Almond Olive Oil Rosemary Muffins

It has been a while. This is partly because I've been busy and partly because I'm very attached to a few old favorites. But with temperatures dropping and my heat not working, my oven has been on constantly. I finally figured I may as well put something in it and try something new.

I tweaked a walnut cake recipe I found on EatingWell, and the muffins came out delicious. (I also halved the recipe for my batch, but I'm posting a full recipe). They are light, fragrant, moist, and not overly sweet.

3/4 cup almond meal
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup olive oil
4 teaspoons very finely chopped rosemary
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs at room temperature
2 egg whites at room temperature
1 1/4 cups sugar

Preheat oven to 350º.
Combine almond meal, flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and walnuts.
Combine buttermilk, oil, rosemary, and vanilla in a glass measuring cup.
Place eggs, egg whites and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Beat with an electric mixer on high speed for 5 minutes. The mixture should be thickened and pale.
With a rubber spatula, fold the dry ingredients and buttermilk mixture into the egg mixture, making 3 additions of the dry and 2 additions of liquid.
Bake in mini muffin tin for about 13 minutes or until top spring back. (If making a cake, 35-40 minutes).