Currant Yogurt Muffins

As much as I love being a CSA member, some weeks I get things that have minimal utility. Case in point: loads of curly cress (it's so strong and peppery that you can't use much of it) and last week's quart of fresh currants. You can't really eat them like grapes or other berries - they're super tiny and very tart - so the only thing you can really do is bake them or add them to savory dishes that could benefit from a little tartness.

I used my currants two ways: first in an eggplant caponata (which is all about agrodolce - sweet and sour - so the currants were an excellent addition) and later in these muffins. The tart currants melded beautifully with the yogurt and their flavor was accented by a bit of almond flour and extract. A touch of orange zest lent these a wonderful fragrance (reminiscent of the classic cranberry-orange flavor combination) and freshly ground fennel seeds rounded out the mix, providing a bit of mild savoriness.


The texture on these was better than I expected - they were soft but not dry, and definitely muffin-y - I hate muffins that are super soft and cakey because those are just cupcakes. And the best part is that they're stupidly simple (hear that, Amy?) to make - dry ingredients in one bowl, wet in another, then mix them together and they're in the oven in under 10 minutes. Easy, tasty, relatively healthy, and a good way to use up odd CSA fruit? Sounds good to me.

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Currant Yogurt Muffins

makes 6 regular size or 18 mini muffins

¾ cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup almond meal
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon freshly ground fennel seeds (not toasted)
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ cup Greek or other thick yogurt
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 large egg
½ teaspoon almond extract
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ tsp orange zest
Scant ¼ cup turbinado sugar
½ cup fresh red currants

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Heat oven to 375 degrees. Line wells of a muffin pan with paper liners and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, almond meal, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and ground fennel seeds, and set aside.

Add the yogurt and milk to a medium bowl and whisk well to combine. Add the butter, egg, both extracts and zest, and sugar, whisking well between each addition.

Pour the yogurt mixture into the flour mixture and stir until barely combined – there may be a few spots of flour but that’s ok.

Add the currants and gently stir the batter to evenly distribute the berries, making sure to mix in any spots of flour.

Evenly distribute the batter among the muffin cups (mini muffin cups will be ¾ full, full size muffin cups will be about 2/3 full) and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 14-17 minutes for minis and 18-22 minutes for full size muffins.

Let the muffins cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.