Oatmeal Muffins - Part 1

Looking in my pantry yesterday, I gazed at a way-too-big canister of old-fashioned oats (that I have been trying to use up forever) and an unopened box of currants (that I haven't even attempted to use) and wondered what I could do with them before I finally gave up and tossed them both in the trash. So, after a little time online, I came across the below recipe for Oatmeal Muffins on Epicurious. I changed only two things from the original recipe: 1.) I used low-fat buttermilk instead of regular buttermilk, and 2.) I added 1 teaspoon of maple extract. (Yet another thing in my pantry I can't seem to use up.) Currants and maple extract give these the taste of your favorite oatmeal raisin cookie or oatmeal raisin pancake recipe in muffin form. (You decide which description you like better.) These muffins are so moist, rich and delicious that there's no need to put anything on them. No butter, cream cheese or jam is necessary. They are simply perfect as is. (How can they not be good with 1 cup of buttermilk and 1 stick of butter?) The recipe for these came from a Gourmet reader's mother's home economics class in Louisiana back in the 1940's. They were delicious then, and they're still delicious now. So delicious that I adapted the same recipe and made another batch. (See the next post.)

Oatmeal Muffins

Adapted from Epicurious (Gourmet – February 1995)

1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1 cup low-fat buttermilk
1 large egg, beaten lightly
1 teaspoon maple extract
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup dried currants

In a large bowl, combine oats and buttermilk and let stand 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 400° F and butter twelve 1/2-cup muffin tins.

Add egg, maple extract, sugar, and butter to oat mixture, stirring until just combined.

Into another large bowl, sift together flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda and add to oat mixture, stirring until just combined. Fold in currants.

Divide batter evenly among prepared muffin tins. Bake muffins in middle of oven until golden and a tester comes out clean, about 20 minutes.

Makes 12 muffins.

 

Surprise Muffins

SURPRISE!!! Here's a muffin recipe the whole family will love. And if they don't, you ask? My suggestion would be to seek out new family members. I am assuming (you know what they say about assuming, though) that the name of these muffins comes from the "surprise" chocolate chip-peanut butter middle when you bite into these. These look like just another muffin on the outside yet taste like no other muffin you've ever eaten on the inside. We all know how delicious the chocolate-peanut butter combination is (we do all know this, right?), and it really makes this muffin a winner. The maple extract adds a nice warm flavor, too, and becomes more pronounced the longer these muffins sit. For good measure, the oat bran adds that whole grains goodness everybody's talking about these days. (What? Not everybody is talking about whole grains these days?) These muffins are delicious and not overly sweet, even with the chocolate-peanut butter middle. I got this recipe from The Spirit of Christmas Cookbook - Volume 2. Don't wait until Christmas to make these, though. Go bake a batch today and let me know what you think.

Surprise Muffins

Source: The Spirit of Christmas Cookbook - Volume 2, p. 20

1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup oat bran
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 teaspoon maple extract

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. In a small bowl, combine peanut butter and chocolate chips; set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, bran, brown sugar, baking powder and salt. In a small bowl, whisk milk, oil, eggs and maple extract. Make a well in the center of dry ingredients and add milk mixture; stir just until moistened. Spoon about 2 tablespoons batter into each cup of a greased muffin pan. Spoon about 2 teaspoons peanut butter mixture over batter in each cup. Spoon remaining batter over peanut butter mixture, filling each cup three-fourths full. Bake 15 to 18 minutes or until muffins pull away from sides of pan. Remove from pan and cool completely on a wire rack.

Store in an airtight container. Muffins may be served at room temperature or reheated. To reheat, cover and bake in a preheated 350 degree oven 5 to 8 minutes or until heated through. (These reheat well in the microwave, too. Just wrap a muffin in a paper towel then cook on HIGH 100% power for 30 seconds).

Yield: 12 muffins

 
 

Maple Butterscotch Macadamia Blondies

My friend Kristen has had a bad week. A very bad week. So bad I'll let you draw your own conclusions as to how bad it really was. I'll never tell because friends don't do that to other friends. Anyway, to cheer her up, I baked her not one but two goodies today. I have a bottle of maple extract I am trying to use up, and both recipes I made for her just happen to have it as an ingredient. Coincidence? I think not.

I have had this recipe for Maple Butterscotch Macadamia Blondies in my desktop to-try recipe folder for a very long time. (Okay, it normally wouldn't have been my first choice, but I had butterscotch chips and macadamia nuts to use up, too. There...you got me.). The warm maple and creamy butterscotch flavors really compliment each other and the bars are toothsome and chewy. The toasted macadamia nuts add a rich, buttery crunch, too. I did, however, think they were a bit too greasy. After they cooled completely and I cut them into bars, I put them on a double layer of paper towels and let them sit out on the kitchen counter for about an hour. The absorbent paper towels along with "airing out" the blondies reduced the greasiness significantly. These are delicious, and I would definitely make them again; however, next time I would use about 1/4 cup less macadamia nuts, a few less tablespoons of butter and about 1/4 cup less butterscotch chips to see if that helps conquer the "too greasy" end result.

(The next recipe I made using the maple extract will be posted tomorrow. I'm too tired to post it tonight.)

Maple Butterscotch Macadamia Blondies

Source: The Whole Foods Market Cookbook

3/4 cup chopped macadamia nuts
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 cup packed light brown sugar
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp. maple extract
1 1/2 cups butterscotch chips

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Place the macadamia nuts on a baking sheet, and roast them until they are nicely toasted, 4 to 6 minutes. Remove them from the oven.

Grease a 9-inch square cake pan. In a medium bowl, stir the flour, baking powder, and salt with a fork to blend. In another bowl, blend the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Beat in the eggs and maple extract. By hand, stir in the flour mixture until just combined. Stir in the butterscotch chips and toasted macadamias.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan, spreading it evenly. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until golden brown. Cool, and cut into squares.

Yield: 12 blondies