21 April 2008

Milk Calendar Mondays: Cinnamon Crunch Raspberry Muffins

For those of you who flipped your Milk Calendar to April and wondered about my adventure with Salmon and Rice Primavera, well, you'll just have to keep on wondering. Or you can do the recipe and assume that whatever you thought of it will be exactly my reaction. I didn't attempt the recipe because of a salmon allergy (how wrong is that?).

So this month's Milk Calendar Monday recipe let me dive into one of the extra eight recipes. I really wonder why they separate these out from the others. I mean, yes, it's always good to give your customers more than they asked for (well, more in a good way... higher prices, unending telephone trees, days of headaches to get a simple thing done are NOT examples of this), but these...um...hidden...recipes always look more interesting and tasty than the monthly spotlights. I'd have been happier if the Easy Jambalaya recipe (yes, I do drone on about that one) was hidden on one the back pages and the recipe I chose instead was on a calendar page.

I must admit, after reading Brilynn's comment about the carrot cake I was more than a little trepedatious about trying the extra recipes. I mean, were these the ones that (in some wise person's mind) weren't good enough to be the monthly pin-up: you know, passively attractive with a good personality? Knowing I had to pick something, I went with the Cinnamon Crunch Raspberry Muffins.

This is a muffin that uses whole wheat flour, which in my mind is a travesty of an inclusion in muffin or cake recipes. I simply don't want those nubbly little bits in my crumb, thank you very much. I want more of a cakey crumb, with texture coming from fruits, nuts or some sort of topping...not from the flour itself.

Luckily for me (and the calendar and anyone reading this) I can carve off that part of my brain that would normally taint my final opinion, stick it into the freezer and just evaluate something on its merits as-is.

Which is a good thing for this recipe.

I liked this muffin. I liked the crumb, really liked the lemony-raspberry flavour and thought the crunchy topping's texture was pretty bang-on. The only thing I didn't really care for was the lemon juice in the crunchy topping--there's more than enough lemon in the cake so there's no need to use it on top. I think I know why it's mixed with the oats and sugar, but I'd rather use water (okay, I'd rather use butter, but this is supposed to be "healthier" than that).

Why did I like this, even thought I don't like wheatie nubblies in my cakes? I think it's because the oats disguised the nubblies and texturally tricked my tongue into liking the muffin. Hey, that's perfectly okay...I'm one for feeding people unfavourite food and then rejoicing when they tell me they like it before they find out it was aubergine or it contained fish sauce (I don't let them rescind their yums when they find out it's a food they don't like).

So, in my humble opinion, we've got a good recipe with this one. So much so that I'm seriously considering changing some of my favourite muffin recipes to include whole wheat and the crunchy topping....

cheers!
jasmine


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10 comments:

Jenny said...

Despite it being the 21st of April, I don't think I've even looked at what this month's recipe is on my calendar. Thanks for reminding me.

MyKitchenInHalfCups said...

Funny how that low and common oat can change things around. I love oats and whole wheat in just about any baked goodies.

K and S said...

those muffins look like a great breakfast or snack :)

Lydia (The Perfect Pantry) said...

Have you tried white whole wheat flour yet? It's perfect for baking when you don't want something that screams "wheat". I know King Arthur Flour sells it; don't know if anyone else does, but they will ship to Canada.

glamah16 said...

Something decent from the caendar. Glad it worked out this time.

Deborah said...

I've found a few things as of late that I actually like, but thought I didn't. I'm glad you liked your muffins!!

Brilynn said...

Glad you had success with this recipe and that you didn't try the carrot cake... I like the raspberry lemon combo.

Gigi said...

These sound heavenly Jasmine! I am a muffin and coffee for breakfast girl. And I love the idea of including some whole wheat flour to my muffins. Thanks for another lovely recipe!

Sheltie Girl said...

What a wonderful muffin. It's so delicious looking with all that crunchy topping.

Sheltie Girl @ Gluten a Go Go

Patricia Scarpin said...

These are some wonderful muffins!
I love cinnamon and raspberries but have never tried them together.