Vegetables aren't my favorite, but C makes me eat them because he's a pediatrician and it's his job to make people eat vegetables (at least I think that's what he does on days when he has clinic). I like them with peanut sauce, but I can't eat them that way everyday. So for the other days, why not stick them in baked goods? (To give myself some credit, I think I ate a whole week's worth of vegetable servings yesterday, so I deserve something yummy today.) Yes, I understand that there's only one serving of veges in the entire recipe, but if I eat the whole batch... just kidding. To make it not seem so bad if I do eat the whole thing, I used lots of whole grains: whole wheat, barley, and steel-cut oats! The first recipe I tried using steel cut oats was banana muffins from The Kitchn and I loved them. When I think quick-bread or muffins, I think banana. If not banana, then blueberry. For some reason, C always makes raspberry muffins. I suspect it's a functional reason, because he keeps raspberries on hand for a raspberry mint drink that he makes with Bourbon and doesn't have other fruits in his freezer. So, since I made banana muffins last time (um, 2 nights ago), I thought I'd mix it up with blueberry. I only had a quarter cup of blueberries, so threw in some of C's raspberries.
Objective
Make muffins with steel cut oats and other grains, berries, and carrots. This recipe is based on Chew Out Loud's recipe which was based on this NY Times recipe.
Materials
Dry ingredients:
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup barley flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp. flaxseed meal
[2 tsp. baking powder--hmm, how did I forget that?]
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
Wet ingredients:
2 eggs
1 1/3 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup cooked steel-cut oats
1/2 cup grated carrot
1 cup berries (ex. blueberries, raspberries) tossed with 1 tbsp. flour
Turbinado/Raw sugar, for sprinkling.
Methods
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease muffin tin and set aside. I recommend making these into jumbo muffins for maximum moisture.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients and set aside.
3. Combine the wet ingredients (eggs through vanilla) in a blender. Mix until the mixture is homogenous. Add the cooked steel-cut oats and carrot. Pulse a few times to incorporate and break the steel-cut oats into slightly smaller pieces.
4. Fold the blended mixture into the dry ingredients. Stir in the berries.
5. Fill the muffin cups with batter. Sprinkle with sugar. Bake 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes before moving the muffins to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in a sealed container to keep the muffins moist.
Results
Yum! These are hearty but still taste good. In flavor, they are reminiscent of bran muffins. They are denser than your average muffin, but lighter than a bran muffin. This is kind of funny because I tried substituting millet for bran in a banana muffin and it failed--maybe the combination of steel cut oats, barley, and whole wheat pastry flour is the secret.The muffins are very moist and even moister on the second day.
Discussion and Future Directions
I really like these in a why-don't-I-eat-muffins-for-breakfast-every-day sort of way. For whole grain muffins, the combination of cooked steel cut oats and barley ensures a moist product (not a hockey puck). Having had my share of gluten-free baked goods, I know how disappointing it is to make something so hard you think you might break your teeth. The texture is soft with a touch of chew from the oats. The carrot is not noticeable.
Next time, I would try to skip the maple syrup. I'm not a huge fan of maple syrup in baking. Even grade B just doesn't do it for me. And to be honest, it's too expensive and not sweet enough. Though I joke about it, I don't eat baked goods for health foods. I eat them as a treats. I would keep the refined sugar where it is, and eliminate the maple syrup. I think I would add more carrot or add zucchini if I had some on hand. Once in awhile, I crave a cupcake-like muffin and I have a recipe for that. When I'm looking for a less guilty recipe, this recipe and the banana muffin recipe I mentioned above will be perfect! I'm excited to play around with different mix-ins.
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