Make: Oatmeal Cookie Muffins

Ah, the muffin—less pretentious than a scone, more robust than a cookie, and more shapely than a biscuit. My favorite thing about muffins is that they can be a wonderful vehicle for a lot of extremely healthy elements. This particular muffin will not win any beauty contests, I promise you that, but it’s hearty and healthy enough for a quick breakfast.

Oats, whole-wheat flour, and ground flax seed contribute complex carbohydrates, fiber, healthy monounsaturated fat, and vitamins B and E. Canola oil and walnuts are great sources of omega 3s, and the apricots pack a hefty serving of vitamin A.

You’ll have to trust me about the flavor: spicy, sweet, moist. They were definitely a crowd-pleaser in my house. I made 16 of these muffins on Friday and my husband ate the last one on Sunday morning. To be fair, he didn’t eat them all by himself, but he certainly ate a lot of them.

A word on buttermilk. You probably think it’s a no-no, right? Wrong. Buttermilk has the roughly same stats as 1 percent milk. In fact, if you don’t have any buttermilk on hand (who does?), you can make your own at home by adding vinegar or lemon juice—for acidity—to regular milk. (A how-to is here).

Anyway, these muffins are healthy and tasty and I honestly can’t wait to make them again! Normally I require massive quantities of food for breakfast, but just one of these suckers did the job just fine.

Oatmeal Cookie Muffins
Makes 16

2 1/3 c. oats
1 c. whole wheat flour
1/2 c. chopped walnuts
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/3 c. sugar
1/3 c. ground flax seed
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
1 c. buttermilk
1/2 c. canola oil
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1/3 c. boiling water
1 c. white or dark chocolate chips
1/2 c. chopped dried apricots

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a muffin tin with paper or foil liners.
2. In a large bowl, mix oats, flour, walnuts, sugars, flax, cinnamon, baking soda and salt with a whisk.
3. In a smaller bowl, whisk buttermilk, canola oil, egg and vanilla.
4. Add wet ingredients to dry and stir until combined.
5. Add boiling water to mixture and stir to combine. Let stand five minutes.
6. Fold in chocolate and apricot
7. Fill muffin liners 2/3 of the way full.
8. Bake for 20 minutes or until no longer wet in the center of each muffin.
9. Cool on a wire rack and keep covered at room temperature for several days.

Per serving: 295 calories, 16 fat grams (5 grams polyunsaturated and 5 grams monounsaturated), 167 mg potassium, 40 grams carbs, 5 grams dietary fiber, 5 grams protein.

>> Get more Be Well Philly recipes here.

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Becca Boyd is a wife and new mom who teaches culinary courses to students at Radnor High School. She creates healthy and delicious recipes in her West Chester kitchen and blogs about them on her website, Home Beccanomics.