Saskatoon Bran Muffins

I made these muffins today using saskatoon berries I picked from the saskatoon bush in my backyard. Saskatoons are a native berry to the Canadian Prairies, British Columbia, and Northern Canada and U.S. They are kind of like a blueberry and they are delicious in baked goods, made into jam, or just to snack on straight off the bush! 

Ingredients:

1 and ¼ cups whole wheat flour

1 and ½ tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

½ tsp. salt

1 can sliced peaches

2/3 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

3 Tbsp. vegetable oil or applesauce

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

4 cups Bran Flakes cereal

½ heaping cup saskatoon berries

Directions:

Preheat the  oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a 12-cup muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt until combined.

Drain the canned peaches, but reserve 1/3 cup of the juice/syrup from the can. Pour the peaches and the 1/3 cup of juice into a blender or food processor and puree.

In a large bowl, whisk the peach puree with the brown sugar, eggs, vegetable oil or applesauce, and vanilla. With a rubber spatula, gently stir the Bran Flakes into the wet mixture. Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and stir until just combined.

Lightly coat the saskatoons with a small amount of flour. This will prevent them from sinking to the bottom of the batter once they are in the muffin tins. Fold the saskatoons into the batter. Evenly fill the prepared muffin tin with batter. These muffins won't rise very much during baking so you can fill them all the way to the top.

Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean. Let cool slightly on a wire rack and enjoy warm. 

*Recipe by Brooke McMillan