Theme: Outdoors
Recipe: Rye Muffins
Cookbook: The Lunch Book, by Diana Terry
Food + Outdoors = Picnic.
Picnic + Food = Muffins.
Muffins + Picnic = Teddy Bears’ Picnic.
Teddy Bears’ Picnic + The Limits of Hannah’s Soft Toy Collection = Teddy Bear and Panda Picnic with Rye Muffins.
It’s not rocket science, people.
For this fortnight’s Cookbook Challenge, I dipped into a cookbook that is very dear to me. However, I’m going to save talking about why the book is special for another day, because right now I want to tell you a story about a teddy bear and a panda.
You see, once upon a time my brother had a panda toy that he hugged so often it was all worn out. As a younger sister, I was exponentially jealous of the relationship between boy and panda, so I decided that I needed a panda toy too. And pronto.
My grandparents found out about my desire for a soft cuddly thing, and so they sent me a beautiful – and beautifully soft to cuddle – brown teddy bear.
The muffin is always greener on the other side.
Being such a grateful and charming and sweet child, I rejected the beautiful brown bear outright.
I wanted a panda. I wanted to be like my brother.
The song might say that “you can’t always get what you want”… but sometimes, if you persevere, you can.
The first moral of this story is: if at first you don’t succeed, whine, whine again.
The second moral of this story is: make these rye muffins. They’re wholesome because they’re made with rye flour, wheat germ, and only a little sugar, and they’re delicious because they employ caraway seeds and just enough sugar to make them perfect alongside a savoury picnic soup or when topped with jam or peanut butter and eaten as a picnic snack.
Of course, I wouldn’t be me, and you probably wouldn’t be here, if I didn’t admit that my favourite thing to do with these muffins is to warm them up and break bits off, topping each bite-sized piece with a dark chocolate chip. I let the chocolate melt before I munch. So should you.
Rye Muffins
Makes 12
From The Lunch Book
- 1 cup rye flour
- 1 cup wheat germ
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tb caraway seeds
- 1 tb baking powder
- 2 tb brown sugar (packed)
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup buttermilk (I used 1tb white vinegar mixed with enough soymilk to equal one cup)
1. Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F).
2. Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl. Lightly beat together the eggs and buttermilk, then pour over the dry ingredients and then fold together until just combined. (My batter was crazy-aerated and fluffy. Chemical reactions are fun!)
3. Spoon batter into 12 greased muffin tins. Bake in oven for 20 minutes (or 25, your call) until cooked through.
4. Feed to your favourite teddy bears.
{ 74 comments… read them below or add one }
That first picture is awesome.
Thanks Victoria
I understand why the book is very special to you. I am lucky enough to have a special copy of the companion book The Supper Book. I’m not the biggest caraway fan so I wouldn’t really want to try those muffins. I would have liked to seen the bears enjoying their muffins outside though.
Louise, I’m so happy that you have a copy of The Supper Book! That’s next on my to-read list
You could easily leave the caraway out of these muffins, but it’s probably best just to wait for a dessert that fits your tastes unadapted. I shall try to help you out there 
So happy to know you are using these recipes, Hannah, and what a wonderful thing is the muffin – so many variations on a theme. For wheat free people the cup of wheatgerm can be replaced with another cup of rye flour.
Lovely to know that The Supper Book is special to others, too, Louise.
Thanks for the tip, Grandma! I almost tried using flax eggs to make these vegan, but then I decided to trust in Diana
Just realised – those muffins in the pics are really defying gravity, aren’t they – to say nothing of the plates!
Oh yes, they’re definitely magic muffins.
And I’m worried about those plates – they’re special too! See what happens when we leave certain people alone in the house!
Having just heard how much each one of those plates is worth, I hereby promise not to use them without permission ever again.
Oh, you can use them … just sensibly as in, you know, not inclining down tables.
I totally get that now.
I’m intrigued now -what are these cookbooks?
I shall make these over the long weekend using the rye flour I bought for last year’s bread cookbook challenge, but didn’t use. I’ve been desperate for a wheat free muffin. Thanks for the recipe Hannah and thanks for the tip @ gmasydney.
All shall be revealed soon, I promise!
Let me (us, really!) know how the all-rye works out if you do make these – I’d love to know what you think!
Will do!
Love those photos – they are so cute!
And seeing that you are endorsing pester power, why don’t you just throw the choc chips into the mix – baking with chocolate is so yummy
Honestly these muffins look delish but they are such wannabe choc chip muffins
Thanks Johanna! But hmm, might need a bit more pestering than this… you know that I eat so much chocolate every day that I’m rarely interested in baking with it
but if you eat the chocolate with the muffin anyway then if you put it in the muffin you have it all there in a nice easy parcel!!! Is that enough pestering???
Awww, this is SO cute! Love it!
Thank you Rach!
Aw, adorable teddies! I’m sure they loved the muffins
I did, indeed, get complimentary reports back from the teddies
Yum, the muffins look so good!
Thanks Priyanka!
Aww, the pictures of the teddy bears carrying the muffins are too cute! I love rye bread, so rye muffins are a no-brainer for me. Thanks for the recipe!
You’re more than welcome… and thank you for the lovely comment!
I love the chocolate/rye combo!
It’s all kinds of brilliant, isn’t it?
Girl! I love rye! how’d you know??
This is an adorable post.
I’m psychic. These can be your engagement muffins if you want
I will take a dozen of these, please
Unfortunately there are only three left… will that suffice?
Oh, and I can attest to the fact that WayChoc is an expert whiner (at least, when it comes to pandas!)
Hey! Uncalled for! Plus, I’m clearly not a great whiner, or else I’d have a pony by now. Hmph.
Guess what Hannah…. I had a Panda
Love the muffins girlfriend 
Panda-lovers represent! I’ll invite your toy to the next picnic
It is not rocket science, and it makes a wonderful story. I love my muffins warmed up too. I have never thought of topping each bite with chocolate chip though. I should really try it!
You really should! The chocolate chip trick works on ‘most every kind of muffin in existence
hehe my first reaction was “it’s the sooty and sweep show!”
Wow, I have no idea what that’s referring to! Off to Lord Google I go…
I mostly use rye flour when I bake bread and caraway seeds is a classic spice to use in Finnish breads! Just made a bread with both these ingredients in it
These muffins sound perfect!
Thank you Maria! Funny, I’ve always associated cardamom with Finnish breads, not caraway, because that was the spice my childhood best friend’s Finnish grandmother always used
In the first photo, Mr Panda is getting all crazy excited and throwing his arms up in the air ready to throw himself upon the muffin, but the more calm Mr Browny is throwing up a hand to hold him back “Now now Mr Panda, you have to calm yourself down and enjoy your muffin because you know that Miss Hannah said you can only have one so you don’t spoil your dinner. It’s a good thing for you Miss Hannah also said you are having muffins for dinner”.
Oh my gosh, Conor, why didn’t you tell me you were hiding in the bushes listening to the bears’ conversation?! Also, Miss Hannah can attest to the dinner-spoiling properties of these muffins. Miss Hannah ate 7 of the muffins in the first 30 hours after they came out of the oven…
P.S. I’m glad you didn’t interpret the first photo as Mr Browny punching Mr Panda.
Mr Browny’s calm demeanour is liable to turn in an instant if Mr Panda were to get carried away and get frisky with Mr Browny’s muffin.
Oh heavens that doesn’t quite sound like how I intended.
Are you advocating muffinphilia?
Well, this wasn’t quite the stance I was meaning to take but I’ll run with it…
Yes, yes I am! Muffinphilia isn’t a dirty word! We should be free to love muffins as much as we want! YOU! YES YOU! Get off your computer and go love a muffin right now!
Don’t mind if I do. With sunflower seed butter this time! Hurrah!
Hannah darling, is your brother cranky with you for revealing his panda bear love?
I’ve been considering posting on his facebook wall that he’s been “outed”
(I very carefully edited my original draft so that the post no longer says “my brother had a panda toy that he slept with every night for years” 
)
aaaw, bears having a little picnic! Yes, good idea with the chocolate chip! You just gotta dd the good stuff LOL
Absolutely! Chocolate makes everything taste better (except, maybe, pickles).
We have a traveling panda at work that visits your office if you do something great. Silly but rewarding. I have never cooked with rye flour.
Aw, that is such a lovely idea!!
These sounds awesome! I’ve never used rye flour, but i really want to try there, maybe as teh base for a tempeh rueben? mmm
Ooh, tempeh rueben! That sounds fancypants!
OMG I LOVE YOUR TEDDIES!
Teehee, me too!
These muffins look great- thanks for sharing!
You’re more than welcome! They taste great too
That brown bear is so beautiful. I can only suppose you learned to love him?
Kind of! I rediscovered him when I was a teenager and thought he was beautiful, but by that point I was past needing a teddy to cuddle at night
Hannah, made these this evening (omitted the chocolate though and did an all rye flour version). Flavour was fantastic and will definitely make them again, with a couple of changes.
I didn’t get the rise I wanted. So either I would double the quantity or make them in a smaller muffin pan (e.g. patty pan). Or, my baking powder was a bit old. I didn’t quite get the reaction you described when mixing! So I’ll get some fresh baking powder for the next batch. Also, I used a commercial butter milk (cow), so I wonder if this affected the mixture. But not to worry really because they are light and delicious.
Thank you so much for coming and reporting back! I’m absolutely delighted that your all-rye version of these have got the thumbs up
As I’m completely *not* scientifically minded I can’t presume to give answers about the rise, but I think your baking powder theory is probably quite likely. Also, did you use the Australian 20ml tablespoon measurement instead of the UK/US 15ml measurement? That might make a difference too. Most important, though, is the flavour and that you’re happy with the results. YAY!
Do you mean you used all rye ie 2 cups and no wheat germ? If so that might be your problem. Whenever I use rye I mix it with something like rice flour or pure cornflour, usually to the proportion of 2/3 rye, 1/3 other flour. All rye is a bit heavy — compare all rye bread with rye mix breads and you will see what I mean.
I want to make these now! But I will probably wait until the weekend, whenI have time to eat them warm for breakfast. I will be leaving out the caraway, as it is gross and has no place in my kitchen.
I was going to be all retort-awesome and say “well, you have no place in my kitchen”, but then I remembered that I love you and wish I could wake up to you in my kitchen every weekend.
Aw. Hugs!
Only one chocolate chip?? Chocolate always makes everything better, especially when it’s melted.
Susan, I think you’ll see that there are already three chocolate chips in the photo… the “one chocolate chip” is for each tiny bite of muffin, so it ends up being more like 15-20 chocolate chips by the end
How cute!! I love a good teddy bear picnic. These sounds delicious, Hannah – rye, love it!
Heidi xo
Thanks Heidi! I wish I hadn’t eaten them all already.
I love reading your blog – it makes me laugh everytime! Thanks Hannah!
Aw, thank you Leigh! That means so much
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