Have I talked here about my mom yet? Probably not, because words are inadequate to describe the caring, kind, wise, vivacious, fun and funny woman who birthed me. My mom gave me life, a love of reading (nay, a passionate and undying love for reading and discussing books), my stubby hands and feet, awesome siblings, an education, and countless words of wisdom.

But that all pales in comparison to what she’s given Brad. She gave him figs.

I think it was on a road trip when she first pulled out a container of dried figs and asked Brad if he could eat them. He could, but had never had one before, so my mom gleefully handed one over. And then it began–on future road trips, when we came over for dinner, I’m pretty sure even once at church, my mom would sneakily pull out her carton of figs and she and Brad would both shout with delight then pass it back and forth like a popcorn bowl. Those two. For me, one fig is enough. I like them, but I’m more of a dense brownie kind of girl. But for Brad, one fig is never enough. The man loves his figs and I love my man, so I made these for breakfast this morning.

Beware–controversial opinion ahead: Muffins are so much better than cupcakes. Muffins are just barely sweet and that restrained sweetness allows so many other flavors (fruit, spice, nuts, even different types of flours) to shine, and they have streusel topping! I live for streusel topping. Whoever invented streusel topping…that person should be hailed as an international hero. Although, really, it probably didn’t take a genius to ponder the depths of goodness that a mix of melted butter, oats, and sugar can hold.

oat-topped fig muffins
makes 11-12 muffins

1-1/2 cups white spelt flour
1 cup oat flour (you can grind oats in the food processor or Vitamix)
1/2 cup sucanat
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 cups kefir or buttermilk
1-1/4 cups dried figs
2 tablespoons coconut oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg

streusel topping:
scant 1/4 cup sucanat
1/4 cup rolled oats
2 tablespoons butter, melted

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease muffin tin (or use paper liners)—I grease with coconut oil.

Whisk together the spelt and oat flours, sucanat, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the center of the mixture.

Place kefir, figs, coconut oil, vanilla, and egg in a food processor or Vitamix; process until mostly smooth. Add the fig mixture to to the flour mixture and stir until just combined. This will smell awesome. At this point, you can put the batter in the fridge overnight to soak it. I like to think this is basically the same as soaking flours with an acid overnight, but it’s probably not. But maybe it is, and just in case, I almost always do it.

Divide the batter evenly among 12 muffin cups.

In a small bowl, combine streusel topping ingredients. Sprinkle over the muffin batter. Bake for 18-22 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.

Cool in pan for 5 to 10 minutes, then remove muffins from pans and cool on a wire rack.

p.s. Every time I bake with, think of, eat, or touch a fig, I can’t help but sing in my head: So bring us some figgy pudding, bring us some figgy pudding, bring us some figgy pudding and bring it right here! (Guys, I love Christmas songs. I wait to start listening until after Thanksgiving because we must respect the bird, but it’s so hard.)