Recipe #87: Oat Bran Muffins

Oat Bran Muffins

For these muffins, I chose a plain oat bran muffin recipe that I got from the Joy of Baking website, Oat Bran Muffins. I decided the recipe didn't have enough oil, so I doubled the 2 T to 1/4 cup. And instead of raisins I added dates and walnuts. Other than those changes, I think I pretty much followed the recipe. I didn't add the recommended oat meal garnish.

I think they came out quite tasty. They were pretty hearty and sweet enough with a strong molasses flavor, which I like. My tasters also thought they were good.

Next recipe also uses oatmeal, but this time I think I will add chocolate chips! Who knew the "Os" would be so much fun!

I rated these muffins 5 out of 5. I know--I'm an easy grader.

'Til next time!

Recipe #86: Oat-and-Jam Muffins

Oat-and-Jam Muffins

The recipe in 201 Muffins made oatmeal-based muffins with brown sugar and buttermilk, with the jam  added as a kind of glaze. The recipe I chose, Oatmeal Raspberry Jam Muffins from the Sweet and Simple Kitchen website, used the jam as a filling, so that was different, and preferable. The recipe also called for drizzling some jam on top, which I did to some of the muffins, but not all.

I added walnuts to the batter, and that may have made it a little bit thick, so I decided to add 1/2 cup applesauce, which thinned it a bit but also made the muffins a little bit chewy, I think. Also, in honor of Valentine's Day, I added some red sugar to the tops which unfortunately looks a bit lurid in the picture.

Nonetheless, they were good tasting, and my tasters enjoyed them as well. I would not rate them as top-notch, however, as they had to be tinkered with a bit and the result was not as good as I usually expect.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Next up: Oat-Bran Muffins 

Recipe #85: Nutmeg Muffins

Nutmeg Muffins

The recipe in 201 Muffins was a little plain--basic muffins with nutmeg seasoning. So I chose a recipe that I could add nuts to: Nutmeg Muffins, from the Taste of Home website. This recipe called for a streusel topping that was taken from the initial butter-flour mixture. I didn't want to do it that way so I mixed all the ingredients together, leaving me with an extra 3/4 cup of butter and flour that was supposed to have been topping. Well, that probably was not the smartest thing to do, but the muffins turned out okay anyway. I used oil instead of butter and a little bit more buttermilk than the recipe called for to compensate for the extra flour. I also added walnuts, and in lieu of the streusel topping, I used a brown sugar-walnut-mini chocolate chip crunch topping. The muffins came out a bit dry (not surprisingly), but they tasted pretty good nonetheless.

I wouldn't use this recipe again and probably would use a recipe that has a more common method of combining ingredients.

My tasters liked the muffins, especially the strong nutmeg flavor (I used 2.5 teaspoons of nutmeg), which I also enjoyed.

I rate these muffins 4 out of 5, just because the method was too complicated and my alterations to it were not completely successful.

Next up: We begin the "O" muffins with Oatmeal-Jam Muffins.