Pen & Pantry: Feeling fancy? Make these homemade fruity, nutty muffins with fresh lavender

The funny thing about living in this unpredictable West Michigan environment is that all of us come out when the sun finally shows itself, and the temperature is above 60, and we gardeners get to relish in all of our hard work. 

I was bound and determined to incorporate something from my herb garden into something sweet, rather than my typical dinners. So when we decided to make a batch of blueberry muffins, we snuck in a few other ingredients to make it a little more interesting. 

The result was these sweet and savory muffins that pair fantastically with a morning cup of coffee or an afternoon snack. 

Here you go: 

The basics: 

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup almond milk (or substitute milk of your choice)
• 1 large egg
• 2 Tbsp of rosemary oil (if you can’t find it in the store, mix olive oil and chopped fresh rosemary)

The fresh stuff: 

• 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
• 1 cup chopped fresh strawberries
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 2 Tbsp fresh lavender, finely chopped

Follow the order of ingredients to keep the heavy fruit from sinking to the bottom of the batter during the bake.

1. Set the oven to 400 degrees. Line a standard 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Whisk thoroughly.
3. In a separate vessel, whisk the egg, milk, and rosemary oil until fully mixed.
4. Pour the liquid mixture into the dry ingredients. Stir just until combined. 
5. Gently fold in the chopped walnuts, blueberries and chopped strawberries into the batter.
6. Divide the batter evenly among the 12 prepared muffin cups, filling each approximately three-quarters full.
7. Sprinkle the finely chopped fresh lavender evenly across the top of each unbaked muffin.
8. Bake for approximately 16 minutes. The muffins are done when a toothpick inserted into the center emerges clean.

— Heather VanDyke covers northern Ottawa County for the Ottawa News Network. Contact her at hvandyke@ottawanewsnetwork.org.