Honey Oat Muffins (c)2011 LaDomestique.com
It’s Friday! Let’s celebrate with muffins, shall we? The time has come to wrap up muffin week, and I have enjoyed it- maybe too much. Lots of baking and sweets this week. Maybe I’ll focus on salads next week, so I can recover. For now, let’s enjoy the muffins. While researching oats this week I came across this recipe over at Food & Wine. Chef Spike Mendelsohn, of Top Chef fame, contributed a recipe for White House Honey-Oat Muffins. Spike was inspired by the new beehive in the White House Garden. Cool, I get to use some local Boulder honey. After trying every honey at the Boulder Farmer’s Market, I’ve settled on a favorite from 2 R’s Farm. I’m a fan of the deep, rich, slightly floral flavor and dark golden color. Spike’s Honey Oat Muffins have a nice delicate crumb and are moist without being oily or wet. Honey lends a lovely soft sweetness to the muffins. The ground coriander is an interesting flavor, sweet and citrusy with a mild spice that lingers after the last bite. I keep coriander seeds in the pantry and grind them fresh as I need to. I really like these muffins because of what they are not: too sweet, oily, too big, or too dense. I enjoy the comforting flavors of oats, wheat, cinnamon, and honey more than something super sweet and sugary.
These little muffins beg to be served with tea. Slather them simply with butter or maybe some blackberry jam. For a Chef infamous for being loud and proud, these muffins are decidedly reserved. They are simple and nourishing and I quite like them. The recipe is ridiculously simple, which totally made me feel like a domestic goddess. I’ll just whip these up for breakfast! Let’s just dump everything in a bowl and call it done! Isn’t that the best?
Have a lovely weekend. Thanks for reading!
Muffins And Tea (c)2011 LaDomestique.com
White House Honey-Oat Muffins from Spike Mendelsohn
makes 12 muffins
3/4 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
3/4 cup whole-wheat flour
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons honey
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup canola oil
2 large eggs
Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a 12 cup muffin tin. Combine the oats, whole-wheat flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, coriander, and salt in a large bowl. In a small bowl, whisk the honey, buttermilk, canola oil and eggs together. Pour the mixture into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Do not over-mix. Spoon the batter into the muffin tin and bake 18 minutes or until the muffins are golden and a toothpick comes out clean. Allow the muffins to cool in the pan for 5 minutes, the remove from pan and transfer to a rack. These muffins will keep for 3 days if stored in an airtight container.
Honey Oat Muffins (c)2011 LaDomestique.com
Baking Notes
I live at an altitude of 5,000 feet above sea level. Therefore, I usually alter a recipe just a bit to ensure success. The recipe you see above is the original recipe, without any changes from me. For these muffins I increased the buttermilk by 1 tablespoon, but if I baked them again I would probably increase it by 2 tablespoons. I decreased both the baking powder and baking soda a little bit. Adjusting the leavening in recipes for baking at altitude is something you just have to experiment with. I’m happy with the results, but I will continue to fiddle with this recipe to get a better rise out of the muffins.
Since I didn’t have buttermilk on hand, I followed the ratio of adding 1 tablespoon vinegar to 1 cup of milk to make my own. After sitting for 10 minutes, the milk can be used as buttermilk in baking.
Also, I did not have canola oil on hand, so I used grapeseed oil and it was all good.