A few weeks ago my husband was mowing and happened to glance into the heavy brush we let grow on our property to give us privacy and help as a sound barrier. He spied something red, and a second glance made him smile. He came up to the house and told me to slip some shoes on, he had something to show me.
In this jungle of briars, prickly thorns, ticks and overgrowth lives..... blackberries! Well, they are trying to anyway.
Neither of us remember seeing them last year but we've been told that the best way to get raspberries and blackberries to grow is to completely cut them down in the fall. Well, we did cut down a lot of brush last year and then this year just let it grow back nice and thick. Apparently it worked.
Since they've been so neglected they are not a nice, healthy, heavy harvest... but enough to make me want to make them into muffins! I managed to gather a little baggy full and with a few more blueberries thrown in to make a good 3/4 cup of berries I was good to go. Now, I don't however
have a good low carb muffin mix. I've made a few versions in the past
but I don'[t have a 'go to' recipe for them so I'm still playing
around. And that my friends is what I just finished doing. The end
result? LOVED them. If you want to give this a go, add up your carbs
as you go using whatever brand ingredients you use. The results are
vast as there is no one standard for different protein powders, etc. Add a little more sweetener if you like. You can also mix some Erthritol or Splenda with a little cinnamon and sprinkle on top before baking!
Blueberry (or whatever berry you like) Muffins
1/2 c heavy cream or sour cream
1/3 c oil
2 eggs
1 t vanilla
1/2 c vanilla protein powder
1/4 c oat flour
1 T vital wheat gluten
1/2 t baking soda
1 1/2 t baking powder
1 1/2 t sugar free honey (optional)
1/4 t cinnamon
1/3 c Splenda
liquid sweetener drops of your choice to taste
3/4 c (approximate) berries (blueberries and blackberries!)
1/4 c almond flour or oat flour to dust the berries
Oven: preheat to 350. In a bowl whisk the cream with oil, eggs, vanilla. Add the dry ingredients, honey and liquid sweetener. Mix with a wooden spoon. Gently toss the berries with the almond or oat flour to coat so they don't sink to the bottom of your muffins while baking. Add to the batter and gently fold in. Pour into 12 regular sized muffin tins either sprayed or lined with cupcake liners. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until done. Let cool.
Products I used in making this recipe;
Isopure Creamy Vanilla Protein Powder
Bob's Red Mill Oat Flour
Hodgson Mill Vital Wheat Gluten with Vitamin C
Honeytree's Imitation Honey, Sugar Free
I can find the sugar free honey, oat flour and Vital Wheat Gluten at my grocery store and Walmart but I do order the other products online. I didn't list the liquid sweetener I use only because it's been discontinued, so just use the one you like best. Lastly, you can find the ISOPURE brand protein powder at GNC I think (?). I always order it online as I can find it at a good price, but we use this one because it has NO carbs and NO sugar - which other brands do often have carbs and sugar.
