Muffin Mondays: Cinnamon-Topped Oatmeal Muffins

Normally I make muffins as a weekend breakfast treat. Weekend mornings are perfect for a little bit of brekfast baking, and this way I have muffins to eat during the week as well. But sometimes I share the muffins, or I eat them as dessert every once in awhile, so I don't always have muffins to last me through the week. This is ok because I generally prefer to eat yogurt or toast or granola for breakfast during the week. Muffins are really a treat -- not something I eat every day. This weekend was a little wonky, though. I had a ton of work to do for school, so Saturday morning I woke up early and after I walked Lucy I went straight to campus and I spent most of the day in the bowels of the library. No muffins on Saturday. Then on Sunday I didn't feel like baking muffins because Dudley and I had a busy and fun day planned, and I didn't feel like making a mess in the kitchen. But this morning I woke up and I was out of anything I would normally eat for breakfast. No fruit. No yogurt. No bread. No cereal. I need to go to the grocery store. I hate grocery shopping. I've had the recipe for these cinnamon-topped oatmeal muffins stuck on the front of my fridge for months now, and I had all of the ingredients. 40 minutes later breakfast was served.

I tore this recipe out of a Penzeys catalog ages ago. I love Penzey's spices. My great grandmother, BaBa, ordered her spices from Penzey's way back in the the day when Penzey's was only a catalog to anyone living outside of Wisconsin. In Houston I lived about a 5 minute walk from the Penzey's store, and it was so nice to pop into Penzeys any time I needed a certain spice or dried herb. The people who work in that store were so nice. Now I go to the Penzeys in Falls Church and it's a bit more of an outing, but I still love it, and the people there are every bit as nice. And, no, I don't get anything for writing about Penzeys here, I just happen to love the store and their spices, and I wanted to share. They send out catalogs quarterly (I think) and the catalogs have recipes that highlight some of the different herbs and spices they sell. I've never used one of their recipes before, but my mom has several that are in her permanent rotation. 

These muffins simple to get together, they have a short ingredient list, and they're perfect for a busy morning. They are rather hocky-puckish looking things, aren't they? I'll admit, I wasn't expecting much from these muffins, and I was pleasantly surprised with the result. I love the texture that the muffins get from the oatmeal. As I mentioned, I'm out of yogurt, so I didn't get a chance to try substituting yogurt for butter here, but I will in the future. My least favorite part of the muffins was actually the cinnamon sugar topping. I don't like the crusty layer at all, and I think I'm getting a little tired of muffins with toppings. It doesn't help that I put waaaaay too much cinnamon sugar on each muffin. Audrey made oatmeal muffins recently that look wonderful and I think I'll try that recipe soon. I'm going to make this recipe again -- with some changes. The next time I make these muffins (I'll definitely make them again), here are the changes I'd like to make:

1. Yogurt for butter, and maybe yogurt and oil for all of the butter.

2. Part whole wheat flour for AP flour

3. fruit: peaches, raspberries, or blueberries. These muffins would be great with fruit!

Cinnamon-Topped Oatmeal Muffins

Penzeys Spices

1 cup old fashioned aots (not quick cooking)

1 cup buttermilk

1/4 cup cutter (1/2 stick)

1.3 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

2-3 tablespoons cinnamon sugar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine the oats and buttermilk in a bowl and let stand for 10 minutes. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, egg, and vanilla. Add the oat mixture and stir to blend. Add the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda and mix well. Spoon the batter into a well greased muffin pan, filling about 2/3 full. Sprinkle each muffin generously with cinnamon sugar (this will make a crusty layer on top). Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Let cool about 5 minutes, then carefully remove the muffins by grabbing each one with tongs or a fork and lifting them out. Don't turn the pan over or the cinnamon sugar will fall off. Let cool.