Oatmeal Muffins

This is another great little muffin for a quick breakfast or snack.  Nutritious, full of blueberries and not too sweet.  I have been making my husband these for the past couple of months and they have become his new favorite.

I really prefer fresh blueberries and they do not have to be wild, as the original recipe states,  only if that is important to you.  I find that the frozen blueberries tend to ‘melt’ into the batter causing it to become blue.   It certainly does nothing to the taste but just like my Mom (it always annoyed her), it bugs me.  But if frozen is all you have, please do not let this deter you from making them.

Oatmeal Muffins (by Bon Appetit)

2-1/3 cups quick cooking oats

1 cup of white whole wheat flour

1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (2 ounces)

1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar (light brown can be substituted, if necessary)

1/4 cup sugar (it has a larger amount on their website, this quantity is from the magazine, which is what I used)

2 tablespoons of oat bran or wheat bran (I usually find this in the organic section of the supermarket)

2 tablespoon of wheat germ

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup canola oil

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/3 cup boiling water

1-1/2 to 2 cups of fresh blueberries (can be frozenbut do not defrost)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray 20 muffin cups with canola oil spray.  Put a cup of water on to boil.

Put oats, flour, pecans or walnuts, brown sugar, white sugar, oat or wheat bran, wheat germ, cinnamon, baking soda and salt into a very large bowl.  Stir together with a rubber spatula and eventually with your hands, breaking up brown sugar, until thoroughly combined.

Put buttermilk, canola oil, egg and vanilla in a 2 cup glass measuring cup or medium bowl, and whisk together until thoroughly combined.

Add buttermilk mixture to dry ingredients and stir/fold with a rubber spatula until almost combined.  Add boiling water, stir/fold gently until just combined and let sit for 5 minutes.  Fold in blueberries.

Using an ice cream scoop, scoop out batter into 20 muffin cups.

Place in oven and bake for 20 minutes.  Toothpick tester should come out clean when inserted into muffin.  If little crumbs stick to it, that’s fine.

Place baked muffins onto rack and cool for 15 minutes.  Remove muffins and place on rack to continue to cool.   They can stay at room temperature, covered for 24 hours.  Otherwise freeze in pairs in freezer bags, for future consumption.

chopping nuts (I used walnuts) with this Vintage Foley Chopper tool of my Mom’s (my husband sharpened the blades and it works very nicely):

dry ingredients:

liquid ingredients & blueberries:

adding boiling water:

adding blueberries:

batter complete:

into muffin tins:

out of oven:

yum, full of berries!