Just Add Chocolate for a Rapid Disappearing Act!

Oh, wow, the Farmers' Market was not a very fun experience for me this morning. My children LOVED it, however; they have an incredibly difficult time not touching all the gorgeous produce, and trying to eat everything in sight too. It was mildly stressful trying to shop, handing over money, and attempting to keep them from emptying the various sample baskets. I even walked away from the berry booth without my blackberries (I remembered just a minute later, thankfully, and was able to retrieve them)!

That said, you'd think they either ate breakfast really early or that they didn't eat much at all. My children like to make people think I don't feed them. This morning I made a batch of Raspberry Chocolate Chip Muffins and a huge pile of scrambled eggs, ready to eat at 8 AM. I had much more batter than the standard twelve, so I placed liners in ramekins and baked two more that way. Good thing, because my son ate three and my daughter ate two. That's amazing, considering they were heavy enough that I was feeling very full after two and my kids usually eat half of what they consumed. So I was rather shocked that they were still able to attack the sample baskets with relish. (And a note on my parenting: I try to teach them about the rule of ONE, and we talk about it often. They sometimes take advantage of me when I'm distracted.)

Anyway, back to the muffins. I used organic spelt flour instead of whole wheat this time. I try to incorporate many different whole grains into our diet for variety, and spelt is no exception. It's a close cousin to wheat, although it has a bolder flavor, in my opinion. I used agave nectar to sweeten them, and tossed in just a small handful of chocolate chips to appeal to the kiddos. The chocolate complemented the spelt surprisingly well, masking the boldness, and was probably why my children ate so many (even though each muffin had maybe two chips total). We were lucky enough to have picked a basket of raspberries from the garden last night to add the final touch.

Raspberry Chocolate Chip Muffins

1 cup whole spelt flour (or whole wheat pastry flour)

1 cup all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips (or more, if desired)

1/2 cup agave nectar, or honey

1/4 cup canola oil

1 cup buttermilk

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 pint fresh raspberries (or 1 1/2 cups frozen berries, NOT thawed)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a 12 cup muffin tin with cooking spray, or line with muffin liners. (You may need an additional 2-3 ramekins, well greased or lined with muffin papers, depending on how much chocolate and fruit you add).

In a large mixing bowl, combine the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and chocolate chips.

In a 2 cup glass measuring cup, whisk together the buttermilk, oil, agave, egg, and vanilla. Pour all at once into the flour mixture and stir lightly to combine (don't overmix or the muffins will be tough). When a few traces of flour still remain, gently fold in the raspberries. Fill muffin cups almost to the top with batter (a little over 3/4 full).

Bake about 20 minutes, until browned and the tops spring back when lightly touched. Keep in mind that spelt flour gets a little darker than whole wheat. Let cool in the pan for about 5 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely. (If you leave them in the pans they'll continue to cook and will steam the outside of the muffin, making them tough.)

Makes 12-15 muffins.