Kim Boyce's Whole-Wheat Sweet Potato Muffins

I am an orderly and punctual kind of girl. One who revels in being in bed by 10:00, gets pleasure out of the neatly folded lines of sheets and towels in our linen closet, loves using up the last four turnips, two beets and half a rutabaga in the fridge for a lovely autumn soup that also results in a beautifully empty vegetable crisper, sweats unpleasantly when running even just five minutes late, thrills secretly when the neat piles of mail and magazine inserts and cardboard paper towel rolls all get placed in the recycling bin in the little closet next to our apartment, and exults when using up the last few shakes left in a bag of flour.

And yet. On weekday mornings, I somehow still end up running four minutes late far too often, throwing my scarf over my shoulder while I press the elevator button as the door bangs shut (rats!), remembering that my cell phone is still on the coffee table, running back inside to get it as I thread my belt into my belt loops while the door slams again (crap!), then hearing the elevator ping its arrival, managing to make it out just as the elevator door opens, but not smoothly enough so I don't keep the our apartment door from banging a third and final time (damn it!) and as I ride down to the ground floor, realizing I've forgotten to eat breakfast entirely.

If there's something I hate, it's missing breakfast at home. See, I have this little routine: I take my breakfast (a small pour of orange juice in a narrow glass, a little white bowl of Grape Nuts and milk) and sit in the big office chair that Ben brought with him when we moved to Queens. While I eat my breakfast swiveling around in the chair, looking out the window or listening to the radio, Ben stands next to me and irons. We don't talk much, but we start our day together there. It's calm and peaceful in that office, we can see the tree tops waving, and the big city feels pretty far away. Plus, this way the orderly me gets her morning fiber (check), her vitamins in pill and juice form (check), and one third of her daily calcium requirement (check). All this, too, warms my soul.

But let's get real: the number of mornings I'm able to have this dreamy little breakfast scenario has dwindled substantially of late and I've been spending far too much money on morning breakfasts in the city. (Close to $5.00? For a scone and a cup of tea? What is going on here?) I read Amy Scattergood's article on Kim Boyce's healthy muffins while I ate a Balthazar scone, delicious but crammed to the brim with butter and cream, at my desk for the (gulp) third time last week and vowed to change my ways.

The only problem is that Kim's muffins are far too good to be eaten, ascetically, one by one each day of the week. Trust me, you'll make a batch, envision it lasting you two weeks in the freezer, and by the end of the weekend - bam! - the muffins will be gone, baby, gone. Wholesome and grainy and full of autumnal flavor, they're simply delicious. Studded with juicy little bits of dates (dates, I swoon for you) and with the occasional bright orange pocket of sweet potato, they're the kind of muffin that make you feel practically virtuous whilst eating them, which as you probably know, is a very special kind of muffin indeed.

Whole-Wheat Sweet Potato Muffins
Makes 12

1/2 pound sweet potatoes (also known as yams)
Vegetable oil spray for coating the tins
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
3 tablespoons dark brown sugar
3 tablespoons sugar
1 cup flour
3/4 cup whole-wheat flour
1/4 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup plain yogurt
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
12 Medjool dates, pitted and cut into 1/4- to 1/2-inch pieces

1. Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Prick the sweet potatoes with a fork and place on a foil-lined cookie sheet. Roast for 1 hour or until they are tender when pierced with a fork and are caramelizing. Remove from the oven and allow to cool, peel, then lightly mash with a fork. Set aside.

2. Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees. Lightly spray the muffin tin with vegetable oil.

3. Cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.

4. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, whole-wheat flour, whole-grain pastry flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and allspice. In a separate bowl, whisk the buttermilk, yogurt, egg and vanilla together.

5. Scrape down the sides of the butter bowl and alternately add the dry and wet ingredients; do not overmix. Gently fold in the sweet potatoes, then the dates.

6. Using an ice cream scoop (about one-half cup capacity), scoop the batter into each of 10 prepared muffin cups, about 1 scoop per muffin. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes. The muffins will be dark golden brown on the bottom.

Comments

[Leah]

Dates! I thought I was the only date fanatic around here! There's a woman who sells organic dates at the farmers' market around here, and I think she's secretly terrified of how obsessed I am with her medjools. The most flavorful I've ever had, and they come in every form - regular, pitted, date pieces, chopped. To die, I tell you. I ought to send you some.

(I love that you eat Grape Nuts. My secret favorite cereal, even though I can't eat it much any more. Reminds me of being at my parents' house!)

[mary]

I'm like you, all orderly and trying so hard to do it all on time and line everything up. I DO have breakfast at home every day, lucky me, my husband makes it, I don't even wake up to the alarm anymore, it's the clinking of the spoon stirring the sugar into my skim latte that wakes me up, though he wouldn't actually bake the muffins, I'll have to do that the day before, which at this point I'll probably do on Saturday and Sunday and hope they last at least the week. I'm definitely not a cereal person, so a little bit of a sweet thing like this would be perfect.

[Jessika]

You could bring breakfast with you, make it the night before and just grab it. I don't mean latte your way from here to there but bring food, not scrambled eggs but a neat package of sandwiches, 2 fruits and a nice small bottle of juice or a smoothie, then I ate during the 9 o'lock coffee break. The fruits stilled the hunger until coffeebreak ;) (listen to the master of forgotten brekkies, this is my breakfast style ;) ).

[carrie]

Luisa, I LOVE LOVE LOVE muffins! They are so easy and personal and pretty! They wouldn't last long at my house either! And I only pretend to be punctual... I always envision I am, but then I'm always 4 minutes late too! I love that plate too! Blue and white make such a stunning combination in natural light! I love dates too! They make for the best cookies!

[Kevin]

I live by 'if you're not 10 minutes early, you're late'. I also love throwing things out, and tidying. And I certainly don't make muffins often enough.

[danny]

what is the difference between whole wheat flour and whole wheat pastry flour?

[Luisa]

Leah - you lucky Californians. The dates there really are so superior to the ones we end up getting over here. And cheaper, too! My goodness, I could go bankrupt with my date love.

Mary - Ben makes the tea in the morning, which is just lovely and gets me at least through to the city, if I miss breakfast at home. Thank goodness for that.

Carrie - date cookies? Do tell!

Kevin - ha! Love that slogan. Wish I could tattoo it on Ben's forearm or something. :)

Danny - pastry flour is milled from soft winter wheat, which means it has a lower gluten content than regular whole wheat flour and is good for delicate things like tart crusts and biscuits. I just used 1 cup of whole wheat flour in these muffins, and it was fine, but I imagine the 1/4 cup of pastry ww flour would make these muffins a little lighter and more delicate.

[michelle v]

These look fantastic - I think I'll try for Thanksgiving. Do you think they could be made the day ahead and warmed the day of? Thanks

By the way, love your blog!

[sarah]

I love the image of your mornings. But how messed up is it that it didn't even occur to me that $4.25 for a coffee and a cranberry bran scone was a lot? These look perfect, and much more cost efficient. :)

[Julie]

I saw the original article and thought they looked good. So glad you made them and liked them. I particularly like it when you've made something I've just read about. And although I've never been a big muffin maker or muffin eater these make me think I should change.

Your breakfast scene sounds so serene. Especially Ben ironing. There's something very soothing about ironing, and even more so if someone else is doing the ironing.

[ann]

man, if I'm running out the door with all my jewelry already on my body, I consider that a good morning! I could never be coordinated enough in the morning to eat breakfast before running out the door. Most days I'm buttoning my coat, locking the door, digging around for my sunglasses and trying to put my earrings in all at the same time. I'd love to see what I look like... I bet it's pretty comical.

[Tammy]

Hmmm. Maybe I can make these with squash. I have WAY too much squash.

P.S. I heart Grape-Nuts, too.

[EB]

Where I live, I have to factor in time for crackhead and/or sleeping drunk removal from my doorway which tends to make me 4.5 minutes late for the train which then causes me to have to wait 9 for the next one... assuming I have enough money on my ticket and don't have to plunk running quarters into the machine... you see where I'm going with this. I recently started to bring my own breakfast to work too. $4.75 for an english muffin with egg and a coffee? Really? I think your muffins look completely purse popable! I may have to give those a shot seeing as I'm on a muffin kick!

[Christine]

I love medjool dates! Love them so much that I don't know if I would dare do anything else with them but pop them into my mouth like it's going out of style.

Maybe dried cranberries? So I can save all the tasty dates for myself?

[ML]

I've only just found your blog and I love it! I too am a Wednesday foodie...I clip and clip and make piles my friend says are a fire hazard.

Part of my addiction is the ritual of collecting. Each Wednesday, unless my pesky real life demands otherwise, I go to Starbucks, purchase the NYTimes and the Baltimore Sun and read them cover to cover...

Thank you for the muffin recipes! I just made a ton of muffins last week for Open House at my children's school and have been dying for new recipes. The Kim Boyce muffins are a step ahead...I won't have to modify to make for healthy breakfast fare for my "babies"!

[Lydia]

Could you substitute white whole wheat flour for the whole wheat flour in this recipe? Sometimes I don't like the heaviness of whole wheat flour, but I want to get all of the goodness into my muffins.

[andrea]

i love the description of your mornings!

are the orange ones yams, or sweet potatoes? i know the name of the yellower ones in korean, and those are the ones i prefer, but i always forget which are which in english!

[Luisa]

Michelle - absolutely! You could even make them a few days ahead and freeze. They're pretty hardy.

Sarah - it's our warped New York City view, I think. I think it's perverse how accustomed I've become to ten dollar cab rides, too.

Julie - I totally agree, ironing is so peaceful. The sounds, the smell, I love it.

Christine - dried cranberries could be good, but I think fresh ones would be even better... If you try that variation, let me know! I love that tart pop that fresh cranberries in baked goods have.

ML - welcome, fellow recipe-clipper! I'm glad you found your way here.

Lydia - I don't see why not! If you try that, let me know how it works out.

Andrea - okay, so technically what you're buying is a sweet potato, not a yam, but when you're at the store, look for the darker-skinned sweet potato (they're sometimes mislabeled as yams).

[Mercedes]

This post has been running through my head the past few mornings, when I am equally discombobulated. Sometimes I think my neighbors must think I'm crazy as they hear me close the door, make it down one flight, then turn around dash back up, get what I forgot (slam), run back down, every single morning.
I thought the kamut muffins in that article also looked nice, so it sounds like they'd be worth a try. You never know with muffins, sometimes they can be light and lovely, others can be like 2 ton monster trucks.

[Julie O'Hara]

I love dates too. With sweet potato? Yum. I've never seen this combo, but it's a natural. I love having wholesome homemade muffins or scones in my freezer to rotate with my usual oatmeal for breakfast. I'm going to give this recipe a go. Thanks!
Julie

[Jennifer]

Ever have Grape Nuts hot? Pour boiling water over them and cover the bowl with a plate, just like you're making couscous...

Then it's more like oatmeal, but still nutty. Great with a little butter..

These muffins look great. And good for all who can manage a plan ahead breakfast for the commute. I always feel virtuous the days I can do it.. not to mention less cranky. :)

[Monique]

Just about to finish off the prep for these muffins. Am at the adding spices stage and am wondering about the quantity of cinnamon: 1 tablespoon. One tablespoon seems like a large amount proportionally. Did you add one tablespoon when you made yours?

[Jessica "Su Good Sweets"]

These looks delicious! My mornings are like yours, too. Always running late (because I stay up late reading blogs...), but I must eat breakfast at home.

[Luisa]

Mercedes - let me know if you try the kamut ones, I agree that they sounded lovely.

Julie - it's a fantastic combo! I'd also never heard of it before, but it's inspired. Hope you like them.

Monique - I'm sorry I'm getting to this a little late, but yes, I did add the whole tablespoon. You could absolutely get away with less - but it doesn't overpower the muffins. As you can see from the ingredient list, there's a lot going in there. The cinnamon gives the muffins a nice, cozy warmth.

[Priya]

Luisa, I'm a longtime lurker but I had to come out of the woodworks to tell you that I tried the apple oatmeal muffin recipe and alas I found them disappointing. They had that dense chewy low-fat-muffin texture. Wonderful gentle spicy flavor though. What was the texture like on these babies?

[Luisa]

Priya - I don't remember these muffins having that annoying low-fat texture. There is some butter, after all, and the buttermilk makes them quite tender.

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[Janise@ Medjool Dates]

There are thousands of varieties of dates, but the Medjool Date is the king of dates. It is a dessert date, very sweet. Othe dates are eaten as a staple food more akin to bread. Dates are considered the bread of the desert.