Tuesday, March 16, 2010

The Best Muffins Ever

Due to popular demand, I share with you the recipe for The Best Muffins Ever, courtesy of Simple Bites. If you're a mom and haven't checked out the new Simple Mom blogs, I highly recommend them. The recipe recommends a tasty compendium of potential flavor combinations for this recipe:

  • 1 cup Raspberries, fresh or frozen & ½ cup Dark Chocolate, chunked or chips
  • ¾ cup Diced Apple (Granny Smith or Russet) and ½ cup toasted Walnuts, roughly chopped
  • ¾ cup Dried Cranberries & ½ cup toasted Pecans, roughly chopped
  • ¾ cup White Chocolate, chopped or chips & 1 cup Blueberries, fresh or frozen
  • ½ cup toasted unsweetened Coconut & ¾ cup Peanut-Butter Chips
  • 1 cup diced Rhubarb, fresh or frozen & ½ teaspoon Green Cardamom, freshly ground
  • ¾ cup Dates, pitted and chopped & ½ cup Pistachios
  • ¾ cup Golden Raisins & ¾ cup grated Carrot
I have personally made white chocolate & toasted coconut, mixed chocolate chips, toasted coconut & walnuts, carrot & golden raisin, carrot & chocolate chip, toasted coconut and cranberry, and a few others I'm sure. Every single one was FABULOUS! I made the carrot/golden raisin with whole wheat flour, coconut oil, and stevia with a dash of molasses for sweetener... which made the tastiest "healthy" snack ever, though how healthy something can be when you and a 3-y-o eat a whole dozen by noon is up for question!

I have also made these and given them as mixes, I just add oats and skip the soaking step. This works best with quick oats, though those I made with regular old fashioned oats were still met with acclaim. Let me know what combinations you create and share a review in the comments! V

One Bowl Muffins From Simple Bites

Makes 12 medium muffins
  • 1 cup milk*
  • 1 teaspoon white vinegar
  • 1 cup rolled oats (not quick oats)
  • 1 large egg, at room temperature
  • ¼ cup dark brown sugar
  • ½ cup butter, melted and cooled slightly
  • 1 cup plus 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, freshly ground
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, freshly ground
  • add-ins of your choosing (see above suggestions)

Combine milk, vinegar and oats in a large bowl and let stand one hour.

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Grease a twelve-cup muffin tin and line with cupcake papers.

Crack the egg into the oat and milk mixture; add brown sugar and mix to combine. Stir in melted butter.

Sift remaining ingredients into the bowl: flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, & spices. Gently fold into batter, taking care not to over mix.

Sprinkle add-in and flavorings of your choice and combine muffin batter gently.

Use a large ice cream scoop or 1/3 cup measuring cup to scoop batter into muffin tins. Bake until light brown and tops spring back when gently touched, about 10-12 minutes. Note: Muffins will take slightly longer to bake if you are adding fresh fruit such as blueberries or rhubarb.

Remove from oven and cool in tins. To remove, run a sharp knife around the edges and pop muffins out. Enjoy!

*You may also substitute 1 cup buttermilk, and then omit the vinegar from the recipe.

4 comments:

Nay said...

I ask and I receive....thank you!

NessaAnn said...

Of course, I'm so glad you liked them!

Shannon said...

I love Simple Mom, but I haven't discovered the beauty of simple bites yet. Thanks for sharing!

NessaAnn said...

Shannon, you really need to try all her new blogs. They are such nice little places to find treasures. She has a lot of guest bloggers, which give it a lot of variety.