Muffin Madness

January 18, 2020 10:39 PM

More baking questions from me! Y'all were so helpful in the past, I'm asking about muffins this time

I'm on a muffin kick, especially oatmeal muffins. I have a couple good base recipes including a oatmeal/whole wheat recipe, banana/oatmeal, chocolate/oatmeal, peanut butter/oatmeal and pumpkin/oatmeal.

I'm looking for ideas for variations on these (or any other great recipes you might have). Currently in the freezer I have chocolate/cherry and pumpkin/apple/cranberry. I did banana/chai/chocolate chip. I've done peanut butter/chocolate chip/peanut butter chip and various others.

I have cherries, blueberries and cranberries in the freezer.

No dietary restrictions and I like most fruits and veggies. I do sub applesauce for oil and I use whole wheat flour rather than white.

posted by kathrynm to Food & Drink (6 answers total)

Best answer: Date & walnut work work well in a muffin.

Carrot cake muffins.

Carrot-apple muffins.

Zucchini muffins.

Cheddar oatmeal muffins.
posted by essexjan at 3:16 AM on January 19, 2020

funny you should ask, I was just fantasizing about an oatmeal - dried blueberry - white chocolate combination. Maybe this recipe (ripped off from CI) plus a cup of dried blueberries and 2 cups white chocolate chips? [edit sorry I see you already have an oatmeal muffin recipe, but I'll leave that one in case anyone finds it useful.]
posted by fingersandtoes at 7:49 AM on January 19, 2020

Another fantastic flavor combination is orange/white chocolate/dried cranberry -- that's the combination that makes those starbucks cranberry bars so good. Would also play very well on an oatmeal muffin base!!
posted by fingersandtoes at 7:52 AM on January 19, 2020

Best answer: now since you already have an oatmeal/peanut butter combination happening, what about adding a swirl of fruit to those? Strawberry, raspberry, grape jelly, maybe apricot are the classics, but I bet the stuff you have in your freezer would be great. Cook some of those berries/cherries slightly with some sugar, maybe a squirt of lemon juice if you have. Fill muffin cups 3/4 of the way, put a tbsp of the fruit on top, add a bit of batter over, bake.
posted by fingersandtoes at 7:56 AM on January 19, 2020

about that orange/white chocolate/dried cranberry combo -- you can get the orange flavor in there by zesting an orange; or by using a bit of extract (meh) or (best option) a tiny amount of orange oil. You may know this already but it's a recent discovery for me: if you like citrus flavors, the best are the oils from Boyajian. These have to be smelled to be believed. Runner up, also excellent, is the orange oil from Lorann. Also, dried cranberries are available orange flavored, very delicious -- but may be seasonal.
posted by fingersandtoes at 8:05 AM on January 19, 2020 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: I'm going to definitely try some of these.

Yesterday I roasted some apples, golden raisins and almonds with maple syrup and chai spice. I put those into a honey spice oatmeal muffin. Amazing. I did have to add some molasses because there was too much honey.
posted by kathrynm at 4:03 PM on January 20, 2020 [1 favorite]