Blueberry Spelt Muffins

I found the yummiest recipe on the Whole Foods Market website!  The kids love these muffins (and so do I), and they are pretty easy to make.  I'm constantly trying to find fool-proof Michele-proof recipes to make using my WonderMill grain mill, and since spelt grain is expensive compared to regular wheat, I don't use it very often.  I bought it specifically to make Ezekiel bread, but do want to try it soaked and made into hot cereal in the crock pot.  That's supposed to be pretty tasty. But these muffins are delicious.  You absolutely can not beat the taste of fresh-milled grain, no matter how much your friends tease you for morphing into the stereotypical homeschool mom.

Lauren came running in as soon as she heard me taking them out of the oven and gobbled one up and is now on her second one.  A word of caution, especially if you aren't used to fresh-milled grains----how do I put this delicately...um...GO EASY ON THESE because they will clean you out, literally.

Here is the recipe exactly as it is on the Whole Foods website [with my comments in red]:
Ingredients
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) softened butter or canola oil, plus more for greasing the pan [ I use these amazing pans that require NO greasing--EVER! The muffins are a bit darker and crispier with oil than with butter]
2/3 Cup sugar
1/3 Cup unsweetened applesauce
2 eggs
1/2 Cup orange juice [when you make juice, freeze ice-cubes of orange juice so you have them on-hand for next time--I think i used about 5 or 6 and thawed them on half power in the microwave in a glass measuring cup]
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 Cups spelt flour [ I measure 1 1/3 Cups grain to get 2 Cups flour]
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon grated orange zest [both times I have made these I have used a Clementine (the whole skin yields about 1 tsp) because that is what I have had on hand--haven't tried with a regular orange]
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 Cups fresh blueberries

Method
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Butter a 12-cup muffin tin or line with paper muffin liners [again, since my pans don't stick, I don't use butter or liners]. In a large bowl, cream together butter or oil and sugar. Stir in applesauce, eggs [I beat them slightly first], orange juice and vanilla. I recommend mixing EACH ingredient before adding the next, making sure to add vanilla last, especially if you use butter because the vanilla makes everything curdly otherwise and it looks nasty!!!

In a second large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, zest and salt. Stir flour mixture into butter-egg mixture until just combined. Gently stir in blueberries. Spoon batter into muffin cups [ a big ice-cream scooper filled completely should give you 12 scoops] and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, about 30 minutes [today's were a little dry, so I think I should have pulled them out a few minutes sooner, but it could have been that I used oil instead of butter].

Waiting for the reward

These are just so yummy I had to share.