Fruity Oatmeal Muffins

My goodness.  Forget everyone else, I might fall over from shock!  Two recipes in two days.  Amazing.

Anyway, I had a bunch of odds and ends fruit in the house - bananas, blueberries, oranges, apples, blackberries, and I needed to do something with it. I know I could always freeze it for smoothies, but that's not very creative, and truthfully, we are such avid smoothie people that we already have a ton of frozen ingredients on hand.  

I decided on muffins, because they make for a quick, easy, healthy breakfast or snack, and it's been awhile since we've had any.  I didn't want a dessert muffin though.  I wanted a lightly sweet, hearty breakfast muffin that was appropriate for both me and the toddler.  These are a goldmine of awesome, if I don't say so myself.  There is no added sugar or sweetener of any kind; they're sweetened soley by the fruit, and there's no added fat at all.  They're also vegan.  Win win win, right?  Lastly, I was able to mix up the whole thing in ONE bowl.  Minimal dishes!  I just doesn't get much better than that.

Fruity Oatmeal Muffins

Ingredients:

• 2 cups thick cut rolled oats (I buy mine in bulk at Whole Foods)
• 1 cup unsweetened apple juice
• 1 cup fresh squeezed orange juice (this took about six clementines for me)
• 2 very ripe (think mushy and abundant black spots) bananas
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
• 2 cup fresh blueberries

Directions:

Just ready to go into the oven

1. Preheat oven to 400°
2. In a very large mixing bowl, soak the oats in the apple and orange juices until most of the liquid is absorbed (I let mine soak for an hour)
3. While still in the peel, mush up your bananas, drop into bowl, and using the back of a spoon, further smush them on the sides of the bowl until you have a pasty puree.  Mix it up well with the oatmeal.
4. Over the top evenly sprinkle the salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  Mix it in well.
5. Add the flour and stir until just mixed.  You want all of the flour incorporated, but you don't want to over mix and smooth out your batter.  It should be thick and sticky.
6. Line 18 muffin tins with liners and fill a bit over 3/4 full.
7. Bake until golden.  It took 25 minutes in my oven.

 

If you're looking for a super sweet muffin, this is not it.  I've mentioned before that my sweet tooth is mostly 

non-existent, so these are plenty sweet enough for me.  If you want something really sweet, you're going to need to add a sweetener to taste.  I'd recommend something liquid though - agave, maple syrup, honey. 

Lastly, let them cool completely before you attempt to remove the liners.  If you are super duper impatient and must try them RIGHT NOW, you'll spend some time peeling off the paper.  Not that I know or anything.

Enjoy!