Smoky Barley-Corn Thyme Muffins

I've been looking at the seven-bean mix and the pearl barley for some days now. What should it be? Bean and Barley Soup? Barley and Bean Salad with Red Onion? Barley Risotto with Indian spices and dried fruit? Should I grind the barley into flour and make bread or muffins? I chewed a few grains of the barley, and they were nutty and mellow.

Today I needed to bake. You know? Sometimes all the modern-day angst about carbs just needs to take a back seat. So, instead of making a vegetable-laden, light and modified recipe designed for health, I made these smoky, savory, satisfying muffins.

You could go in a lot of different directions with these: different flours, herbs, nuts, seeds, cheeses ... in fact, I modified the original recipe pretty heavily to do just that.

The original recipe called for 1-1/2 cups buttermilk; I never have that around, so used a combination of yogurt and milk instead.
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SMOKY BARLEY-CORN THYME MUFFINS
Adapted from Whole Grains Every Day by Lorna Sass

2/3 cup barley flour (grind 1/2 cup CSA barley in a blade coffee grinder for a couple of minutes)
1/3 cup cornmeal
1 cup regular flour
2-1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1-1/2 teaspoons dried thyme
1 tablespoon sucanat or brown sugar (or use honey in the wet ingredients)
1/2 cup grated smoked goat gouda cheese

2 large, local eggs
1 cup yogurt
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup olive oil

Butter a 12-muffin tin. You can use paper cups, but I have found that taking the time to butter the tin gives you nice, crusty muffin sides, and they come out easier.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In large bowl, combine dry ingredients, then stir in cheese. In a smaller bowl, beat together wet ingredients well. Quickly stir the wet ingredients into the dry, just until mixed, then spoon into muffin tin.

Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until toothpick inserted in a muffin comes out clean. Remove from oven and let set for a couple of minutes, then twirl the muffins up and lay them sideways in the tin to cool.