Great Grains Muffins with Apricot

For this past weekend's hospitality time at church, I brought (among many other things, people in my church do like to nibble...which is a great thing, honestly) Great Grains Muffins.  The recipe is in Dorie Greenspan's amazing cookbook, Baking:  From My Home to Yours, which, if you enjoy baking, I suggest you strongly consider adding to your cookbook shelf.  It is wonderful.  Great Grains Muffins are very quick to make and I happily had all of the ingredients at home just waiting to be made into something delicious!  And since there are so many healthy grains and such, I felt like I was making something super healthy....  I am sure they are healthier than other muffins, so that counts, right?  Dorie suggests adding prunes or other dried fruits, so I chose apricots.  Yes, I had them on hand, and I figured they would be tasty.  They were!

Great Grains Muffins
adapted from Baking:  From My Home to Yours
makes 12 muffins (or approximately 24 mini-muffins)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup yellow cornmeal
1/3 cup old-fashioned oats
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup pure maple syrup
2 large eggs
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
3/4 cup quartered moist, plum prunes or other dried fruits (cut up as necessary) and/or chopped nuts (optional)

Center a rack in the oven and preheat to 400F.  Butter or spray a regular-sized muffin pan or fit with paper muffin cups.  You can also use a mini-muffin pan, as I did, but you must adjust the baking time accordingly.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, cornmeal, oats, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  In a large glass measuring cup, or another small/medium bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, maple syrup, eggs and melted butter.  Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and gently but quickly stir with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon.  The batter should be a little lumpy.  Stir in the fruit and/or nuts if you are using them.  Divide the batter among the muffin cups.

Bake regular-sized muffins for 18-20 minutes, or until the tops are golden and a thin knife inserted into the center comes out clean.  I baked the mini-muffins for about 14 minutes.  Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes before carefully lifting each muffin out of its mold and onto the rack to cool.
Printable Recipe

I believe the muffins were a hit.  Well, there was only one left at the end.  That says something, doesn't it?