Apple Cinnamon Muffins with Oat Crumble Topping

 

This is a sponsored post. All opinions are my own. 

After cookies, muffins were the first thing I learned to bake, way way back when I was a rosy-cheeked lass. The process is simple enough, and in about 30 minutes from start to finish you have tender and moist little cakes you can hold in your hand. What’s not to love about a muffin? Of course there are a million recipes for muffins, and the real fun is in the add-ins and flavour combinations. Banana chocolate? Yes please! Blueberry and lemon? Give it to me! But one of my all-time favorites has to be apple-cinnamon. There is something so comforting about this classic combination, and these muffins are darn near perfection. Loaded with tasty chunks of apple, a tender crumb, and a buttery oat crumble topping, it’s easy to see why these muffins disappeared quickly from my kitchen. 

Shiny and New: Baked Apples with Brown Butter Streusel

 

This is a sponsored post. While I was compensated to write this post, all opinions are my own. 

Happy New Year, dear friends. I hope 2022 is off to a grand start for all of you. Six days in and so far I can’t complain yet! It’s been snowy and very cold here in Saskatoon, and I’ve largely been hunkering down with the cats and Dixon, catching up on episodes of Ted Lasso. Not a bad way to start the year! I’ve also been making us delicious things to eat, of course, and these baked apples were like a cozy hug - warm and soothing. The perfect winter food. 

Medjool Date and Chocolate Oat Bars

 

This is a sponsored post, but as always, all opinions are my own.

I don’t know how it has come to be the last week of August, but here we are. The mornings, at least here in Saskatoon, have a notable chill to them, and some of the leaves have started to turn yellow. It has been a very dry, very hot summer and I’m not sure if this change is due to summer ending or the parched landscape the trees find themselves in. Nevertheless, change is coming and I’m here for it. Over the next few months I’ll be celebrating the launch of my second book baby Vegetables: A Love Story, and I can’t wait to share all of the exciting details with you. Stay tuned! In the meantime, I’m here to share with you an absolutely delicious recipe for Medjool date and chocolate oat bars, which I just so happen to be nibbling on as I type this. I just can’t get enough! 

Raspberry Almond Crumble Bars for a New Year

Greetings of a shiny, new year to you. Yeah, I know it's the middle of January and I should have been on my computer a couple of weeks ago wishing one and all the best of the season. Alas, I was likely cocooning on the couch with a book and a cup of tea, something I'm trying to do more of in this new year. December was a blur of baked goods and work and more work and then I cooked a feast on Christmas Eve and then the big day I stayed in my pyjamas and ate leftovers. It was the best. Binge watched Killing Eve and snacked on all the snacky things. All was calm, all was bright all right.

On My Way: Coconut Cream Overnight Oats & Lentils

You guys.  Working from home is the best.  I've been doing so "officially" now for just a few days, and already I'm in love.  I can rise at a reasonable hour, have tea while catching up on the morning news, and work away at my computer wearing stretchy pants and my favourite sweatshirt from 1993.  Breaks consist of taking coffee outside while the cats run up trees and then I rake the last of the leaves, just to get a little physical activity in.   I think I might be loving breakfast the most, as it can consist of something more substantial than the yogurt and fruit I used to cram in before I left the house at an ungodly early hour. 

Aunt Helen's Big Batch of Buttermilk Bran Muffins

 

Update and Hello!

Thank you to everyone who has been baking this recipe! The original was posted way way back in 2011, when this blog was just a baby. It has also appeared in my award-winning cookbook All The Sweet Things, published in 2017. I've gone and updated the photos (because in 2011 my food photos kinda sucked) and as per some of your recommendations I've increased the salt to 2 tsp. 

I've chatted with Aunt H on the phone and she thinks the bran muffin buzz is kinda funny, but she loves it. Thanks for making this old lady and her niece really happy. And, happy baking!

Let's face it.  There is absolutely nothing sexy about bran muffins.  Nothing at all.  Unlike these lemon muffins  I made awhile ago, with their cream cheese filling and all, they could be called sexy, but no, not bran muffins.   I even questioned whether I should write about these muffins, until I tasted one, and thought, no, the people should  be made aware that some bran muffins can indeed rock.  And it's my Aunt Helen's Recipe, which makes them kinda special. 

Aunt Helen is my Mom's aunt, my Grandma's sister, who I got to know really well when I lived in Edmonton.  She was my only family on my Mom's side there, and in a way she became my surrogate Grandma.  I never knew my Grandma Clara as she passed away before I was even born, but Aunt Helen would tell me all about her, and I kind of loved that.  Through her I would connect to a bit of my history, finding out what my Grandma was like as a kid; stories I never heard from my Mom.  We'd sit in Aunt Helen's living room and drink tea while she gave me a glimpse into the past and where I come from. Me and Aunt Helen spent lots of time together, hitting up yard sales, driving out to the country to pick berries, going to movies where she almost always fell asleep.  We were kindred spirits, she and I, and leaving her to move to Saskatoon was especially difficult.  Aunt Helen was happy for me, that I had opportunities awaiting me here, but more than a little sad to see me go.  In exchange for being closer to my Mom, I left behind another lovely lady, who I miss very much.

Going to Aunt H's place, there was always some sort of baked good lying in wait.  She constantly sent me home with little care packages of food, and back when I was a poor student, those packages were most welcome.  These bran muffins were a "regular" (couldn't resist) in the package and the good thing about the recipe is that the batter can be kept in the fridge for a few weeks, so you can bake them off as you need.   Fresh baked muffins daily if you like!  Full of all kinds of good things like the bran (of course), ground flax seed and large flake oats, I reduced the sugar amount and even sprinkled some with sunflower seeds, just for fun.  Because, if you can't be sexy, you might as well be fun. 

Aunt Helen's Big Batch Buttermilk Bran Muffins

2 cups boiling water
2 cups natural bran
4 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
1 3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup molasses
4 cups buttermilk
4 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup ground flax seed
2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
5 tsp baking soda
4 cups large flake oats
sunflower seeds, poppy seeds, flax seeds, sesame seeds, optional

Preheat oven to 350ºF.  In a medium sized bowl pour the boiling water over the bran.  Let stand 10 minutes.  Meanwhile, in another medium bowl, whisk the eggs, then add the oil, brown sugar, molasses and buttermilk.  In a large bowl, add your dry ingredients.  Stir well.  Pour in the wet, stir a little, then add the bran.  Stir just until the batter is moistened.  Y'all know I will not let a raisin come near this mouth, but if you like, go ahead and add some if you must.  Just don't tell me.
Line a muffin tin with paper cups, or lightly spray.  Scoop the batter, until 3/4 full, sprinkle with seeds and bake  for about 20-30 minutes, until the tops have risen and spring back when touched. My cups were rather full so it took closer to 30, but if in doubt, check with a tooth pick.  Slathered with some butter, or just on its own, this bran muffin doesn't suck.  Makes about 3 dozen muffins.  Batter will keep in fridge for 3 weeks. 

Now excuse me while I go call my Aunt Helen.