Tasty Tuesday - Saskatoon Raspberry Muffins

Saskatoons are in season right now and on Saturday, I picked berries with a friend.  We came home with berries.  A lot of berries.  She had fifty-four cups of berries.  I think I had fewer, but not by much.  I got tired of picking and slowed down at the end.

I had about 2/3 of a stockpot full of berries.  Gorgeous, plump berries.

First thing we did was freeze about 2/3 of them.  Then I was left with a 9x13" pan full of them in my fridge. The picture above is what is STILL left after freezing and baking. Next up, we might try infusing some gin or vodka with some berries.

Growing up, Mom had a pretty great cookbook that she's long gotten rid of, but I remember baking banana bread and blueberry muffins from that cookbook - the Harrowsmith Cookbook.

This is probably why I struggle to lose weight.

I used to bake the blueberry muffins all the time, so this is my best guess as to the actual recipe from my memory.  It's been a few years so it's probably not quite right and I'm pretty sure it didn't include raspberries, but these turned out pretty darned great.

For cupcakes without frosting.

I stored these in a ziplock bag and tossed them into the freezer so I can have a quick breakfast to grab on my way to work with some fruit and cheese.

Saskatoon Raspberry Muffins

1/2 cup butter, softened (just use butter, it's always better)
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
3 cups unbleached flour (reserve 1-2 tbsp for the berries)
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3 cups berries - I did 2 c saskatoons, 1 c raspberries
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease your muffin tins. You can use liners if you like, I have some silicone ones, but I prefer without.

Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well.

Toss your berries with the flour until evenly coated, set aside. Then mix the remaining dry ingredients together well. Finally, mix together the buttermilk and vanilla.  You may find that you need a bit more or less buttermilk.

Alternately add the dry ingredients and the buttermilk mixture to the butter/sugar/egg mixture, 1/3 of each at a time.  When it's just blended, fold in the flour-coated berries. Do not overmix.

Bake for 15-20 minutes.  Remove to wire rack and allow to cool.