2 cups flour
1 cup blue (or yellow) cornmeal
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon kosher or sea salt
1 1/2 cups plain yogurt (low-fat is fine, but do not use nonfat)
1/3 cup corn oil
3 tablespoons pure maple syrup (not maple-flavored)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 eggs
1 pound (2 generous cups) fresh or frozen blackberries
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease two standard 12-cup muffin tins. Whisk dry ingredients together in a large bowl. In a medium bowl, stir together all the wet ingredients except berries. Using a rubber spatula, fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients until just mixed. Then fold in berries (do not defrost if using frozen). Fill 16 of the muffin cups just to the top and bake for 10 to 15 minutes. Rotate tins and bake for an additional 10 to 12 minutes, until puffed and slightly golden and a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool muffins in tins for 5 minutes before inverting onto a rack. Makes 16 muffins. Note: For even baking, fill the empty cups in the second tin with water halfway. For taller muffins, make the batter the night before and refrigerate, to allow the leaveners to do their thing. Add the frozen berries just before baking so the batter won’t get streaky.
This recipe is one of several included in the Texas Monthly article From Husks Till Dawn by Patricia Sharpe, [March 2007]
