Tender oatmeal muffins studded with fruit and nuts, and flavored with buttermilk and cinnamon.
Please welcome Garrett McCord as he shares his favorite oatmeal muffin recipe. ~Elise
When I was a kid my dad made my brothers and me breakfast every morning.
We often didn’t get to see him much since he came home late at night, so mornings were always boy bonding times in our house (probably much to the relief of my mom who could sleep in and get ready for work without being bothered).
When it got cold out he would start making us piping hot bowls of oatmeal. He would throw in walnuts, raisins, and dates if we had them in the pantry.
Next, he would pour a bit of milk over it and complete the dish with a dusting of brown sugar and cinnamon that he kept pre-mixed in a can.
Now an adult, I still do the same preparation once the air begins to get brisk, and I start eating oatmeal every morning.
These days, though, I switch it up a bit. Usually, I go with pepitas and dried papaya. Other times hazelnuts, almonds, and dried pineapple.
However, sometimes I forego traditional oatmeal all together and prepare my dad’s classic fruit-n-nut combo into oatmeal muffin form. A preparation that makes for a nice change every now and again.
These muffins are the perfect breakfast bread for any morning. They’re best served right out of the oven when they’re still hot and will melt and soak up any butter you spread on.
Oatmeal Muffins with Raisins, Dates, and Walnuts Recipe
- Prep time: 20 minutes
- Cook time: 20 minutes
- Yield: Makes 12 muffins
Feel free to switch out the walnuts for pecans, the raisins for cranberries or candied ginger, and so on.
Ingredients
- 1 cup of rolled oats
- 1 cup of all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
- 1/2 teaspoon of salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
- 1/4 cup of finely chopped walnuts, toasted
- 1/3 cup of raisins
- 1/3 cup of chopped dates
- 1 stick of butter (1/2 cup), melted and cooled
- 1 cup of buttermilk
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 large egg, beaten
Method
1 Preheat the oven to 400°F and grease a twelve-slot muffin tin or line the slots with paper baking cups.
2 Mix together the rolled oats, flour, brown sugar, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, walnuts, dates, and raisins. In a separate bowl mix together the buttermilk, egg, vanilla extract, and butter.
3 Pour the wet ingredients into the dry mixture and stir together. Be sure not to over-stir as that will cause the muffins to develop too many gluten bonds. It should be thick and gloppy. About 10 seconds of stirring should do; just enough to barely bring the ingredients together.
4 Scoop into prepared muffin tray and bake at 400°F for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in the tray for a minute or two before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
