsp. baking powder

• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, to taste
• 4 Tbsp. melted butter
• scant 1 cup nonfat Greek yogurt
• 2 Tbsp. strawberry jam (or jam of your choice)
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup vanilla crumble topping (optional)

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. prepare muffin tins
• For the topping, combine 1 1/2 Tbsp. oats and crumble topping in a bowl. Set aside.
• In a small bowl, gently toss the blueberries with 1 Tbsp. flour. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, combine the remaining flour, oats, sugar, baking powder and cinnamon.
• In a medium bowl, combine the butter, yogurt, egg, vanilla, jam, and lemon zest and gently stir it into the flour mixture until dry
• ingredients are moistened, but the batter is still lumpy. Do not over mix! Gently fold in the blueberries.
• Fill the muffin cups almost full. Generously sprinkle the crumble topping over the muffins.
• Bake the muffins for 18-20 minutes until they are golden. They are delicious when warm, or toasted up the next day, but they also aren’t too bad at room temperature.

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