Today is a Snow Day Ice Day. It rained all day yesterday, then dropped below freezing overnight, and now everything is covered with ice, and there are a lot of accidents in town. On days like these when it’s cold and gross outside, I love to make something warm and comforting. And what’s more comforting than muffins, fresh from the oven? I knew I wanted them to include oatmeal, and I had a few small pears to use up, and some pecans in the cupboard from Christmas baking. I googled around for a few healthy/healthier recipe options, and made my recipe based off a mix of several I found. You can also substitute apples for the pears or walnuts for the pecans.
Ingredients:
1 cup old fashioned oats or minute/quick cooking oats
1 cup milk (or milk alternative - I used cashew milk)
1 cup white whole wheat flour (you can use AP if that’s what you have)
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking spice blend (or your own mix of cinnamon, allspice, anise, mace & cardamom)
½ cup brown sugar
1 egg beaten
6 Tablespoons canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large or 2 small pears, peeled and diced
½ cup chopped pecans
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400°F. Lightly spray or grease a muffin tin. In a large bowl, combine oats and milk. Let sit 15 minutes for old fashioned oats, and 5 minutes for quick cooking oats.
In a second mixing bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and spice blend.
Stir the oil, egg, brown sugar and vanilla into the soaked oat mixture. Add dry ingredients. Stir just until combined. Do not overmix. Gently fold pears & pecans into the batter.
Spoon the batter evenly into the prepared muffin tin.(If using the crunchy topping: Stir the butter and sugar until the brown sugar dissolves. Top the muffin batter evenly with the mixture as shown in the photo.)
Bake 12-6 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let the muffins cool in the pan 5 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack. Serve piping hot, with a cup of tea or coffee, while the sun finishes coming up.
