What makes these different and in my opinion the best muffins is that the oatmeal is cooked before you mix it into the muffin batter. I have used a few recipes where the oats are dry when mixed in, and they are pretty average.
The fact that there are loads of blueberries in the mix with all their anti-oxidant qualities is a healthy combination with the goodness of the oats.
When I make the porridge for the family I just make sure there is a cupful of cooked oats left over to use for the muffins – too easy. I use rolled oats – not the instant type where you just add hot water. The standard oats cook in less than five minutes.
Oats are a healthy choice for breakfast as regularly eating a bowl of oat porridge is good for the digestive system.
While incorporating oats and blueberries into these delicious muffins is healthy, the sugar, flour and white chocolate are a bit indulgent, but they do help make a really good muffin.
Some people prefer to cook with honey, but I find this somewhat wasteful as the heat of the oven will destroy many of the beneficial enzymes, vitamins and minerals in the honey.
Since a worker bee lives only 40 days and in its lifetime of produces just a teaspoon of honey, I prefer to value the bee’s contribution and have the honey raw, just a teaspoon at a time, rather than tipping cups of it into baking mixes, heating it to high temperatures and destroying all the goodness in the honey.
White cane sugar combines perfectly with the other ingredients for a light muffin.
You may wonder why baking powder and baking soda are added in this recipe. Any recipe that has fruit in it will need baking soda, an alkaline powder.
The baking soda is activated by the acid in the fruit to produce a reaction that releases carbon dioxide gas, causing bubbling and so making the batter rise. Now, while baking soda requires acid to cause the reaction, you need just enough.
Never make the mistake of thinking a bit more baking soda will help the rise. Put in too much and you get a bitter flavor because there isn’t enough acid for the baking soda to react with.
Rather, as in this recipe, use a combination of baking soda for reaction with the fruit, and the baking powder to get the flour to rise.
The baking powder has a slower reaction time, and is partly activated by heat – so once the batter is in the oven the muffins will continue to rise thanks to the baking powder.
You have double leavening – the fruit and baking soda reaction, then the baking powder takes over, completing the process for light delicious give-me-some-more muffins that melt in your mouth.
The addition of a tablespoon of cornflour just makes the muffin crumb lighter as it reduces the amount of gluten, enhancing the texture and flavor. If you are in a hurry, or don’t have cornflour, you can leave it out and substitute with an extra tablespoon of flour in its place.
You can substitute the white chocolate with dark or milk chocolate instead – I just like the white chocolate as it keeps the muffins looking paler and bluer.
You can use fresh or frozen blueberries – if using frozen ones you’ll need to keep them frozen until you add them to the batter otherwise they will get too soft and turn your batter blue.
For the muffin cases I cut squares from a compostable unbleached parchment paper that gives a natural look to the muffins
To reheat these muffins just pop them into the microwave for no longer than 15 seconds, but I have a feeling there aren’t going to be any to reheat – they seriously are that good.
When the blueberry bushes are laden with berries then this is the time to whip up batches of blueberry, white chocolate and oatmeal muffins.
I have used the plural ‘batches’ intentionally because they will disappear very fast. Kids will want to take them to share at school, because of the wow factor. If any members of the family work in offices on or sites they will also want to share with their colleagues.
Neighbors will drop in unexpectedly – the aroma of cinnamon and mixed spice in these muffins will carry on the air during baking, luring them in.
And why not share the bounty? Hopefully the neighbors reciprocate when they have plentiful produce.
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cups flour
- 1 tablespoon corn flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoons baking soda
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon mixed spice
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup butter melted
- ½ cup sugar
- ¼ to ½ cups milk
- 1 cup cooked oat porridge at room temperature made with rolled oats
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup blueberries fresh or frozen
- ½ cup white chocolate pieces
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (205 Celsius). Place 12 muffin cases, or squares of parchment paper in a muffin tin. If you’re not using muffin cases simply grease the compartments of the muffin tin with sunflower oil, a little melted butter, or coconut oil.
- Combine the flour, salt, cinnamon, mixed spice, baking powder and baking soda in a bowl.
- In a separate bowl cream together the butter and sugar until pale, then add the egg.
- Add the dry ingredients to the sugar butter mix, together with the teaspoon of vanilla, and the oatmeal porridge.
- If the mix is a bit dry add in some of the milk. The amount of milk needed will depend on the consistency of the oatmeal porridge, but it should not be too sloppy – firmer is better.
- Fold in the blueberries and white chocolate pieces gently as you don’t want to break the blueberries.
- Spoon the mix into 12 muffin cases.
- Pop into the pre-heated oven and bake for five minutes at 400 degrees F, then reduce heat to 350 degrees F (176 Celsius) and bake for around 15 – 20 minutes. They are done when a skewer or knife inserted comes out clean.
- Leave to cool in the muffin pan for around 5 minutes before placing on a cooling rack.
Serve these sliced with butter or just on their own as a teatime treat. If you like, you can drizzle a little melted white chocolate over them, or dust with sieved icing sugar.
Warm white chocolate, luscious blueberries, and healthy oats are all wrapped into a muffin that will melt in your mouth.
As a child I wanted to grow up and marry a farmer… simply because it was so different from my life right on the shores of the ocean. Well, I didn’t marry a farmer but a surfer instead. The urge, however, to grow stuff and make great food for a big family never left. We are on acreage with a sea view and easy access to fresh caught crayfish and other seafood – the best of both worlds. As an artist and writer I enjoy creating new recipes, tweaking traditional ones, and sharing the results not only with family and friends, but online.