How To Make Oatmeal Cinnamon Chip Muffins
Making Oatmeal Muffins
I've made oatmeal muffins for years because I love anything with oatmeal in it. I think it's good for you on so many levels and it's an easy-to-tolerate grain with many excellent healthy benefits thrown in.
I prefer to use whole or rolled oats (or even oat groats) rather than quick oats because the more processed a grain is, the less of its nutrient value it retains.
Soaking the oats in the milk or buttermilk softens the oats; buttermilk especially adds another flavor dimension to the muffin.
Look for cinnamon chips in your supermarket where the chocolate chips are sold. I bought mini cinnamon chips at a local health food store in a bin. What's nice about this particular find is that they were organic. They don't have any coloring or flavoring added in comparison to the store bought brand. They are paler in appearance but I love the fact that they're not color enhanced and they're miniature as well. I am a particular fan of mini chips in all my muffin recipes.
I also had dried pears on hand so I used those to complement the cinnamon and the oats. It turns out they were a great addition though any dried fruit (or frozen blueberries for example) would go great in this recipe.
I tossed in some slivered almonds and some toasted coconut because I like those things with cinnamon and pears. They too made a great adjunct to the recipe.
You can substitute all kinds of things in this recipe and come up with a winner. See the suggestions below.
Cook Time
Soak Time for Oats: Additional 1 hour
Ingredients
- 1 cup buttermilk, (or substitute nonfat milk + 1 tsp vinegar)
- 1 cup rolled oats, (not quick)
- 1 large egg, (at room temp)
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup butter, melted, cooled slightly, (substitute margarine or use half/half)
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons unbleached flour, (or use pastry flour for part)
- Dash salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 cup total combined cinnamon chips, toasted coconut, dried pears, sliver almonds
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Use walnut oil to thinly grease muffin tin or line with muffin cups and brush insides with walnut oil. (Or lightly spray with cooking spray).
- Combine oats and buttermilk (or nonfat milk and vinegar) in large bowl. Mix and let sit uncovered for 1 hour.
- After the hour, add egg to the buttermilk mixture. Stir to combine. Add brown sugar and stir to mix again. Add melted butter or substitute and stir again to combine.
- Whisk together thoroughly in a medium bowl the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda and spices.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients with a rubber spatula, turning the bowl a quarter turn to combine--you should only use about 12 strokes to mix together. The more you mix muffin batter, the harder the muffins become. It's okay (and normal) for bits of flour to show in baked muffins!
- Lastly, add the mixture of nuts, fruit, coconut and cinnamon chips, again taking care not to overmix the batter. The muffin batter should be a very stiff batter.
- Use a 1/3 cup measuring cup (you can spray if you like with cooking spray) to scoop out muffin batter into the tin. Or use an ice cream scooper that is about the equivalent of 1/3 cup. Bake until light brown and springy to the touch, about 10-12 minutes. These cook faster than some muffins and are baked at a lower temperature. Allow a few extra minutes if using fresh or frozen fruit.
- Remove from the oven and cool on a rack in the muffin pan for 5 minutes. Pop out after 5 minutes and let cool completely (if you can!)
Oatmeal Cinnamon Chip Muffins Illustrated Guide
Mix together buttermilk (or nonfat milk plus vinegar) and oats in a large bowl. Stir to combine. Let soak for 1 hour.
Add egg to buttermilk mixture. Stir to combine.
Add brown sugar and stir to combine well.
Add in melted, cooled butter or substitute. Stir again to combine well.
Mix all ingredients well--if desired, you can add a wee dash of vanilla or almond extract to the batter.
Mix dry ingredients together and whisk well to combine in a medium bowl.
Add dry ingredients to oatmeal mixture being careful to not overmix.
Add in the mixture you've prepared that equals 1 cup--in this case cinnamon chips, nuts, dried pear and slivered almonds.
Add the nut, chip and fruit mixture and stir very gently with only a few turns. The batter should be very stiff.
Spoon into muffin tins as above, bake and let cool as directed.
Enjoy!
Other Recipes for Oatmeal Buttermilk Muffins
Oatmeal and buttermilk muffins offer many different options and here are just a few. Replace the 1 cup mixture up above with just about any dried fruit and nut combination.
Just remember to allow extra time for baking if fresh blueberries or other fresh fruit is used. The same holds true for frozen fruits.
- use dried cranberries or cranraisins with almonds
- dark or white raisins are great additions to these muffins
- substitute carob chips for the cinnamon chips
- chocolate chips are always a hit--think of combining with diced banana
- try dates and pistachios
- white chocolate and blueberries--dried or fresh
- diced apple (tart or sweet) and toasted (or plain) walnuts
- fresh raspberries and dark chocolate
- toasted pecans and tiny pieces of diced pumpkin (or slightly steamed)
- rhubarb diced with diced strawberries
- blueberries--fresh or frozen with grated orange peel or dried orange peel
- diced drained peaches with white chocolate pieces
