Muffins (Recipe) to Devour!

I am not a big fan of most muffins – they are simply too sweet, too big, and bland. One recipe I found years ago was made with honey and blueberries – quite delicious – but no matter what I did, warm or cooled, they always mixed with the paper cups and you got a mess. Yes, I tried silicone muffin cups, but they were not much better, even when coated with butter or sprayed with cooking oil.

And then I found this recipe for “Nutty Cranberry Oat Muffins” by Getty Stewart. There is sweetness but not too much, texture, flavor, and oodles of good suggestions. I made the version with white flour, as that is what I had on hand, used goat milk kefir diluted with water to get the correct of liquid to equate buttermilk, and used pecans along with the dried cranberries. Other than that, I followed the recipe pretty much. I suggest you go to her link (above) for the details. I really like the flavor and texture of these muffins!

Getty Stewart’s Nutty Cranberry Oat Muffins

Ingredients

• 1 c. rolled oats
• 1 c. goat milk kefir (about 1/2 c.) diluted with water to make required amount – you can also use plain yogurt, buttermilk, or thinner kefir
• 1 c. 3 T. all purpose white flour
• 1 1/2 t. baking powder
• 1/2 t. baking soda
• 1 t. cinnamon
• 1/4 t. salt
• 1/2 c. brown sugar
• 1/3 c. bland oil – I used safflower
• 1 t. vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 1 c. dried cranberries soaked in hot water for 15 minutes and water drained out after the soaking
• 1/2 c. – 1 c. pecan halves

Method

• Preheat oven to 375. Line 12 muffin tins with paper cups.
• In small bowl, mix the kefir / yogurt / buttermilk with the oats.
• Heat up hot water and soak the dried cranberries in it for 15 minutes – same time amount as oats – and drain when ready to use in batter.
• In larger bowl, mix together flour, soda, powder, salt, cinnamon.
• After 15 minutes, mix together the oil, brown sugar, vanilla, and egg into bowl with the oats-kefir mix.
• Stir the wet ingredients into the flour. Mix until just mixed – too much mixing will result in cone head muffins!
• Spoon evenly into muffin tins. These will not make big muffins that flow over the top of the muffin cups. If you want bigger ones, put more into each cup and plan for a longer cooking time and fewer muffins.
• Bake 15-17 minutes until tops are firm to touch.
• Remove from oven. Cool or eat as desired. My muffins were cool when I ate them and I didn’t have paper and muffins fighting to stay together. I didn’t eat one when warm, but I wonder if, because I used dried cranberries – which have less liquid – I would not have that paper-muffin war. I’ll try that next time!

Notes

There is a topping included in the original recipe, but I don’t tend to like toppings on my muffins. Instead, I like to cut mine in half and eat with butter!

This is, by far, my favorite recipe to date for muffins. If you like more earthy muffins that are not loaded with sugar or coated with drizzled sugary frosting, these are definitely for you!