These are delightful.
I took a very basic, healthy recipe that I found on food.com, read the reviews, made it mine, and created deliciousness. If I achieve nothing else over the weekend, at least there’s that.
I kept very little of the original, but I started out exactly as directed, by letting a cup of rolled oats soak in a cup of (1%) milk for an hour.
Juliet and Nathaniel and I hung out and watched the Phineas and Ferb movie on Netflix for a while. Where’s Perry?
Even though the recipe said to just throw everything into a bowl, I opted for the more tried & true method of mixing the dry & liquid ingredients separately, then mixing them right before baking. I also opted to use whole wheat pastry flour instead of straight wheat. I wanted to keep the nutritional value, but lighten things up a little.
Into the flour I added baking soda, baking powder, salt, and then went off the agenda to add two heaping teaspoons of Vietnamese cinnamon, about a half teaspoon of nutmeg, and slightly generous half teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice. Honestly, you could add any spices you like, this is a very flexible recipe. I whisked.
Separately, I mixed the liquid ingredients. I used low fat vanilla yogurt instead of applesauce, an egg instead of two egg whites — I do not fear the egg! — and just less than half a cup of packed brown sugar. Then I added a teaspoon of vanilla and whisked.
My timing was perfect; I’d just hit an hour as I was adding the eggs in. I added the milk/oats combo and mixed gently.
And then that slightly barfy-looking mixture went right into the bowl with the dry ingredients.
The batter was extremely runny at that point, so I decided to try my batter-pourer thingy for the first time. Dave bought it for me ages ago and I finally had the chance to use it.
Thanks to that thingy, it took no time at all to get the batter distributed among the cups. Then I added five cappuccino chips to the top of each one, just for fun. Five chips never hurt anybody, right?
A lot of people posted reviews saying not to use muffin papers for these, so I had to forgo all the really nice ones I’ve picked up lately and just sprayed the pan instead.
The recipe said to bake at 400 for 20-25 minutes. I had heated the oven to 425, then reduced it to 400 when I put the tray in and set the timer for 15 minutes. They needed about two more rounds of two minutes, so I think they finally came in at 19 minutes.
Some of the chips sunk into the batter, but that didn’t seem like a bad thing.
I let them sit in the pan for no more than a few minutes, then let them cool on a rack.
Dave and I ate four of them last night. Fortunately there were still enough left for some sunlit window shots the next morning.
Nathaniel even built something special for them.
And you know what? They are delicious!!! They’re full of flavor, nicely filling due to the oats, not too chewy, and spiced just right. The cappuccino chips added the perfect touch but you could do the same thing with cinnamon chips, a bit of turbinado sugar, really anything. These are definitely going to be new breakfast staples, with or without the Lego and daffodil leaves.
Dave just asked me to make more of them tonight, which I don’t think he’s ever done! He offered to eat up all the ones we have so I’d have a reason to make more. I’m already soaking another batch of oats in milk in preparation.
And the recipe is very flexible. You could do anything with these. I really love a nice simple spiced oatmeal muffin, it’s like eating a cookie without any guilt. I might even try honey instead of sugar next time, or a different set of spices.
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LOW-FAT OATMEAL MUFFINS RECIPE (original)
My version of Low-Fat Oatmeal Muffins (adapted from Food.com)
ingredients:
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup 1% milk
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 heaping teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 (scant) cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup low fat vanilla yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 large eggs
60 cappuccino chips or other chips of your choice
directions:
Soak the oats in milk for an hour.
Heat the oven to 425. You’ll reduce the temperature later. Spray a muffin tin or grease it with butter. Do not try to use muffin papers for these, as they will stick.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and pumpkin pie spice. (Feel free to improvise completely on the spices.)
In a separate bowl, whisk together the sugar, yogurt, vanilla, and eggs. Add in the oats/milk mixture and stir.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix just until incorporated. The batter will be runny.
Spoon or pour into muffin cups evenly. Add 5 chips (cappuccino or otherwise) to the top of each one.
Reduce oven temperature to 400 and bake for 18-25 minutes. Let cool briefly, then remove to a wire rack.
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