I got into a conversation with my daughter (who is a mother of a young toddler, is working full time, and needs the Time-Turner Hermione used in "Harry Potter") about breakfasts. As in, she has no time to fix a good breakfast before heading to work. She was looking for a muffin that she could grab and go, and one with enough substance that it would tide her over until her lunch break.
We hit upon a riff on an Oatmeal "Morning Glory" muffin. We chose Oatmeal, as that aligns with the concept of a hand held, but less messy version of a bowl of oatmeal with all sorts of delicious additions.
Enter our "Everything But the Kitchen Sink Oatmeal Muffin".
To make this, we literally opened our respective pantry shelves and grabbed out all the odds and ends that were lingering in the backs of our cupboards, thus doing a spring cleaning. While we followed recipes (or mix directions) for the muffin batter, all the additions were very casually measured. The best kind of baking, to be sure!
I began with my Oatmeal Muffin Mix. Classic Homestyle would work as well, as would your favorite muffin recipe.
With an electric mixer, cream together the butter and brown sugar blend until light and creamy. Add eggs as directed.
Stir in additions with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon. I used:
· 3-4 peeled, shredded carrots
· 1 peeled, cored, and shredded apple (be sure to wring these dry in several paper towels or cotton dish towel
· 1 handful of sweetened, shredded coconut
· 1 handful of chopped and toasted walnuts
· 1/3-1/2C chopped dates or other dried fruits (raisins, cherries, cranberries for example)
· 1 tsp ginger
· 1 tsp cinnamon (feel free to increase to taste)
*You could also include or substitute fresh or frozen blueberries, raspberries, lemon zest, orange zest, vanilla, chocolate chips, dried raisins, dried cranberries, or dried cherries, or any nut you might have on hand. I toast my nuts first, as they remain a bit crunchier and the flavor is richer.
Continue using the rubber spatula and alternate adding the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder salt, soda), with the buttermilk. The batter will be thick, and the additions evenly distributed. An ice cream scoop is an easy way to dispense the batter into muffin pans.
Scoop the batter into paper lined muffin pans and, if planning to bake later, put the entire muffin pan into the freezer. When frozen, remove the batter filled papers, place in a zip lock bag, date the bag, label with oven temperature and time, and freeze.
When baking from frozen, put the desired number of muffin batter cups into the muffin pan, and place in a preheated oven. Freezing adds 3-5 minutes to total baking time.
If you are NOT freezing the batter for later baking, scoop the batter into paper lined muffin pans, place in preheated oven, and bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes.
Muffins are always an option for our Subscription Plans, as are pancake mixes and scone mixes. The concept of 'clearing out the pantry' applies to all our mixes. Imagine pancakes with nuts and dried fruits rolled up and packed as an easy to-go breakfast option. Our scones are always wonderful 'plain', but they love to be dressed up with additions and allowed to strut their deliciousness.
There is a perfect subscription plan for your family!