TWD: Great Grains Muffin

I love muffins, they are such a delight to make.  So many different flavor combinations, quick cooking, and no mixer needed.

I cut this recipe in half and got eight muffins in my batch.  I swear I do not know how Dorie only gets one dozen out of the full mixture.  I always get at least 18 from a full batch.  I even bought new muffin tins a few months ago to ensure I had the proper normal sized ones. 

I think the thing that took the longest today was allowing the melted butter to cool.  Funny, I was just looking at a biscuit recipe yesterday, it said to mix melted butter into buttermilk before adding it to the dry ingredients.  Apparently the cold buttermilk solidifies some of the melted butter.  This acts a bit like the cutting of cold butter into flour does, the larger pieces melt slower than the smaller ones giving you a lighter finished product.  I haven't made them yet, but they seem a lot like Dorie's cream biscuits (one of my favorite-ultra easy recipes). 

At any rate, my biscuits were made with molasses instead of maple syrup.  Because I could not find my maple syrup and I wasn't going to go and buy a new bottle.  I know I have one somewhere.  Plus, I don't care much for maple and I adore molasses, so win-win for me.

The molasses really give you a darker hue to your crumb, but I like that.  I also quite liked the al dente crunch provided by the corn meal.  I had forgotten I used the meal and when the muffin had the tiny resistance I thought, what is going on -- then of course, my genius kicked in and I remembered.  I used  a handful of chopped walnuts and a handful of raisins as a bonus in my muffins. You can find this recipe posted by Christine at Happy Tummy.  (Love that name.)