“Why are you baking rye muffins?” Merri Ann asked. I was looking for a hearty, whole grain muffin that would work as a breakfast muffin, maybe with eggs and bacon. Merri Ann was picturing rye bread with caraway seeds. If you leave the caraway seeds out, your breads and muffins will be mild-flavored.
These are really great muffins–flavorful and moist, yet mild.
These well-domed muffins will rank with your best whole grain muffins. (And if you don’t tell the kids, they won’t know that they are whole grain.) They are moist and soft, not dry. The rye flour makes them tender and without caraway seeds, they are mild and delicious.
This makes a great base recipe. Try them also with golden raisins, walnuts, or both.
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Ingredients
1 cup medium or dark rye flour
1 cup stone ground whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon allspice
2 large eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
zest from one orange
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup sour cream
Directions
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
1. In a medium bowl, mix the flours, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and allspice.
2. In another medium bowl, whisk two large eggs. Add the oil, zest, brown sugar, and sour cream. Blend well.
3. With a spatula, mix the dry ingredients into the liquid mixture. Stir until just combined. Spoon the batter into about eight well-greased muffin tins. Eight muffins will give you large, nicely-domed muffins. Fill any unused muffins cups half full of water.
4. Bake for eight minutes at 425 degrees. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees and continue baking for another 8 to 10 minutes or until they test done with a toothpick. Let the muffins sit in the tins for about five minutes and then remove them to wire racks to cool.
Bakers note: The burst of heat in the initial high temperature helps dome the muffins.
Variations: These muffins work wonderfully well with dry fruit and nuts. Add three-quarters to one cup of your favorite dried fruit, a 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, or both. Our favorite is golden raisins, but cranberries, and walnuts work very well.
