My in-laws celebrated their 36th wedding anniversary last week. It put me into a lot of thought.
When I hear of people who’ve been together for 30, 40, 50 years, I wonder what does that feel like? I mean I haven’t even completed those many years in age. To have spent all that time with one person who’s been your companion through the best, and the worst of times, must be something really special. I wonder if our generation can ever match the patience, compassion, and the grit that our parents’ generation, & generations before theirs, possessed to stick it out in relationships. Maybe I’m proved wrong?
Mom-in-law is awkward about cutting cakes; not that she minds eating them, but she doesn’t like the whole blowing of candles-clapping-singing routine that accompanies celebratory cake cutting. So muffins it was for her.
The thing about muffins is that very few people understand the difference between one and a cupcake. I HATE recipes for muffins that are actually cupcakes in disguise. If I had to explain the difference, most simply, I’ll put it this way – a cupcake is well, a mini cake, and a muffin is a drier, crumblier, denser, non-iced, less sweeter version of it’s far too overrated cousin cupcake. In baking terms, the difference in a recipe would be the ratio of dry ingredients to the liquid/fat/wet ingredients.
APPLESAUCE
I used home-made unsweetened applesauce as an egg+fat substitute in this recipe. To make applesauce, steam or boil chopped piece pieces of one apple. Blend it using a hand blender or in a mixer till you get a thick pulpy texture. You won’t need to add sugar or extra water while blending.
BLUEBERRIES
The availability of fresh blueberries in India is extremely limited to: season, locality that you live in, demand-supply, and other factors. If you don’t have access to fresh blueberries, you can use ready blueberry pulp. If you want to add fresh blueberries, add 1/2 cup and fold them in the batter just before baking.
Oats-Blueberry Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 + 1/4 cup All-purpose flour
- 1 cup Instant Oats
- ½ cup Brown Sugar
- 2 tsp Baking Powder
- ¼ tsp Baking Soda
- ¼ tsp Salt
- ½ tsp Cinnamon
- ½ cup Yogurt
- ½ cup + 1 tbsp Applesauce*
- ¾ Blueberry Pulp
For the Streusel
- ¼ cup All purpose Flour
- ¼ cup Brown Sugar
- 3 tbsp Butter (at room temperature)
- 2 tbsp Oats
- ½ tsp Cinnamon
Instructions
INSTRUCTIONS
- Combine all the dry ingredients – flour, oats, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt together in a large bowl.
- Combine the yogurt and applesauce. Fold in the dry ingredients.
- Add ½ cup of the blueberry pulp and fold everything together till no streaks of flour remain. Do not over-mix.
- Line a muffin/cupcake pan or grease it well.
- Fill moulds half-way through.
- Top each muffin batter with a little of the remaining blueberry pulp and using a thin stick or back of a spoon, swirl it into the batter making figure-8 motions.
- To make the streusel: Mix everything together using your hands. Put about a spoonful of the streusel on top of each muffin batter.
- Bake at 200 degree Celsius for 18-20 minutes.
Notes
- These muffins taste amazing directly out of the oven but even better the next day. They can last upto one week (if you’re able to keep them that long!)
- For measurement conversions to grams and ml, refer the conversion guide here – Measurements Conversion Guide
I love any kind of muffins for my breakfast and for a quick pick me up treat!! These look delicious!!
Thanks Amishi. I know right, muffins are great at breakfast and these have become our favorite ones now!
Wow!! This looks so tempting… I am sure to try these muffins this weekend itself..
Wow this looks so tempting… I’m sure to try these over the weekend..
Yay! Do let me know how they turn out.
Hi Pooja, going to try your blueberry oats muffin recipe, but we don’t eat egg so was wondering should I add yougurt?? What quantity? Please reply
Hi Naina, usually applesauce is a good replacement for egg but here since I’ve used it to replace the oil, you can introduce 1/4 cup of oil to your muffins and let the 1/4 cup of applesauce be the egg substitute.
Will finally put my Baker skills after learning from you to test… Will try this one on Saturday…
1cup instant oats should be used in powdered form???
Hi Rashmi, no, you don’t need to powder the oats. Use instant oats as-is, the way they come in the pack.
Tempting they look…thank you so much for this wonderful receipe..
Can I bake these muffins without streusel??
What difference would that make??