Sailor Jack Muffins

A couple of weeks ago, my husband and I spent a couple of days at Long Beach, Washington. The Washington coast is nice, very quiet and Long Beach even has a sandy beach, which is very rare in Washington. We’re used to rocky beaches! We had a lot of rain while we were there, but the mornings weren’t too bad and we were able to get in a couple of nice bike rides without getting too wet.

In town there is a great little bakery and one of the specialties that they have there are Sailor Jack muffins. I’d never seen these anywhere else and I was really interested in finding a recipe and making these. After a little Internet research, I discovered that these are a northwest specialty, especially popular on the coast and with the boating community. My guess is that they would last on a long boating journey, but I really have no idea. I found this recipe on the Pacific Northwest Boating website, so I trust that they are authentic!

These muffins are basically a molasses raisin spice cake, covered with a lemony glaze. You make the raisin spice mixture in advance and let it cool. It becomes quite strange in texture, kind of gooey, but don’t let that scare you. This uses oat and whole wheat flour, so they are very hearty. Another characteristic of these muffins is that you glaze and serve them upside down. Don’t fill the cups too full or you won’t be able to flip them over. I’m sure you could serve them normally if you wanted to! These are pretty spot on to the ones we had at the ocean. The spice mixture is just great and they will keep for a long time (unless you gobble them up right away!).

1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
4 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ginger
3/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1 cup water
1/2 cup raisins
2 tablespoons molasses

1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup oat flour (or process ½ cup oats in a food processor)
1/2 cup oats
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons oil
1 egg

1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1-2 teaspoons milk

In a sauce pan bring to a boil over medium heat the sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, water, raisins and molasses. Simmer for 5 minutes and let cool. You can make this 24 hours in advance, if you’d like.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter about 15 muffin cups.

In a large bowl, whisk together the whole wheat flour, oat, flour, oats, baking soda and baking powder. Stir in the raisin mixture, oil and egg. Stir to mix. Spoon mixture into prepared muffin cups, filling just slightly more than half full. Bake 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center will come out clean. Cool in pan about 15 minutes, and then turn out onto a cooling rack.

Mix the powdered sugar, lemon juice and milk in a bowl to create a glaze. Turn the muffins upside down and pour the glaze over the muffins.

Recipe from Pacific Northwest Boating