Blueberry Buttermilk Oatmeal Muffins

With eight blueberry bushes out in the garden and lots of berries in the freezer, this quickly became a household standard.

First things:

1 cup milk
1/4 cup dried buttermilk
1 cup rolled oats

1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/2 cup (one stick) melted butter
1/2 cup brown sugar

Preheat oven to 400°F and prepare a 12-muffin pan (butter or oil).

Whisk milk and dried buttermilk in a large mixing bowl. If you have access to real buttermilk, use a cup of that instead. Add the rolled oats and stir to combine. The oats need to soak in the buttermilk, so start with those two.

Add the brown sugar, add the vanilla on top of the sugar, and crack the eggs over all. Leave sugar, vanilla, and eggs on top of the oats; do not stir them in yet. Keep melted butter aside for now, so as not to cook the eggs.

Dry things:

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tbs. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. nutmeg (more to taste)
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

Combine everything except blueberries in a smaller bowl, mix it thoroughly and set it aside.

When the oven is up to temperature, get a wooden spoon and start stirring the big-bowl mixture of oats, buttermilk, brown sugar, vanilla, and eggs. When that’s smooth (i.e., no brown sugar clumps), add the melted butter. Stir well.

Dump in the flour mixture all at once and stir just enough to be sure that everything is combined. Add the blueberries and stir to distribute them. Divide batter among the 12 muffin cups and slide the pan into the oven.

Bake for 25 minutes, but start checking at 20 minutes and pull them out if they look nicely browned to you. Muffins with frozen blueberries will havemore moisture and may take a bit longer. Let them sit for a minute or so, then take the muffins out of the pan and set them upside down on a plate to cool. They freeze well.