OAT MUFFINS
anything less than “wow.”
Now, all those requirements might sound disparate. In fact, they’re pretty complementary. The ingredients used to address one part of the equation often help solve another problem. For example, whole-wheat baked goods can be on the dry and crumbly side. Extra moisture can lend that coveted plush texture. I decided to use unsweetened applesauce, oil and maple syrup to boost tenderness. Of course, those ingredients are exactly what you might use when you want something that’s vegan and sweetened without refined sugars.
I still worried about the crumbly, grainy texture that can happen with thirsty whole-wheat flour, as well as in the absence of egg as a binder.
My mind jumped to bread-baking. I had become enamored of porridge breads, thanks in part to the recipes and technique I picked up from Wordloaf, the “breaducational” newsletter by Andrew Janjigian. These breads use a cooked grain porridge in the dough. As he wrote in one edition, “Because the water in the porridge is locked up within its starches, it allows a baker to add more water to a dough without making the dough stickier or softer.” This was just what I needed for these muffins. Could I make it work with oats, my grain of choice?
The answer was a resounding yes. The key is allowing the oats to soak in boiling water for 15 minutes. This causes them to swell and soften, trapping that liquid and ensuring that by the time the oats are added to the muffin batter and baked, they burst, almost completely melting into the crumb and giving up their starch power to bind everything together. Unlike a lot of other baked goods with oats, there are no tough flakes to chew through.
Just as I enjoy a drizzle of maple syrup on my morning bowl of oatmeal, the two breakfast staples made an ideal pairing here. Even taking into account the applesauce, the muffins were barely sweet.
In fact, a few tasters thought they could be a tad sweeter, so I increased the amount of dried cherries — even tart, unsweetened fruits did the trick. Feel free to swap in dried blueberries, cranberries or raisins. Chopped apricots or figs would be lovely, too.
Using whole-wheat pastry flour, which is softer and lower in protein than regular wholewheat flour, was another way to guarantee a tender muffin. If you don’t have it, a 50-50 blend of all-purpose and regular whole-wheat flours works just as well and is maybe even slightly less crumbly, if that’s something you’re worried about.
The muffins need no adornment to be satisfying and rich-tasting (without the rich ingredients!), though on subsequent days they’re especially good toasted with a bit of butter or jam.