Plum Gingerbread Muffins

Fall, as I've mentioned, is my favourite of all seasons. I love that crispness in the air and the smell of dry leaves - it makes me want to throw on my coziest jumper and spend the day outside, preferably punctuated (frequently) with cups of tea and cinnamon-y spiced biscuits :) 

In Canada this season is usually accompanied by bright, chilly sunshine and pumpkin spice lattes from Starbucks, but Swansea often lacks the former and has yet to discover the joys of the latter, so I've learned to appreciate different things about fall since moving here. Like blustery walks along the coast (you definitely can't get those in Alberta!) and seeing the first autumn produce from the green grocers. This weekend I discovered that plum season has arrived! There were some gorgeous plums at the green grocer's this weekend and I bought a big bag before I had fully thought through how to use them.

The idea of plum muffins cropped up when I started thinking about my lunches for the week. I'm always trying to find grab-and-go type things for lunch, you see, because I'm usually running late in the morning and I lack the discipline to put anything together the night before. So being able to grab a couple muffins, some carrot sticks and a piece of fruit seemed like a great plan. They had to be filling though, and stay moist enough that the batch I made today would keep for a few days (I'll freeze the rest and defrost them as needed), so gingerbread and plum seemed a good match!

The problem with muffins is that they're usually ridiculously unhealthy, and if they're good muffins, they tend to be even moreso, as you can never eat just one. So I spent some time trying to figure out what I could substitute to make these at least slightly less guilt-inducing, and I think I've been successful (no joke - these, by my calculations, are 2 Weight Watchers points each (if you make the same quantity I did), which, if you know anything about WW, is fantastic)! I'm usually skeptical of some of the healthy substitutions, as they can sometimes sacrifice taste for nutrition, but I think these are alright (but you'll have to let me know if you agree)...

One thing to note is that this is a really wet batter, and could be even wetter if you use over-ripe plums, runnier yogurt than I used, etc. That said, if you think your batter is too runny, add more oats. I added more oats to the batter after the second batch went in the oven because some of the muffins were sinking a bit in the centre, and that did the trick. So these proportions should work, but do use your own judgement as to appropriate degree of runniness! Good luck!

Plum Gingerbread Muffins
215 g packed dark brown sugar
220 g plain flour
75 g porridge oats
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground cardamom
1/4 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
60 mL (1/4 US c.) black treacle
60 mL (1/4 US c.) runny honey
250 mL (1 US c.) buttermilk*
29 mL low fat natural yogurt
56 g unsalted butter
5 plums, pitted and diced

Preheat oven to 350F/180C and grease/line a muffin tin.

Over low heat, combine the treacle, honey and butter. Stir to combine.

Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl and stir well. Add diced plums to dry ingredients and mix until plums are well coated.

In a separate bowl, mix the buttermilk, yogurt and egg. Combine the wet and dry ingredients and stir until just combined. If you think the batter is too runny, add a couple tbsp of oats and stir well.

Fill muffin cups 2/3 full and bake for 25 minutes in preheated oven, until a knife inserted in the centre of a muffin comes out clean.

This recipe is supposed to (according to the original source, pre-adaptations) to make 12 muffins...presumably American muffins, because I managed to get 34 (hence the need for freezing!). But they are dense and gingerbready and nicely moist.

*If you don't have/can't be bothered to get buttermilk, just use any milk you have and add a tsp of lemon juice to it. The lemon juice will curdle the milk and produces the same effect as the buttermilk.