Berry-Crazed
August 19, 2008 at 9:52 am | In Baking / Cooking, Food | 35 CommentsIf berry-picking were an Olympic sport, I’m almost certain that my dad and I would at least take a place on the podium. We’ve certainly been training enough; heading out into the “wilderness” after we both get home from work, hunting for that handful of perfect, jewel-like clusters for hours at a time. Truth be told, my dad’s definitely the one who would take gold in this sport, not me. He’s the one who isn’t afraid to push deep into the piles of thorns, entering unknown and possibly hostile territory, filling up buckets of the most ripe, plump berries that no one else can reach. If it weren’t for his enthusiasm, our bounty of raspberries would be rather pathetic indeed. Although his efforts may manifest as long, cat-like scratches tracing up the lengths of his arms, they also resulted in the biggest berry haul we’ve ever had.
There were fresh berries, of course, but even I couldn’t consume the surplus of raspberries quickly enough, so I took many approaches to preserving out delicious haul. Before long, we had frozen berries, dried and dehydrated berries, pureed berries, and of course, baked berries. These local gems are actually far more tart than the standard commercial variety, so they seemed destined to be included in some baked goods, balancing out the sugar perfectly and creating a harmonious combination of sweet and tart.
How serendipitous was it then, that Meeta announced the theme of this monthly mingle would be summer fruits and chocolate! A match made in heaven, chocolate and raspberries were simply meant to be together, and I knew exactly how to use a handful of those hand-picked treasures. Opting to use up some of the lovely red currants waiting in the fridge as well, I ended up with a simply constructed but complex-tasting chocolate muffin.
Although they may be a bit too sweet for breakfast, I find that these can be a wonderful snack, or a slightly healthier choice over a full-fledged, frosted cupcake. Whenever you decide to eat one though, you’ll be glad that you did!
Berry Chocolate Muffins
1 Cup Orange Juice
1/2 Cup Oil
1/2 Cup Dark Brown Sugar, Packed
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
2 Cups Light Spelt Flour (or Whole Wheat Pastry Flour)
1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 Cup Rolled Oats
1/4 Cup Dutch-Processed Cocoa Powder
1/4 Teaspoon Cinnamon (Optional)
1/2 Cup Fresh Red Currants
1/2 Cup Raspberries
1/2 Cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chunks or Chips
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease 12 muffin cups.
To assemble these muffins, start by combining the orange juice, oil, brown sugar, and salt together in a large bowl. Stir to combine, and set aside.
In a separate bowl, sift together the spelt flour, baking powder and soda, oats, cocoa, and cinnamon. Throw all of your berries and chocolate chunks into the dry mixture, and toss gently to coat. Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl of dry, and stir carefully so as not to break up the berries. Once just combined, spoon the batter into your prepared muffin cups, filling them up about 3/4 of the way to the top. It might seem like a lot of batter, but trust me, it will all fit into those 12 cups!
Bake for 18 – 22 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let rest in the pans for 10 minutes before turning the muffins out and cooling them completely on a wire rack.
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As if the berries themselves weren’t enough; you had to go and make scrumptious muffins too!! Haha ;-) Love ‘em!! Perfect entry for Meeta’s monthly mingle.
Comment by VeggieGirl — August 19, 2008 #
holy moly these look good! chocolate and raspberry is one of my favorite flavor combinations, so i am going to try these pronto! thanks for delish recipe and picture (now i’m super hungry!!) !
Comment by Peace by Pastries — August 19, 2008 #
I love, too, that you used OJ as your liquid. Chocolate + Raspberry + Orange = SWOON!!! So delicious!
Comment by Jennifer — August 19, 2008 #
Awesome pics Hannah and I bet the muffins are delish also! I am seeing so many great quality photos lately. Makes me feel like I need to do something about my own!
Comment by HoneyB — August 19, 2008 #
This muffin was made for me! Berries and chocolate, how I love the combination. I have never tried redcurrants with chocolate, what a great idea.
Comment by Mihl — August 19, 2008 #
How nice to be able to go berries picking!! I don’t ever have the chance to pick my own berries, and berries here are so expensive. I love how you paired raspberry with chocolate.
Comment by didally — August 19, 2008 #
oh ho!
I bet I could find a place on that podium too! I am a berry picking fiend these days… I can’t get enough. In my case it’s wild blackberries, and they are goooooood.
How do you dry your berries? That sounds like a good idea. I’ve already got plenty of frozen ones, and can hardly keep up with eating the fresh ones.
:)amey
Comment by Amey — August 19, 2008 #
your muffins look absolutely amazing, Hannah! thanks for sharing the recipe! all those tiny scratched are so worth it though! last month when i was done picking blackberries it looked like a gang of kittens tore me up, too! :D
Comment by jessy — August 19, 2008 #
These look just beautiful! I I wish I had a surplus of berries to whip them up!
Comment by shellyfish — August 19, 2008 #
Those look so good. I love chocolate. I will totally have to try those
Comment by Maria — August 19, 2008 #
Ah, my favorite berries. And with chocolate? Wonderful pairing. The muffins look great!
Comment by teeni — August 19, 2008 #
What a wonderful recipe…it looks delicious and healthy!
Comment by The Vegan Snorkeler — August 19, 2008 #
I saw the title of this post and I thought you were talking about me…2 days ago I ate a whole pint of fresh strawberries and then yesterday I hate half a pint! These muffins look fantastic…but then again so do all of your creations =)
Comment by Shelby — August 19, 2008 #
Ooooooooh, those muffins sound wonderful! I love fresh berries and chocolate
Comment by Animal-Friendly — August 19, 2008 #
oh how i wish these didn’t tempt me so! they look GORGEOUS by the way!
Comment by Megan — August 19, 2008 #
I love picking berries, especially blackberries & huckleberries! Thank you for the recipe. They look so good! I might try a batch with cherries…
Comment by destinyskitchen — August 19, 2008 #
Ooo these look so good and tempting! They really look just perfect and I love the berries on peeking out of the top of them.
Comment by Ashley — August 19, 2008 #
Those look so good, I love the berries peaking through.
Comment by peabody — August 20, 2008 #
So perfectly beautiful! Raspberries and chocolate….mmmm! Gorgeous photos! Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Comment by The Voracious Vegan — August 20, 2008 #
It’s just wonderful that you have those berries near to you so you can pick them. Over here there’s not much chance of that. Maybe the odd blackberry. So I’m kind of jealous ;)
Love that the fruit is showing in the muffins.
Lovely entry to monthly mingle!
Comment by linda — August 20, 2008 #
Hi, first time here. Very awesome looking muffins. Nice pics.
Comment by Lubna karim — August 20, 2008 #
Yum!! The muffins look so good! I love how the raspberries look baked into the muffin.
Comment by Nicole — August 20, 2008 #
Berries and chocolate are a match made in heaven! I absolutely love these, darling!
Comment by Patricia Scarpin — August 20, 2008 #
Hannah, these look delightful! Not only do they sound delish, but they are cute as a button, too!
Comment by ruby red vegan — August 20, 2008 #
I’m going to try this recipe for sure!
Comment by halfeaten — August 20, 2008 #
These look so great! The perfect flavor combination.
Comment by Zoe Francois — August 20, 2008 #
I’m not ready for summer to be over- not when there are delicious things like this to do with berries!
Comment by bazu — August 20, 2008 #
Can you pick some berries for me? That’s something I’ve always wanted to do!! (regardless of the scratches involved) Especially if the end product is those muffins!
Comment by Vegan_noodle — August 20, 2008 #
this is simply delicious. I agree that chocolate and raspberries are meant to be together but I see the naughty choc pairing off with other sexy fruit this mingle. ;-) thanks for the entry!
Comment by Meeta — August 21, 2008 #
Ooh, they look so lovely!
Comment by melisser — August 22, 2008 #
yum! I’m going to make these for a birthday brunch!
Comment by Stephanie M. — August 22, 2008 #
Oh wow, those berry muffins look amazing!
Comment by holler — August 23, 2008 #
i don’t really understand all the posts bout how good they look. i made them and they are delicious. that’s what matters : )
i didn’t have red currants so i double the raspberries and i used frozen ones and they worked fine.
great recipe!
Comment by vique martin — September 28, 2008 #
What makes these hold together? I must admit that vegan baking is pretty new to me, and I am used to eggs – or ground flax or something – being used as a binder. I don’t see a binding ingredient here at all, so I’m wondering how these work. (Not questioning that they do, mind you. Just wondering how.)
Comment by Rachel R. — June 8, 2009 #
[...] And, after letting them cool for a bit, I tried one. Ooh, this was a good experiment. Very chocolatey; light in texture but still sort of rich (I find that coconut oil often imparts this quality in baked goods); not really tart or bitter but not overly sweet by any means. I based it on this recipe. [...]
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