Purple Buckwheat Muffins

I have a ton of scary buckwheat flour left over from my buckwheat crepes and considering all of it's wonderful health benefits I thought I should learn how to use it. I found a good-lookin' buckwheat muffin recipe at "Pink of Perfection" and replaced the strawberries with raspberries. Also, because I'm still scared of buckwheat I topped them with alot of brown sugar instead of a little bit of white. They turned out so pink that they are almost purple and how can I be scared of purple muffins? Turns out I'm not. I can't stop eating them.


1 1/2 cups raspberries
1/3 cup plus white sugar
2 T. brown sugar for tops of muffins
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup buckwheat flour
2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. ground cinnamon
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a standard 12 cup muffin tin with paper liners. Toss together raspberries and sugar. Using a potato masher, lightly mash berries; set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. In another bowl, whisk together buttermilk, oil, egg, and vanilla until combined.

Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour in the buttermilk mixture and the berry mixture (including juices). Fold until just combined. Divide batter among the muffin cups. Sprinkle the tops with brown sugar.

Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, about 17 minutes. Cool 5 minutes in the pan, then transfer muffins to a wire rack to cool completely.

Source: Adapted from "Pink of Perfection"

Buckwheat Crepe

I had never used buckwheat flour or tasted buckwheat flour ever that I can remember.

"...it contains all nine essential amino acids, rich in fiber, antioxidants and magnesium. Eating buckwheat regularly may help improve cardiovascular health, assist in regulating blood sugar, and reduce your risk of colon cancer"-Bon Appetit

It was scary. Buckwheat just doesn't sound that appealing and the magazine showed no images of it. I cut the amount of buckwheat in half and split it with all-purpose flour. I thought I'd start slowly.

I made a savory filling to experiment (Spinach, red onion, toasted pine nuts and mozzarella topped with Avgolemono Sauce)and I also made a sweet filling recipe slightly adapted from the magazine(Pear, lemon juice, brown sugar, lemon zest and devon cream).






Basic Buckwheat Crepe: (Bon Appetit)
1 1/4 cup buckwheat flour(Split with all-purpose)
3 large eggs
1/4 cup vegetable oil plus more for skillet
3/4 cup milk
1 1/4 cups water
1/4 t. salt

Whisk ingredients together, pour over Med High heated non stick skillet. Immediately tip pan so batter goes right to the edge. Cook for 30 seconds on each side or until lacey and brown.

Spinach Pine Nut Filling:
-Toast pine nuts, add onion, garlic, salt and pepper. Saute. Set to side.
-Melt butter in aseparate pan, add fresh spinach, heat until just wilting.
-wrap into crepe with grated mozza
-Cover with Avgolemono Sauce

Avgolemono Sauce:
Boil 2/3 cup chicken broth. In a separate bowl whisk 2 egg whites and 1/4 cup lemon juice. Add half boiling broth in stream, whisking constantly careful not to scramble eggs. Then add that mixture to pot with other half chicken broth. Careful not to boil. Sauce should thicken slightly. Add salt and pepper to taste.



Pear Filling:(Adapted from Bon Appetit)
Heat crepe in pan with butter. Flip. Sprinkle with brown sugar. Fold into quarters. Keep warm in oven.
-Toss peeled, cubed pears (I used canned)with lemon juice and brown sugar.
-Lay onto crepe, top with lemon zest and creme fraise (I used devon cream)


Photos:Shawn Campbell

Buckwheat Flour