Cran-Oat Muffins

from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking From My Home to Yours, adapted by OvenLove and me

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/4 cups unsweetened natural applesauce
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 1/4 cup lowfat buttermilk
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour [I used 3/4 cup all-purpose + 1/2 cup whole wheat]
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon + 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, divided
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 1 cup old fashioned rolled oats

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare muffin tins with either paper or foil muffin cups, or if you’re fancy, use silicone muffin tins or cups. I would love these!

Or this:

Anyways… let’s get going on those muff muffs!

In a medium bowl, use a whisk to combine eggs, applesauce, oil, and buttermilk until combined. Make sure the eggs are fully incorporated… for some reason I had troubles with that.

Then, using a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and pumpkin pie spice. Remove 1/2 teaspoon of the dry ingredients and toss with the cranberries to coat. Mix oats and cranberries into the bowl. Pour wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until just moistened. Spoon batter into muffin cups [I got about 20 muffins out of this batter].

Then, make the topping by stirring together the brown sugar, pecans, and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. Top each muffin with a teaspoon of topping and press down gently into the batter so it sticks. Bake for 20-22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Notes:

If I were to make these again, which I do want to do because they were delicious, I would probably decrease the amount of granulated sugar to 1/2 or 2/3 cup. I just thought they were way too sweet, especially with the brown sugar-based topping. Also, I’d increase the amount of cranberries to 3/4 cup. I wanted more! My husband agreed with the cranberry idea, but didn’t find these too sweet at all, so it’s all about personal taste I guess!