OVERNIGHT OATMEAL MUFFINS

As the weather  turns cooler, comfort foods are in order.  These muffins are good on their own as a breakfast muffin.  But frosting them with white chocolate cream cheese frosting  makes them even better as a dessert muffin.  I used jumbo red flame raisins and a Ghiradelli white chocolate bar*, chopped in the muffin, but you could also use Craisins or chocolate chips.  Most, flavorful and not spicy, these muffins are a treat and freeze beautifully.

Note:  Do not substitute white chocolate chips for the chopped bar, as the ingredients are not the same.  Read the label and you will see that the bar is better quality.

Overnight Oatmeal Muffins Adapted from Pillsbury Rating:  9 out of 10 PRINTABLE PAGE

INGREDIENTS:  3/4 cup bread flour, lightly spooned and swept 1/2 cup white whole wheat flour, lightly spooned and swept 1 cup quick (1-minute) oats 1/3 cup brown sugar 1/2 tsp. baking powder 1/2 tsp. baking soda 1 tsp. cinnamon 1/4 tsp. sea salt 3/4 cup buttermilk (or 3/4 cup sweet milk + 1-1/2 tsp. vinegar) 1/4 cup applesauce 1/4 cup vegetable oil 1 large egg 1/4 cup jumbo red flame raisins 1 oz. (about 1/4 cup) chopped white chocolate bar (Ghiradelli, but do not use chips) In large bowl, combine flours, oats, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.  Stir in milk, applesauce, oil and egg; mix well.  Fold in raisins and chocolate.  Cover tightly and refrigerate overnight.  (If desired, muffins can be baked immediately.) Heat oven to 425F.  Grease 12 muffin cups or line with paper baking cups.  Fill muffin cups 3/4 full.  Place in oven; close door; reduce heat immediately to 350F.  Bake 15-17 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center returns with just a few crumbs.  Serve warm as is, or cool completely and frost with white chocolate cream cheese frosting.  Yield:  12 muffins

OATMEAL CHOCOLATE CHIP MUFFINS, ADAPTED

When I made Quaker Oats’ Prize-Winning Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Muffins with Chocolate Streusel I thought there could never be another oatmeal cc muffin to get my top rating. But this one comes very close. Kari Farwell submitted this fabulous recipe to Allrecipes, and the readers rated it 4-1/2 stars. Even with my lower-fat, part whole-grain version, these muffins are still moist, tender, flavorful, full of chocolate chips, with a nice crunch from the walnuts and just a hint of spice from the cinnamon in the topping. Soaking the oats in the milk for 15 minutes before mixing the batter is a crucial step in developing the tender crumb and light texture of the muffin. You’ll get 12 standard-size muffins, and any that are left can be frozen and microwaved for a quick snack or treat.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Muffins Adapted from Allrecipes Rating: 9.5 out of 10 Printable Recipe

INGREDIENTS: 1-1/4 cups quick-cooking oats 1-1/4 cups milk (I used 3/4 cup milk + 1/2 cup lite sour cream) 1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour (I used Ultra-Grain) 4 tsp. baking powder 1 tsp. sea salt 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips 1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts, divided use 1 large egg 2 Tbsp. oil 1/2 cup applesauce 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract 3/4 cup packed brown sugar, divided use 1 tsp. cinnamon 1. Combine oats and milk in large bowl and allow to stand 15 minutes. Heat oven to 425F. Spray the wells of a 12-cup muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray. 2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, chocolate chips and 1/2 cup nuts in medium bowl. 3. Beat egg, oil, applesauce, vanilla and 1/2 cup brown sugar into the oats and milk mixture. Add the dry ingredients, all at once, stirring just till barely combined, leaving a few lumps, if any. Do not overmix. 4. Fill each of the 12 muffin wells about 2/3 full. Sprinkle tops with the remaining brown sugar, nuts and cinnamon. Place muffin tin in oven and immediately reduce heat to 375F. Bake 17-20 minutes, or till a toothpick inserted near center returns almost clean. Cool in pans about 5 minutes, then turn out onto wire rack to finish cooling. Yield: 12 standard-size muffins

BANANA-NUT-SCOTCHIE MUFFINS

They say that necessity is the mother of invention. Well, ripe bananas are the mother of a new banana recipe. I used a 4-1/2 star recipe from allrecipes.com as a starting point and added bananas, butterscotch morsels, toasted walnuts and pecans, raisins, vanilla and a crumb topping. I subbed white whole wheat flour for all-purpose, took out all but 1 Tbsp. of the oil, and subbed stevia for half of the sugar.

I made half of the muffins with raisins and half with the butterscotch morsels and I really can't say which I like better, because all these flavors just blend so beautifully. But let me tell you upfront -- if you are looking for a fast, easy recipe, this is not it. There are a few steps involved and there are a lot of ingredients. The end result is worth it.

These muffins are moist, tender, flavorful, and just sweet enough. The crumb topping is crunchy and sweet and makes a nice intro to the muffin. These are high on my list, and I think they will be on yours too. There is one thing I would do differently next time, though: Instead of baking these for 14 minutes at 400F, I would heat the oven to 400F, put the muffins in, and immediately reduce the heat to 325F. They will probably take 16-20 minutes to bake, but the butterscotch morsels probably won't burn, as they did with these. Nothing got damaged, though, these are still a top-flight muffin. Another thing that would help is if you press the morsels into the tops of the muffins before sprinkling on the crumb topping. The morsels won't be quite as exposed then. So I've written those changes into the instructions below, and I encourage you to try these delicious treats soon, when you're in the baking mood and when you have some ripe bananas.

Banana-Nut-Scotchie Muffins

Adapted from allrecipes.com

Rating: 9.5 out of 10

INGREDIENTS:

TOPPING:

1 Tbsp. butter

2 Tbsp. white whole wheat flour

3 Tbsp. quick oats

3 Tbsp. sugar

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

1/3 cup butterscotch morsels

MUFFIN: 1 cup quick (not instant) oats

1 cup buttermilk

1 cup white whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1-1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. sea salt

1/2 cup toasted, chopped or broken walnuts, pecans or a combo of both

1/2 cup butterscotch morsels, OR 1/2 cup raisins or combo of both (1/4 cup of each)

1 large egg

1 tsp. vanilla

1 Tbsp. oil

1/2 cup sugar (or 1/4 cup sugar + 1-1/2 tsp. Stevia)

1/2 tsp. molasses

1 large banana (about 1/2 cup) mashed

In large bowl, combine oats and buttermilk; set aside. If using raisins, in small microwaveable cup or bowl, heat 1/3 cup water to almost boiling; add raisins; set aside.

Prepare topping: In small microwaveable bowl, melt butter. Add remaining topping ingredients, except morsels. Stir with fork till combined; set aside.

Prepare muffins: Heat oven to 400F. Spray 11 muffin cups with non-stick cooking spray; place a few Tbsp. of water in the last remaining cup (to keep the empty cup from warping).

In small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and nuts. If using morsels, add them in.

Add egg, vanilla, oil, sugar, molasses and banana to the buttermilk-oatmeal mixture and mix well. Drain the raisins and add them and 2 Tbsp. raisin water. Now pour all of this over the dry ingredients and stir with a spoon or spatula just till mixed. Fill muffin cups almost full. Press the remaining 1/3 cup morsels into tops of muffins, dividing equally among the 11. Sprinkle crumb topping over morsels, pressing in slightly (use about 2 tsp./muffin). Place muffins in oven and immediately reduce heat to 325F. Bake 16-20 muffins, or till toothpick inserted near center returns with just a few crumbs. Cool in pan 5 minutes, then turn out onto wire rack to cool completely. Serve warm. Yield: 11 muffins, standard size

PRIZE-WINNING OATMEAL CHOCOLATE CHIP MUFFINS WITH CHOCOLATE STREUSEL

I found this recipe on the Quaker Oats website. It was their 8th Annual Grand Prize Winner, so I figured it had to be good.  I followed the recipe pretty closely -- only subbing white whole wheat flour and adding walnuts to the topping; and adding vanilla to the muffin. These muffins are amazing. Thanks to the oats, they're light; and the buttermilk, oil and honey provide moistness, tenderness and exceptional flavor. Sometimes honey can overpower other ingredients, and I was out of mild clover honey. All I had was raw mountain honey. But the finished muffin tastes wonderful -- the honey is not the predominant taste at all.  The topping is interesting -- the little cocoa balls that form when you mix the topping become crunchy nuggets of chocolate when baked; and, along with the walnuts, are your first introduction to this muffin. Then your teeth sink into the moist and delicate crumb inside and the warm, melted chocolate chips. By all means, try this recipe soon. You'll be
glad you did.

Prize Winning Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Muffins with Chocolate Streusel

Adapted from quakeroats.com

Rating: 10 out of 10
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INGREDIENTS:

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 cup whole wheat flour

2 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder

2 Tbsp. butter or margarine, melted

1/2 cup broken raw walnuts

1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup quick oats, uncooked

1/2 cup chocolate chips (I used Hershey's Special Dark)

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. sea salt

2/3 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup honey

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1 large egg

Heat oven to 400F. Spray 12 muffin cups with non-stick cooking spray.

For streusel, combine sugar, whole wheat flour, cocoa and melted butter in small bowl. Stir with fork till all particles are moistened. Little cocoa balls will form from part of the mixture. Stir in the walnuts; set aside.

For muffins, in large bowl, stir together all-purpose flour, oats, chocolate chips, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In medium bowl, whisk together buttermilk, honey, oil, vanilla and egg, beating till well combined. Add to dry ingredients all at once; stir with spoon or spatula just till dry ingredients are moistened. Do not overmix.

Fill muffin cups almost full. Sprinkle with reserved streusel, pressing it in gently. Place muffins in oven and immediately reduce heat to 325F. Bake 20-22 minutes, or till a toothpick inserted near center returns with just a few crumbs. Cool in pan 5 minutes, then turn out onto wire rack to finish cooling. Serve warm. Yield: 12 standard-size muffins

Note: If you don't have buttermilk, you can substitute 2/3 cup milk blended with 2 tsp. white or cider vinegar.