www.fruitstree.com

By: Shelly Hill
This past July we were pleasantly surprised to see our raspberry bushes yielding a marvelous crop of fresh berries for us. We spent an entire week picking the berries and utilizing them in various recipes. We made muffins, pancakes, freezer jam, pies and even a cake.

If you want to freeze your berries for late use, wash and remove the stems and let them air dry. I placed them on a cookie sheet in my freezer until they were frozen (took about 2 hours) and then packed them into freezer containers.

The following recipe is a very moist recipe, so don't over mix it as that will cause them to get tough.

Raspberry Muffins

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

1 cup buttermilk

1 cup fresh raspberries

Note: Thawed and drained raspberries will work too

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line your muffin pan with 12 liners or lightly grease the cups with some shortening or nonstick baking spray.

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder and granulated sugar until they are well combined. In a medium-sized bowl, combine the beaten egg, buttermilk and raspberries until well mixed, being careful to not crush the berries. Stir the berry mixture into the flour mixture by hand until all ingredients are well combined.

Spoon batter into your prepared muffin cups, filling them 2/3 of the way full. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 15-18 minutes or until they are done. (the tops should be lightly browned.)

Serving Suggestions: We like to serve our muffins with honey, honey or apple butter or just plain butter.

Note: I have also used this recipe with blueberries, black raspberries and mulberries and it works just as well.

Shelly Hill has been working from home since 1989 in Direct Sales and is a Manager with Tupperware. You can visit Shelly online at: http://www.workathomebusinessoptions.com or her recipe blog at: http://wahmshelly.blogspot.com