Breakfast is a pain to make! I mean, I'm barely awake, and I have to take the ginormous effort of persuading myself to get out of bed and keep my eyes open, and all that. Instead of applauding these achievements, I then have to do stuff like open windows, clear stuff that can be stepped on, make tea.... before you ask, no I have neither kids nor second-childhood kids in my house... it's just that I'm sloppy and tremendously lazy.... and the occasional depressive symptoms SO do not help!
But, coming back to the issue at hand, making breakfast is a pain.... and packaged stuff is either unhealthy or really expensive. And there is really a limit to how many days in a row one person can eat cornflakes / muesli - especially when Pune starts getting chilly mornings. So I was ecstatic when I came across the notion that some muffins last for a good bunch of days when frozen. I'm sure I can manage to make stuff a couple of times a week if it means I get to eat tasty, nutritious food every morning with no effort on most days! Thus started the hunt for such a recipe.
Success happened when I reached www.food.com and found these Awesome Oats Muffins. They were easy, looked yummy and seemed rather healthy. Of course, I had to try stunts. Partly because I do not have malt-flavored oats.... partly because... well, it's me. So, here's my variation....
Yum..... Yum..... Yum....
Oats and Dry-fruit Muffins
You Need:
1 cup quick cooking oats
2/3 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup all purpose flour / maida
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup organic brown sugar
1 egg
4 tablespoons oil (any vegetable oil)
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
1/2 - 3/4 cup dry fruit bits - I used dried apricots and dark raisins; but nuts like cashew, almonds and pistachios will also taste good; as will any kind of raisins, dates, or other sweet and sticky bits.
How to make them with one eye open:
- Slightly beat the egg.
- Add the oil, then the sugar, then the milk.
- If using vanilla extract, add. It provides a lovely bake-y smell (or fragrance) to the proceedings.
- Add the oats, incorporate.
- Add the flours and the baking powder just till incorporated.
- Add the dry fruit bits, distribute them across the mixture. If the mixture feels too dry, add a little milk till it feels moist enough. At this point it's lumpy but dropping consistency.
- In the meanwhile, heat oven to 200 C.
- Spoon the mixture - which looks rather lumpy - into a muffin pan (I use a large muffin tray with 6 slots).
- Bung into the oven, bake for between 20 - 25 mins till a toothpick / skewer comes out clean.
Random, but relevant points (for when you are slightly more awake):
- If you think your dry fruit is a tad too dry, bung the bits in 1/4 cup of the milk for a couple of hours (or overnight if u put it in the fridge). A secondary benefit of doing this is that the milk picks up the flavors from the dry fruit (and turns the color of chocolate milk) and when you add this to the mix, it flavors the whole muffin a subtle, sweet flavor.
- If you want the muffin to look purty, keep a few pieces of the dry fruit aside, and then place / scatter them on top of the batter once it's in the molds. They come out looking adorable.
- **Very important point **- I am a dork that is fine with stuff not tasting particularly sweet, so the brown sugar works fine for me. If you like a bit of sweetness, use white sugar, or equal parts (1/4 cups) of brown and white sugar.
Once they come out, pick the one you want to eat, and then pop the rest in a freezer safe box, and freeze them. A week's worth of healthy breakfast ready for you to start your day with!
Now go make a muffin, and join me for a cuppa! :)
