Yesterday, I went berry picking with my DS. He was not that excited to accompany me, but we have had a bear or two this year, and no way was I walking into my neighbour's back 40 alone! We did hear some squeakie noises emanating from the bushes as we went along, but I am pretty sure even baby bears do not squeak!

We didn't get too many blueberries (I think someone else has been picking at "my" bushes), but we got half a bucket full of blackberries. There are so many more to come, I can see, so I wanted to enjoy these ones fresh. So I made an apple and blackberry crisp, and this quick bread, which is low in sugar and fat, but very rich-tasting.

BLACKBERRY ALMOND QUICKBREAD

1 1/2 cups nutriflour or whole wheat flour
heaping 1/4 cup instant oats
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
1/4 cup brown sugar
few drops of almond extract
2 TBSP butter & 2 TBSP oil, melted together (I nuked them for a few seconds)
1 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 cups fresh blackberries
3 TBSP ground almonds

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray muffin tins or loaf pans with cooking spray or line tins with paper liners. (I use silicone bakeware, and bake at 350F, so I can just skip the last step.)

Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a bowl, then stir in the sugar.

Mix together the almond extract, melted butter, and buttermilk, make a well in the dry ingredients, and fold in the blackberries and ground almonds, using just a few strokes to incorporate all the ingredients (do not over-mix, a few little lumps are ok).

Spoon the mixture in the baking pans, and bake until they
test done.

Makes 12 muffins or one loaf. Or in my case, one ring silicone pan which takes about 30-35 minutes to bake, at 350.

Cheers!

Carolyn!