Seven Species Muffins

If your raisins are particularly dry, cover them with water and bring to a boil. As soon as the water boils, turn off the heat and let the raisins sit in the water to plump for 10 minutes.

Drain and pat dry with a paper towel.Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. If your figs have tough stems on them, remove them and discard.Roughly chop dates and figs. Set aside.Use a blender or food processor to blend together the following ingredients until very smooth: dates, figs, almond milk, applesauce, cinnamon and allspice.It may take a couple of minutes to blend all ingredients to a smooth consistency, depending on the power of your blender. The end result should be similar to the texture of apple butter or smooth fruit preserves. Set mixture aside.In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, light olive oil, sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla extract.In a large mixing bowl, sift together flour, barley flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Gently mix the pomegranate seeds into the dry mixture, making sure the seeds are well coated with flour.Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients.

Pour the fruit mixture from the blender into the well.

Add the egg mixture to the well.Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until the dry ingredients are just moistened and a lumpy batter forms. Do not overmix - if you do your muffins will turn out heavy and dense. Fold raisins and chopped walnuts into the muffin batter with a light-handed stir.Prep your muffin pan by spraying a small amount of nonstick cooking spray into the bottom of each muffin tin (not the sides), or use paper muffin cup liners. Divide batter equally into muffin cups, filling each cup to the top and mounding the surface slightly. I've found that it's easiest to do this using an ice cream scoop.If youd like to top the muffins, mix the sugar and cinnamon together in a small bowl using a fork.

Sprinkle about a tsp of cinnamon sugar mixture evenly across the surface of each muffin.

Place muffins in the oven and immediately turn heat down to 375 degrees F. That extra heat blast at the beginning of the baking cycle will help to activate the baking powder and baking soda.

Bake for 25-27 minutes until the tops of the muffins are golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let muffins cool for 10 minutes before removing from the tin and cooling on a rack. Do not let the muffins cool completely in the tin, they are quite moist and may stick to the tin if you leave them there too long.

Serve warm.