I have been really enjoying eating the homemade instant oatmeal that I figured out a while back — it’s easy, delicious, healthy and portable (just what I like!) but truth be told, after a month and a half, I’m ready for something a little different (at least for a while — then I’ll go back!)

I pulled out my trusty muffin book, and found a recipe for Apricot Muffins. Yum! Usually I make the recipes in that book without any changes (they don’t really need them) but lately I’ve been taking Shirley O’Corriher’s advice over leavening agents to heart, and decided to see what would happen if I didn’t put in all the leaveners called for in the original recipe.

She suggests that more than 1/4 tsp / 1mL baking soda per cup of flour or 1 – 1 1/4 tsp / 5-6mL baking powder per cup of flour is over doing it with the leavening agents. With too much leaveners, you risk having flat results. I’ve never had that problem with the muffins in this book, but if I can get the same results with less, why not, right?

The original recipe calls for 2tsp / 10mL of baking powder and 1/2 tsp / 2mL of baking soda, which I’ve adapted down to 1 tsp / 5mL of powder and 1/4 tsp / 1mL of soda. Both rise well in my experience. The original recipe gives a slightly taller, smoother top, but with the adapted version, I found the cake to be moister (that might also have to do with general humidity and/or the time in the oven.)

Another change I made was that the original recipe calls for ground dried apricots, whereas I prefer diced for extra texture. Either way you do it, it’s a tasty muffin. These muffins are very sweet & apricot-y and are nice with a cup of tea.

Oh! and the baby food? Use it. It adds to both the flavour and the moistness of the muffin, and no matter how weird it sounds, it helps to make them taste great!

The Recipe

A variation of Apricot Muffins from Company’s Coming’s Muffins and More
makes 6 jumbo or 18 regular muffins

1 egg
1/4 cup / 50mL vegetable oil
7 1/2 oz / 213mL jar of apricot baby food (I used Heinz’s Apricot Dessert)
1 3/4 cup / 425mL flour
1/2 cup / 125mL sugar
1 tsp / 5mL baking powder
1/4 tsp / 1mL baking soda
1/2 tsp / 2mL salt
2/3 cup / 180mL diced dried apricots

How-To

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees (F) / 200 degrees (C).

Combine the egg, oil, baby food in a bowl and stir well.

Measure out the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt on top of the wet ingredients. Top off with the dried apricots, then stir just to combine. Try not to over stir as it will make the muffins tough! The dough will be a little lumpy.

Bake for 20-25 minutes. Check them regularly and remove them from the oven as soon as the crumbs on your tester look dry.

Enjoy!

Banana Muffins are good, but Banana Muffins with something else mixed in are better!

This is the banana recipe I grew up with, except that back in the days nothing else got added in — they were plain old Banana Muffins. Then, once I was on my own, and looking at the same recipe, (which was originally supposed to have chocolate chips added in, but my mom never did), I thought of adding in some cranberries that were in my freezer needing to get used up.

Bingo-bango-bongo! It was a hit.

You get the sweetness of the banana, but with the tartness of the cranberry, which also adds a nice colour contrast too.

The Recipe

A variation of Banana Chip Muffins from Company’s Coming’s Muffins and More
makes 6 jumbo or 12 regular muffins

1 egg
1/4 cup / 60mL oil (I use vegetable)
1/4 cup / 60mL milk (I typically use 2%, but 1% or 3.25% would also work fine)
1 cup / 250mL (aprox. 3) mashed bananas
1 3/4 cup / 435mL flour
1/2 cup / 125mL sugar
1 tbsp / 15mL baking powder
1/2 tsp / 2mL salt
1 cup / 250 mL fresh or frozen cranberries, sliced in half

How-To

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees (F) / 200 degrees (C).

Combine the egg, oil, milk in a bowl and stir well. Add in the mashed bananas and stir.

Measure out the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt on top of the wet ingredients, then stir just to combine. It’s okay if there are some dry bits of flour at this point.Add in the cranberries, and mix just long enough to distribute evenly and have all the dry bits moistened. Dough will be a little lumpy from the bananas and cranberries. Try not to over stir as it will make the muffins tough!

Bake for 20-25 minutes. Just like other muffins, be sure not to over bake — it will dry them out. Check them regularly and remove them from the oven as soon as the crumbs on your tester look dry.

Enjoy!

It goes without saying that I am not a morning person. Like, if there’s a way for me to spend 5 extra minutes in bed, I’ll do it. As such, I’m always on the lookout for new portable breakfast options since I have a difficult time getting out of bed early enough to eat a breakfast at home before leaving for work. Anything that I can grab-and-go to enjoy once I’m sitting at my desk is a very good thing.

Instant oatmeal is easily found at most grocery stores, but once I looked at the ingredient list, I haven’t eaten any. (I know, I know, the muffins I eat in copius amounts probably aren’t healthier in the strictest of senses, but at least they’re homemade and I can pronounce all the ingredients I’ve added. And, well, they taste good.) I always thought that there was some sort of shnazzy processing step that couldn’t be done at home, so when I saw the how-to tutorial, I was surprized that I could make it myself with whatever mix-ins I want.

Infact, now that I know how easy it is to make, I’m telling everyone about it. Just call it my gospel.

The original tutorial lists a lot of mix-in ideas that sound like they’d be good, but I pretty much eat my oatmeal at home one-way-and-one-way-only: no sugar and with dried fruit, usually raisins, so that’s what I went with here. Try the other suggestions and let me know how they go!

It’s worth mentioning that this oatmeal is not sweet at all (I didn’t add any sugar) and if you’re expecting it to taste more like the stuff you buy premade, it would be a good idea to add a little. If you’re aiming to eat less sugar, I found that after a day of eating this version, I didn’t miss it at all. Your choice

Oh! and the flax seeds? We’ve had some sitting in our pantry for way too long and I figured this would be an excellent way to start to use them up. Extra fiber is never a bad thing, right? Again, after the first day, I didn’t really notice them.

The Recipe

Original how-to from The Kitchn
Makes aprox. 12 servings

6 cups / 1.5L quick oats
1/2 tsp. / 2mL salt (or to taste)

1/4 cup / 60mL flax seed (optional)
1 cup / 250mL (120g) or more, dried mixed berries or mix-in of choice

How-To

In a blender or food processor, grind 2 cups / 500mL of the quick oats into a fine powder.

In a large bowl, mix the remaining quick oats, powdered quick oats, salt, flax seeds (if using), and whatever mix-ins you’re using (in this example, the dried mixed berries and flax seeds). Combine well — the powder should coat all the oats and mix-ins.

Divide into heaping 1/2 cup / 125mL portions into zip-lock bags or containers and seal well. Alternatively, keep in one large container and portion as-you-go.

To Cook

Place one heaping 1/2 cup / 125mL serving in a bowl or mug, and combine with approximately 3/4 cup / 175mL boiling water (more or less to achieve your desired consistency). Stir and let stand for 3 minutes (during which it will thicken). Say yum and enjoy!

One of the many lessons I remember my Jr. High Home Ec. teacher, Mrs Phelps, teaching us is that you can always tell how ‘healthy’ a muffin is based on how textured its top is — healthy-for-you muffins have a lot of texture, and not-so-good-for-you muffins have a smoother top. Who knows if that’s really true or not, but it’s something I think of whenever I see muffins. Ever look at a ‘chocolate chip’ muffin-top? Pretty smooth, eh? I rest my case.

These muffins have a fairly textured top in-spite of their richness. Their flavour is a little bit spiced, and their crumb is, well, crumb-like and a little bit dense. It’s a really good muffin if you like dried fruit and peel — its’ the focus of the muffin and has nowhere to hide.

If you like to spread butter or jam on your muffins, these will do well. At the same time, so long as they’re not over-baked, they are moist enough and have enough flavour to stand on their own without any added toppings.

Bonus: this recipe will use up that mincemeat at the back of your fridge that you’ve been wondering how to use now that Christmas was four months ago (don’t worry, mincemeat has a very long shelf life.)

Actually, one of my deep dark secrets is that at Christmas I buy extra jars of mincemeat so that I have some to make these with later in the year ;-)

The Recipe

from Company’s Coming’s Muffins and More
makes 6 jumbo or 16-18 regular muffins

1 egg
1/4 cup / 60mL vegetable oil
1 cup / 250mL mincemeat
1/2 cup / 125mL milk
2 cups / 500mL flour
1/4 cup / 60mL sugar
1 tsp. / 5mL baking powder
1 tsp. / 5mL baking soda
1/2 tsp. / 2mL salt
1/2 tsp. / 2mL cinnamon

How-To

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees (F) / 200 degrees (C).

Combine the egg, oil, mincemeat and milk in a bowl and stir well. It might take a minute or two to break up the mincemeat, but don’t worry and do it.

Measure out the flour, sugar, baking powder & soda, salt and cinnamon on top, then stir just to combine. Dough will be smooth but with lumps (which are the fruit from the mincemeat.) Don’t over stir as it will make the muffins tough!

Bake for 20-25 minutes. Just like other muffins, be sure not to over bake these puppies — it will dry them out. Check them regularly and remove them from the oven as soon as the crumbs on your tester look dry.

I think it’s safe to say I eat a lot of muffins. I’m not a morning person, so I like a breakfast that I can grab and take with me to eat at my desk once I’ve gotten to work. Because I admire efficiency, I also bake jumbo sized muffins instead of regular sized muffins — this saves on muffin cups, and I’m going to eat the same amount, so they might as well be combined into one to save… to save what exactly, I’m not sure, but it’s easier to grab one in the morning than it is to grab two.

These muffins have a cake-like texture (ie. a ‘delicate’ crumb), and a full flavour. They are extra good served with butter, you know, if you’re so inclined.

The Recipe

from Company’s Coming’s Muffins and More
(If you’re ever thinking of buying one muffin cookbook, and one only, buy this one. It’s that good).
makes 6 jumbo or 12 regular muffins

1/4 cup / 60mL butter at room temperature
1/4 cup / 60mL sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup / 125mL molasses
1/4 cup / 60mL hot water
1 3/4 cups / 425mL flour
1 tsp. / 5mL baking soda
1/4 tsp. / 1mL salt
1/2 tsp. / 2mL cinnamon
1/2 tsp. / 2mL ginger
1/4 tsp. / 1mL ground cloves
1/4 cup / 60mL hot water (yes, this does appear twice)

How-To

Preheat oven to 400 degrees (F) / 200 degrees (C)

Beat the butter until fluffy, then add the remaining wet ingredients (sugar, egg, molasses and first amount of hot water) and combine. It will be very watery.

Measure out the dry ingredients and add on top of the wet. Stir together. (Only mix together once the dry ingredients are all in the bowl, or you’ll start developing the glutten and activating the levening agents leading to a tough, flat muffin).

Once the batter is mixed together with very few lumps, add the second amount of hot water and mix. The batter should be smooth like cake.

Fill your muffin tin, and bake for 20-25 minutes. A toothpick inserted will come out with one or two dry crumbs, and the tops will look dark and dry. Do not over bake — if you do, you will get a dry muffin that otherwise looks fine.

Perfect Pairings

• Milk
• Black tea

Notes

You might have different baking times depending on wether you are making regular or jumbo sized muffins. The original recipe is for 18 muffins, with the 20-25 minute time range, but with my oven, 6 jumbo-sized muffins take 21 minutes.

Each oven is different — it is best to start checking them a minute or two before the 20 minute mark to see how long it will take for them to bake so that you get under/over-baked muffins.