Blackberry-Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

Happy Mother's Day to all you mommies out there- including my sister, Rachel, who is celebrating her first. Yay!
I am not a mommy. If it ever happens, it's going to be very, very scary. For the child.

I like my mom. She's pretty cool, and she's hot. She dresses with style, and she also has the best earrings.
My mom is really crafty, too. She has all kinds of skills; she sews, she makes jewelry and handbags, she knows a lot about plants and flowers, she can fix stuff, she's very artistic, and she can cook. She's a jack of all trades!

I have some pretty sweet food related memories of my childhood, with my mom. I remember eating a lot of peanut butter sandwiches and BBQ Krunchers potato chips, while watching All My Children.
Some days we would go shopping at Food 4 Less, and then go eat pizza at Mr. Gatti's. How can you resist dessert pizza, like chocolate chip or cherry streusel?
We would always go to the library together, and check out books. Thanks to her, I love reading!

I wish I had made a fantastic Mother's Day dessert, but I didn't. Our oven is still broken, and it won't be fixed until after Monday. Luckily, I remembered this muffin recipe that I hadn't posted yet. Now, if we're talking about something I can't resist, it would be a muffin. Or a bagel. Or coffee.

This is a lemon poppy seed muffin, with blackberries stirred into the batter. They're topped with some cornmeal and almonds, for texture. These were very tasty. I wish I had some now, but NOPE. No oven. We're doing Mother's Day food on the grill.

Blackberry-Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins (Recipe by Me)
Printable Recipe

6 ounces fresh blackberries
2 tablespoons seedless blackberry preserves
Cornmeal
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons poppy seeds
2 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 large egg
1 cup reduced fat milk
1 1/4 teaspoons finely grated lemon peel
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons finely chopped toasted almonds

Preheat oven broiler; line a small sheet pan with foil, and place blackberries on pan. Warm the preserves in the microwave for 10-20 seconds, or until liquid; pour over berries, and toss until well combined.
Broil for 2-3 minutes, or until berries start to caramelize.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray 9 muffins cups with cooking spray; sprinkle 1/4 teaspoon cornmeal into bottom of each cup.

In a medium sized mixing bowl, sift together all purpose flour, whole wheat flour, baking powder and salt; stir in sugar and poppy seeds, until well combined.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together melted butter, egg, milk, lemon peel, lemon juice and vanilla extract, until well combined. Stir flour mixture into liquid mixture, until just combined; gently fold in blackberries.

Divide batter into 9 muffin cups, and sprinkle 1/4 teaspoon cornmeal over each muffin cup, followed by almonds. Bake at 350 degrees F, for 20-23 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out with moist crumbs attached. Cool for 10 minutes, run a knife around outside edges, and lift muffins out onto a wire rack, to cool completely (or not).

Yield: 9 muffins.