I love a good oatmeal muffin. Pebbled top, deep taste of the grain, ever so lightly sweetened, thinly buttered. I can’t find this muffin outside my own kitchen, however…
because muffins have earned a bad rap. Deservedly so, with the treatment they’ve gotten in the commercial world. From a mix, bakery, grocery, coffee shop-it doesn’t matter; they have basically morphed from tasty little gems into grapefruit sized cakes, sans the frosting. Who needs frosting when streusel is thickly sprinkled atop one’s muffin? Streusel is definitely permissible in store-bought-muffin-world. These muffins, with their mounding tops, call out to those unwary eaters who love a great excuse to indulge in cupcakes for breakfast. In no time at all, these unsuspecting eaters are sporting their own muffin tops! Given my advanced middle age, I need no assistance from mammoth muffins to grow a muffin top…
Meaning the only way to get a muffin worthy of breakfast consumption is to bake it oneself. On the farm, my grandmother viewed newfangled-boxed mixes as a godsend, and fulfilled her role as the great spoiler of her granddaughter by embracing muffin mix. Sweet white flour mix with these little tins of blueberries included in the box. I thought these were pretty darn yummy! But Mom, keeper of health, knew that muffins were supposed to be breads, not cupcakes, and eaten in balance with other foods at breakfast. She baked several types of muffins, including oatmeal. While her recipe was healthy, I thought the muffins’ texture needed a little um… upgrade, perhaps. In other words, I wanted to keep the health (well, mostly) but compromise a bit to produce a taller, fluffier product. This did not seem, on my part, to be all that difficult a task. Which was wishful thinking, to put it mildly.
We’re not counting how many trials it required to develop this recipe… or how many sad muffins were consumed in the process. Suffice it to say, there have been a few oatmeal muffin fails. Ultimately, I scaled the recipe up, as the amount of batter in Mom’s was quite small for 12 medium muffins. And in this process, increased the proportion of dry and liquid ingredients to the amount of oatmeal, while adding in oat bran. A bit of applesauce moistens the muffins, while keeping the fat in check. Maple syrup and vanilla pack in the flavor while keeping the added sugar to one teaspoon per muffin. There are folks for whom it’s just not a muffin without “add-ins.” When baking for myself, I keep the add-ins to a minimum, just walnuts. Raisins are classic additions that don’t break the health bank, but cocoa nibs and/or mini chocolate chips would doubtless be pretty tasty if you’re willing to make additional compromises!
Once made, these breakfast treats crave a well-made cappuccino. Providentially, the house barista steams up a couple of these aromatic cups, overflowing with foam, every morning. The muffins cozy up well to eggs or yogurt and fruit most mornings, too. A muffin split and sandwiched with a smear of nut butter would certainly not be amiss, for a speedier grab-and-go breakfast. They freeze beautifully.
So wake up, smell the coffee, and have a muffin. Just skip the waistline muffin top!
Oatmeal Muffins
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup buttermilk
- 1/2 cup applesauce
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil I use avacado
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup old fashioned rolled oats
- 1/4 cup oat bran
- 1 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400° F. Lightly grease a standard 12-cup muffin tin and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, combine the buttermilk, applesauce, maple syrup, oil, eggs and vanilla. Beat well to thoroughly mix. Stir in the rolled oats and oat bran. Set aside while preparing the dry ingredients.
- In a large bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and walnuts. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, and pour in the wet ingredients. Mix lightly, taking care not to over mix.
- Quickly portion the batter evenly between the prepared muffin cups. The batter should be almost to the top of the cup. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until firm when touched and browned around the edges. Let the muffins sit in the cups for several minutes, then loosen the edges and tip up out of the muffin tin to release steam.
Sounds yummy! Do you think it will work with the dry buttermilk powder that is designed to be added to the dry ingredients while the appropriate amount of water is added to the liquids.? If not, do you buy or make your own buttermilk?
I think it would be worth a try with the dry buttermilk and water combination. The batter might be a little thinner. I actually use kefir, which I find makes a great substitute for buttermilk. It’s a bit thicker, so I thin it with a little milk; it also has live bacteria like yogurt, and keeps in the fridge much longer than buttermilk.