Berry and Brown Sugar Muffins

Diana over at Creative Structures posted this recipe the other day and it sounded intriguing, especially because I always have frozen berries in my freezer (though we’re out of raspberries that the recipe called for, I used blueberries and blackberries). Diana’s version came from Bianca at White Living, who I believe posted the recipe in German, which Diana translated. Diana, in turn, posted the recipe in metric, which I’ve now converted below using my Weight Watchers scale (yes, you should appreciate the irony in that as these are not for the weight conscious but rather a bit indulgent).

3/4cup plus 1.5t butter or margerine
5.2 ounces brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
pinch of salt
4 eggs
11.4 ounces of flour
3 teaspoons (aka 1T) baking powder
5 tablespoons of milk
6.1 ounces of frozen raspberries or mixed berries (I used about 4oz blueberries and the rest blackberries)

Beat the butter (by the way, I softened this as much as my impatient soul would allow), vanilla, sugar and salt in a mixer fitted with the paddle until it is light and airy. Add the eggs, one at a time, and continue mixing (I also scraped down the sides). Mix the flour with the baking powder. Add spoonfuls of the flour to the egg mixture, alternating with teaspoons of the milk (this was an exercise in patience as 5 tablespoons of milk equals 15 teaspoons!).

Mix a tablespoon of flour into the frozen berries. Then mix the berries into the batter carefully.

Pour into a muffin tin outfitted with parchment paper (i.e., for those in the states, I just used muffin paper cups). Bake at 350 degrees F for 25 to 30 minutes.

These were good, but something in my conversion perhaps was off. I think next time, I will add a tad more brown sugar, not a lot. I will let you know how it goes.

17 Comments

Marcia February 18, 2009 at 4:55 pm

You can do conversions for me any day – thanks for the recipe, we are seeing some lovely berries at the farmer’s market already.
Diana Strinati Baur February 18, 2009 at 8:05 am

Off topic, but in the summer I make different brown sugar infusions — with vanilla, with lavender, and with rosemary. They are easy and wonderful in different recipes.
Kim February 18, 2009 at 7:17 am

Oh, on the vanilla sugar – forgot to add, many chefs say you can create it yourself, by taking any left over vanilla bean stalks you have (after you’ve used the stuff inside for something else), and putting it into a container of sugar. I keep meaning to try that but never do…
Kim February 18, 2009 at 7:16 am

Thanks Diana. Funny, I just sent an e-mail to Judy this morning suggesting about 1T more of brown sugar. I think she’s making them this morning, so it will be interesting seeing what her results are like. I also think the baking powder was fine, they rose nicely and had a good top, which I love.
Cristina, thanks for the link!
Diana Strinati Baur February 18, 2009 at 7:12 am

… also, try raising the baking powder by maybe one half to one teaspoon. Again, here in Europe we have packets of baking powder. I might have not measured out a packet correctly. If I made a bit of an error, it was in making the quantity too low and not too high (because of international differences in the content of baking powder, I get paranoid about too much of it in any recipe because of the possibility of a metallic taste coming thru in the final product).
Diana Strinati Baur February 18, 2009 at 7:08 am

Kim, the only thing I can think of that I changed which might have effected the result was that I wrote in the recipe to use Vanilla — the original recipe called for a packet of vanilla sugar, but I don’t think that this is a product in the states (?). One packet would be about 3 teaspoons of sugar which has been infused with Vanilla — so maybe your idea of adding a bit more brown sugar would work well…
girasoli February 18, 2009 at 2:46 am

I also need to thank you for doing the conversion. It looked too complicated to me, although the measurements still look a little complicated for me – I am still at the beginner level of baking!
nancyhol February 18, 2009 at 2:26 am

Hey, Tourmama, that is exactly what I was going to say – that I was too lazy to convert the metric measurements!
Thanks for doing that, Kim! They sound yummy!
Eden February 18, 2009 at 1:16 am

This sure sounds yummy!
cristina February 18, 2009 at 12:58 am

I did a conversion chart for basic baking items (flour, sugar, butter, etc.) that works really well if you want to try it next time http://www.expatsinitaly.com/living/baking.html
tourmama February 17, 2009 at 7:29 pm

thanks for doing my work for me, Kim! I saw these on Diana’s blog and was salivating – but too lazy to do the conversion. I’m another with berries in the freezer – may just have to make a batch!
Judy
Chiocciola February 17, 2009 at 5:28 pm

Sounds delicious! Will have to try.
Barb Cabot February 17, 2009 at 4:05 pm

It’s 1:00 here and I’m so hungry. I wish I had one of these right now. Thanks for the recipe.
Lisa February 17, 2009 at 12:39 pm

They look yummy, and you didn’t call me to come over for taste testing 🙁
Kim February 17, 2009 at 9:50 am

Oops, one thing I forgot to note, this made 15 normal size muffins and five people demolished them in 48 hours…
Oh and Deborah, I think using only blueberries would be fine. Next time, I want to use a blueberry/raspberry combo.
Deborah February 17, 2009 at 9:44 am

Mmmm, Kim. I always keep a lot of blueberries in my freezer. I wonder how this would be with just one berry? I might have to try it.
Annie February 17, 2009 at 9:36 am

They certainly look delicious. Between your muffins and Girasoli’s pasta from Bologna, I’m now starving!

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