Of Muses and Meringues

Mother’s Day

For A Five-Year-Old

A snail is climbing up the window-sill
into your room, after a night of rain.
You call me in to see, and I explain
that it would be unkind to leave it there:
it might crawl to the floor; we must take care
that no one squashes it.  You understand,
and carry it outside, with careful hand,
to eat a daffodil.

I see, then, that a kind of faith prevails:
your gentleness is moulded still by words
from me, who have trapped mice and shot wild birds,
from me, who drowned your kittens, who betrayed
your closest relatives, and who purveyed
the harshest kind of truth to many another.
But that is how things are: I am your mother,
And we are kind to snails.

– by Fleur Adcock

I love muffins, and I love fruit desserts, so it was inevitable that I’d adore these tri-berry muffins. The original recipe calls for fresh fruit, but I tried them with frozen and the result was great.  Yes, I baked these myself, but one was served to me this morning as part of breakfast in bed!  

“Sam said to me the other day, ‘I love you like 20 tyrannosauruses on 20 mountaintops’, and this is the exact same way in which I love him.”
– Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird

Happy Mother’s Day to everyone who is a mother, or has a mother.

Tri-Berry muffins

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2/3 cup sugar (first amount)
1/2 Tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1 1/3 cup mixed frozen berries (blueberries, raspberries, strawberries)
1 Tbsp sugar (second amount)
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Line muffin tins with paper liners.
Sift the all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, 2/3 cup sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon together in a large bowl and stir.
In another bowl, combine the milk, egg and melted butter.
Make a well in the middle of the dry mixture, pour the wet mixture into the well, and stir until just combined.  Stir in the mixed berries.  Stir gently, just to combine.  Spoon the batter into the muffin cups and sprinkle tops with 1 Tbsp sugar.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean and the tops are nicely browned.
Makes 10 – 12 small muffins, or 8 – 9 large.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  4. Happy Mother's Day to you too, Beth! Lovely poem – quite powerful. 🙂

    These muffins look scrumptious! Fresh, or frozen, a berry is a berry.

    Reply

  9. Happy Mother's Day, Beth. Love that poem…I guess you can read it many different ways, but maybe we always hope for our children to be a little bit better than we are?…or we teach them to do right even when we aren't always right ourselves. Love that.

    I also love these muffins – yum! Can't go wrong with Barefoot Contessa and I love that you used the frozen berries with great success.

    Reply

  10. Happy Mother's Day! I love muffins, and I bet you're a great mother, kind to snails and no drowning of kittens. (Seriously, what is wrong with Fleur Adcock?)

    Reply

  17. Happy Mother's Day! What a beautiful poem you shared with us. It was a pleasure to read…and these muffins? They were a pleasure to look at! I think berry muffins are a must during the spring and summer. Thank you for sharing them Beth!

    Reply

  24. Beth, I always wanted to try out a recipe for a multiple berry muffin – I think that I just found the recipe that I was looking for – these muffins look fabulous, I also love the fact that you used some whole-wheat flour in your recipe!
    Have a wonderful Wednesday!

    Reply

  25. Oh…these berry muffins look awesome and delicious. I love that you can see the vibrant colors of the berries throughout the muffins.

    Reply

  26. Happy belated mother's day!! The.Boy has started hinting that he would like me to make him muffins for breakfast so I'm going to have to try these! Love how berry-full they are!

    Reply

  32. Beth I am very late and catching up. The muffins are perfect for this time if year. I do hope you had a wonderful Mother's Day. Bonnie

    Reply

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