By Marie Fagan Peart | marie@haldimandpress.com
I was craving a muffin so I started rummaging through my cupboard looking for some of my favourite recipes. As soon as I spied my old 4-H manual from “The Cereal Shelf” club, memories flooded my mind. This was a club I joined when I was 13 years old and have vivid memories of learning how to make muffins.
Who knew there were so many factors to consider? The dry ingredients were mixed together in one bowl. The wet ingredients in another. What sticks in my mind is making a well in the centre of the dry ingredients, then adding the liquid all at once. We were instructed to mix only until the dry ingredients were moist, so there would be lumps remaining. I don’t know why I found this difficult to do.
I still tend to over mix muffins. This results in a muffin that has an uneven shape, may have peaks on the top, a smooth, shiny surface, and large holes or tunnels inside. However, they usually still taste pretty good.
The yogurt bran recipe is from a cookbook entitled “Muffins: a cookbook” and is quite old. I have been using this recipe for decades and jotted down beside it was the word delicious. I have often substituted apple sauce for the vegetable oil.
The oatmeal chocolate chip muffin recipe is from the Canadian cookbook “The Looneyspoons Collection.” I found another tip on how to keep blueberries from sinking to the bottom of the muffin. Before adding blueberries to the mixture, place a small amount of batter into each muffin cup. Mix blueberries into remaining batter and distribute into the muffin tin. Enjoy!
Yogurt Bran Muffins
2 cups plain yogurt
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 cup brown sugar or to taste
2 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups natural bran
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup blueberries or raisins or nuts
Add yogurt to medium bowl. Mix in soda and set aside. (Don’t leave too long.)
In a large bowl, beat together eggs, sugar, and oil. Stir in bran and vanilla.
Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Add to sugar mixture alternately with yogurt.
Fold in fruit or nuts.
Fill muffin cups and bake at 350°F for 35 minutes.
Makes 2 dozen large muffins.
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Muffins with a hint of Peach
1¼ cup quick-cooking rolled oats (not instant)
1 cup 1% milk
½ cup canned peaches
(drain first and then puree)
1 egg
¼ cup butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla
1½ cups Nutri Flour Blend*
½ cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 375°F. Spray a 12-cup muffin tin with cooking spray and set aside.
Pour milk over oats in medium bowl. Stir and let stand 20 minutes.
Stir in pureed peaches, egg, butter, and vanilla. Set aside.
Combine flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl. Add oat mixture to flour mixture and stir just until dry ingredients are moistened.
Fold in chocolate chips. Batter will be thick.
Divide batter among 12 muffin cups. Bake 20 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in center of muffins comes out clean. Remove muffins from pan and let cool on a wire rack.
*If this product is not available, use 1 cup all-purpose flour plus ½ cup whole wheat flour.
