Monday, June 17, 2013

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Muffins


Even before I became a food blogger and got in the habit of posting recipes for you lovely people a couple or three times a week, when I went on holidays, my favorite ones included accommodation with a kitchen:  Vacation rentals from VRBO or most recently from airbnb which allow you to choose the number of beds and bathrooms and well-equipped kitchens.  Right after hanging out on a beach, my favorite holiday activity is poking through foreign markets and grocery stores and cooking up my discoveries.  I know this is contrary to many folks’ idea of a get-away.  In fact, I’ve been told it’s abnormal and eating out and not having to cook is the whole idea of a holiday.  What can I say?  At least my hobby is useful. :)  What’s your favorite thing to do on holiday?  Ever bought a weird ingredient?

What I bought on this trip to Ecuador: plantain flour, quince paste and rib stock cubes.



This week’s Muffin Monday ingredient is oatmeal.  Since I was visiting my father and his wife and I had no idea what their kitchen was like, I brought along some of those little foil cups.  They work pretty good, if you don’t mind that they spread out a little, your muffins end up flattish on top and sometimes a little batter oozes over the sides while baking. 

Ingredients
For the muffin batter:
1 1/2 cups or 190g all purpose flour
1/2 cup or 45g oatmeal
3/4 cup or 170g dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup or 240ml milk
1/2 cup or 115g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 large eggs
1/2 cup chocolate chips (plus extra for sprinkling on after the crumble)

For the crumble:
1/4 cup or about 30g plain flour
1/4 cup or 50g dark brown sugar
2 rounded tablespoons or 30g soft unsalted butter
1/4 cup or 22g oatmeal
1/4 teaspoon salt

Method
Preheat oven 350°F or 180°C and prepare muffin pan by greasing or lining with paper muffin cups or putting those little foil muffin cups on a bigger baking pan.

In a large bowl mix together your flour, oatmeal, dark brown sugar, baking powder and salt.


In a smaller bowl, whisk your milk, melted butter and eggs.



Prepare your topping by mixing together the crumble ingredients with a fork.  Set aside.



Pour your wet ingredients into your dry ingredients and stir until just combined. 


Now fold in the chocolate chips, keeping a few back for topping, if desired.


Evenly distribute the batter among the muffin cups. 


Top with the crumble and scatter a couple of reserved chocolate chips.



Gently press down into the batter.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden.


Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes.  Remove the muffins from the muffin pan. 


Enjoy!



Muffin Monday is an initiative by Baker Street, a culinary journey of sharing a wickedly delicious muffin recipe every week.  Drop Anuradha a quick line to join her on this journey to make the world smile and beat glum Monday mornings week after week.  Make sure to go and check out what my fellow bloggers have come up with this week!

Plus learn all you ever need to know about muffins, right here at Muffin 101.

12 comments :

  1. Ooooh I love these muffins!!! I love oatmeal choc chip cookies so obv. these are right up my alley ;)


    And I love your lil vacation hobby!

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  2. Our favorite cookie is a the chocolate chip one from Joy of Cooking and it has oatmeal, which makes the cookie chewier, I think. I modeled this muffin on that recipe, Kayle. It's the best!

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  3. This is Top Girl's favorite cookie so I know this would be her favorite muffin! I will make them for her - So, what do you do with rib stock cubes? Soups? Stew?

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  4. G'day! Your recipe and photos look delightful, TRUE!
    I always enjoy seeing step by step photos too!
    Cheers! Joanne
    What's On The List
    http://www.whatsonthelist.net

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  5. I have no idea, Kelli! I've never seen them before. But stock cubes are one of my weaknesses. I have quite a collection. I think I did a post a while back with a photo. Now I have to go look for it. Ah, yes! http://www.foodlustpeoplelove.com/2012/12/ham-and-split-pea-soup.html As I say there, I like to use cubes instead of salt because they add flavor too.


    Hope Top Girl enjoys the muffins!

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  6. Haha, YES! I am exactly the same as you Stacy! I always get so excited when I enter a foreign food market and find ingredients that I've never tried before... I do try and squirrel some of them home, but Australian quarantine is rather tough. I've had to leave many of my precious items at airports on multiple occasions :( I love the idea of these muffins. The topping looks gorgeous! Yay for foodie holidays (even if my husband does call be a 'foodie weirdo', ha!) xxx

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  7. Have to go take a look! It's the day before MPE - birthday (number 54 for him!) and then our anniversary the next day - I took off work and we'll go do something fun like visit a winery (Hmmm...that's fun for me anyway) and sight see a little. He loves to show me part of the state I've never seen and be my tour guide. But - Thursday night I promised Holli I would make them for her. She can't wait!

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  8. Happy birthday to him and happy anniversary! A winery tour sounds wonderful. Who knew that Oklahoma has wineries!

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  9. Glad to hear from a kindred spirit, Laura. I know what you mean about the strict importation laws in Australia though. We lived in Sydney MANY years ago, moving there from Singapore, and I had to leave my spices, etc. behind. It made me very sad. I proudly claim the name foodie weirdo with you! :)

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  10. Your oatmeal chocolate chippers look sooo inviting, Stacy. Did you use slow cooking (non instant) oats?

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  11. Thanks, Kim. I bought the oats in Ecuador so they just said "avena" on the bag but they were not whole oats so I guess they were the quick cook variety. If you look at the photo of the dry ingredients, you can see how they looked.

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