Muffins are a great way to use up leftover fresh and dried fruit and an easy way to sneak some healthy whole grains into your family’s diet. Homemade muffins can be baked in large batches, and most times an oatmeal muffin recipe produces muffins that freeze well.
Baking muffins from scratch is also an excellent way to reduce food costs – they are much cheaper than store-bought granola bars and snack cakes and more nutritious as well. If you are a beginner baker and haven’t made muffins at home before, this oatmeal muffin recipe is a good place to start. Once you master the basic muffin recipe, experiment with additions or substitutions to create a muffin that your family loves.
Oatmeal muffins should be baked using large-flake oats or quick-cooking oats, NOT instant oats. Instant oats become mushy as soon as they are mixed with milk, oil, or other liquids, resulting in heavy and pasty muffins. This recipe for oatmeal muffins makes 12 small muffins, but can easily be doubled.
Basic Oatmeal Muffin Recipe Ingredients
1 cup sour milk made from Carnation powdered milk, water, and a tablespoon of vinegar.
1 cup quick cooking or large flake oats
1 egg
1/4 cup canola oil or organic grapeseed oil
3/4 cup organic all-purpose flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
How to Make Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Muffins
Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a 12 cup muffin pan, or line it with muffin papers.
Make up 1 cup of sour milk. Pour 1 tablespoon of vinegar in the bottom of a mixing cup, add water and Carnation milk powder as per package directions. Pour the sour milk into a medium bowl and add oats. Pour 1/4 cup of oil into a measuring cup and add 1 egg. Beat together in the cup then pour it into the oatmeal mixture. Set aside to soak.
In a large mixing bowl, combine all-purpose and whole wheat flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt and chocolate chips. Add any dry substitute ingredients now. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet oatmeal mixture. Combine gently until it is just mixed. Spoon into muffin pan, filling each about 2/3 full. Bake for 20 minutes, checking after 18. Cool in pan for three minutes, then finish cooling on a baking rack.
Lemon Cranberry Oatmeal Muffin Recipe
Instead of vinegar, use 1 tablespoon lemon juice to sour the milk. Grate 1 tbsp lemon peel and add it to the dry ingredients. Substitute 1/2 cup of dried cranberries for the chocolate chips.
Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins
Dust 1/2 cup frozen blueberries with 1 tsp flour to keep the blueberries from “bleeding” into the oatmeal muffin batter. Replace the chocolate chips with frozen blueberries and add 1/2 tsp almond extract to the wet oatmeal mixture for a delicious Blueberry Almond Oatmeal Muffin recipe.
Orange Date Oatmeal Muffins
Grate 1 tbsp orange rind into dry ingredients. Replace chocolate chips with 1/2 cup of dates that have been soaked in 1/2 cup of orange juice for about an hour.
Peach Almond Oatmeal Muffins
Substitute a fresh peach or canned peaches. for the chocolate chips. Dice 1 fresh peach into small pieces and mix into dry ingredients, or use 1/2 cup of well-drained canned peaches. Add 1/4 tsp almond extract to wet ingredients. After spooning the batter into the muffin tins, sprinkle the top of each muffin with a few slivers of almond.
Banana Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Muffins
Reduce the sour milk to 3/4 of a cup, and add 1 1/2 medium-sized mashed bananas to wet mixture. Kids LOVE the combination of bananas with chocolate, so be prepared to make a double batch of this one!
Applesauce Oatmeal Muffins
Reduce the sour milk to 1/2 cup and the cooking oil to 2 tablespoons. Add 1/2 cup of applesauce. If it is sweetened, you may wish to reduce the brown sugar to just under 1/4 cup. You can either omit the chocolate chips or substitute in 1/3 cup of raisins. This applesauce oatmeal muffin recipe can be made a little spicier with the addition of 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon. Delicious with coffee and baking any of these homemade oatmeal muffins will make your kitchen smell wonderful. Happy Baking!