Saturday, Nov 20th - Lemoniest Wholewheat Oat Muffins

Lemoniest Wholewheat Oat Muffins

My sisters have accused me of having AADD, Adult Attention Deficit Disorder.  I prefer to call it a penchant for multitasking.  In any case, even for me, the fall gets very harry to maintain the blog with as much frequency as I'm taking my photos and recipe notes.  I will have to post the dinner that D made me for my Birthday Dinner last Monday.  He topped it off with his famous Cheesecake, topped with some Blueberry Freezer jam we made in the summer.  Watch for it!  Having eaten a slice every day this week, I can end the lament that I have not found a good New York style Cheesecake in Vancouver. 

Instead of backtracking on my posts, I thought I'd post this mornings baking.  It snowed last night.  When it gets this cold in Canada, it makes me need to do two things: Knit or Bake.  I used to knit alot more than I do now but I nearly gave myself carpal tunnel one year when I went on a marathon knitting session to complete a ski sweater.  I don't like leaving jobs have done.  So now I stick to quick projects.  Anyone need a hat?  This morning, I took out the needles but decided I needed breakfast first.  Given that I've been eating so much Cheesecake lately I decided I needed some Oats to help deplete my saturate fats and cholesteral.  I was going to make Pancakes but flipping through my notes and books, could not land on one I could knock out in under half an hour and sit down to without continual stovetop action.  Nothing wrong with it.  But D slept in and we usually tag team on breakfasts like that.  These muffins are the Lemoniest Muffins, seriously.  They have a texture and richness which is closer to Scones than a typical Muffin.  So Yummo!

Lemoniest Wholewheat Oat Muffins

(makes 12 regular or 8 large)

1 c Wholewheat Flour
1 c Cake Flour
1/2 c Rolled Oats (Quick but not Instant)
1/2 c Vanilla Sugar (regular sugar with used Vanilla pods stuck in it)
1 T Baking Powder
1/2 t Salt (do not use Coarse Salt)

1/2 c Butter (+2 T for the Pan), 1 stick
1/2 c fresh Lemon juice (3-4 Lemons, ours were pretty dry though heavy so it took 4)
Zest of 1-2 Lemons
2 Eggs, large
1/4 c Milk, room temperature

Preheat oven to 400F

Melt the Butter in a microwave safe bowl.  Let cool slightly.  Use a Brush use some of the butter to grease your pan.  Set the rest of Butter aside.

In your mini processor (ours is a handheld attachment), pulverise (great word!) the Oats.

In a large mixing bowl, mix the Flour, Oats, Sugar, Baking Powder and Lemon Zest with a fork. 


Microwave your lemons for 30s, for 2 reasons.  It helps them juice better and it will help the melted Butter from congealing when you combine them.  Measure the Lemon juice before adding it to the Butter.  It is your liquid so you do need the 1/2 c.  Add the Lemon Juice, Eggs, Salt, and Milk to the melted Butter.  Mix well. 

It will be quite thick and lumpy.  Just mix until all dry is incorporated.  The Cake Flour and Lemon Juice should help prevent gluten forming but still, you do not want to over beat if you can help it.

Spoon into your tins.  Fill only 3/4 full. 

Bake for 20-25 minutes.  They will not brown too much on top, but that's okay.  If you're a zealot of browned tops, you could broil it on low for 3 minutes. 

Eat warm.  Serve with Jam.  Wanted to incorporate frozen Blueberries but batter was thicker than I had anticipated so just used Jam on top instead