Saskatoon Muffins with Lemon Thyme and Feta

I had a really wonderful day yesterday. I woke up leisurely but early, and not at all hung over - a surprise, given my wine and video game shenanigans the night before - got up and started researching immediately, and then broke to take care of the many mundane chores I needed to accomplish. I felt happy and was productive for the first time in quite a while. Once my chores were done, I accepted an invitation to go out and meet some of the artists who paint the murals all over town, which was spur of the moment and quite fun. The evening was spent having dinner with some of my extended family as my Grandparents are here picking up my small cousin and spiriting him away for a few weeks of adventuring in Alberta. Unexpectedly, my happy productivity followed me home, and I decided to take advantage of it to bake.

But before I get to the recipe, I'd like to post a few things I have been exposed to recently in case anyone is interested:

• A former classmate of mine has recently started her own blog on the food of the Northumberland Shore of Nova Scotia. Penny has recently completed her M.Div and has been working with different congregations on the east coast. Her blog focuses on exploring local food sources, recipes, and contemplating the connections between cooking, consuming, and community. You can check out her blog here. It's giving me wanderlust. 
• Bill Corbett and I connected at a company holiday party a few years ago and spent a delightful few hours chatting about food and wine and all things delicious. He has started a road blog, documenting his experiences with affordable, independent eateries in the western United States and Canada. Of particular interest to some of you might be the two entries he wrote about locales in Edmonton, which can be found here and here. I absolutely love the watercolour portrait in his banner. ^_^
• I discovered a new magazine called Kinfolk, which is dedicated to small, food and camaraderie focused gatherings. What really caught my attention was the format - it's divided into four parts: the first part is for solo expeditions and experiences, the second for duos, the third for "few". I was quite taken with the idea of a publication advocating for individual experiences and solo activities and hope to see more like this in the future. Also, the photography is stunning. 
• Bianca and I had a beautiful brunch earlier last week, and I wanted to post a picture of it so I remembered how fantastic it was. I'm still getting used to my new camera lens:
  

Now, back to the baking...

Originally, I had wanted to make the Feta, Roasted Red Pepper, and Basil muffins from Sur la Table's Art and Soul of Baking. Reviewing the recipe helped me to realize that I was short both the roasted red pepper and the basil required to make the muffins, so I decided to improvise. I have a healthy shrub of lemon thyme growing on my windowsill, and I had a bag of saskatoon berries in the freezer which had been brought to mind when my Grandparents served the saskatoons they had picked during their travels today as part of the dessert this evening. My goal was not a sweet muffin, but rather a more savoury one, and I think it worked out fairly well.

Saskatoon Muffins with Lemon Thyme and Feta

Makes 12 

2 cups (10 oz) all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup (3 oz) feta cheese, crumbled

I cup saskatoon berries, stems removed (if they've been frozen, they can remain frozen until adding)

3 tbsp lemon thyme leaves 

1 cup buttermilk*

1/4 cup (2 oz) olive oil

1 large egg

*In a perfect world, I would have used buttermilk, but I didn't have any. So I substituted 1 cup vanilla flavoured soy milk (I swore I'd bought the unsweetened/unflavoured, but apparently not) with ~1 tbsp white lemon-infused balsamic vinegar. You can improvise your own buttermilk this way using regular milk as well; what you are after is a bit higher acidity to set off you baking soda and baking powder properly which contributes to the rise of the muffins. I recommend a slightly fruity vinegar here if you have one - apple cider or even a red or white wine vinegar, but regular white vinegar will work and will not leave your baking bitter, I promise. I used one of my infused vinegars because I had it around and it added another little kick of citrus flavour to bump up the subtle thyme. You could also use an infused olive oil to add a bit more flavour, but I didn't have one with a flavour that I thought would work in the profile I was creating. I'm tempted to try this recipe again but substitute the white lemon balsamic for the dark pomegranate balsamic that I have just to see what happens... If you don't have fresh thyme on hand, you can substitute an equal amount of finely chopped fresh basil. Don't used dried herbs here, they won't give you the flavour the recipe intends. If you like a sweeter muffin, add ~2 tbsp sugar to the dry ingredients.

Preheat your oven to 375F and centre a rack in the oven. Prepare 12 muffin tins - if you are using metal pans, coat them with cooking spray or melted butter, or paper liners as you prefer. If you are using silicone cups, no additional grease will be required. Set the pan aside for now.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. 

Crumble your feta, portion out your berries, and prepare your herbs. 

Lemon thyme grows in a shrub and has many tiny leaves along each small branch of the plant. It takes some time to pick all of the leaves off, but as you work on it, everything starts to smell citrus-y and wonderful, so it's not an unenjoyable task. Put these three ingredients aside for now. 

In a large measuring cup, measure out the milk, olive oil, and egg. Whisk everything together until well blended and then stir in the herbs. Set aside for a moment.

Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and then pour the wet ingredients into the well. 

Mix everything together with a spatula until there are no streaks or pockets of flour in the batter and the batter looks relatively smooth. Then add the herbs, feta, and saskatoons. 

Mix everything together until the cheese and berries are evenly distributed through the batter. Working quickly to get the best lift out of the leaveners, portion the batter evenly into the prepared muffin cups. Bake at 375F for 18-20 minutes, or until the tops of the muffins are just starting to turn golden and a skewer poked into the centre of one comes out clean. Let them cool for 5 minutes in the pan before removing them from the pan to finish cooling. Be careful while taking the muffins out of their baking containers - these ones are quite tender while they are hot and might break if not handled gently, although they firm up just enough once they are cool. 

Eat them warm or at room temperature. These can also be frozen for up to 1 month. 

Enjoy!