Brown Sugar Cranberry Oat Muffins

These brown sugar cranberry oat muffins have been on the breakfast menu this past week, and it's been a wonderful week. If you haven't already noticed, I eat a lot of muffins, and this recipe was a winner. The muffins are chewy, buttery and sweet, and the flavor of the brown sugar really shines through as a perfect foil for the tart cranberries. The oats make them hearty and delicious. It is a wonderful combination. The only thing I didn't like about this recipe is that the muffins baked up quite flat. I love muffins with beautifully domed muffin tops, and these definitely did not deliver on that front, but I can forgive them because they are so tasty. With so many yummy oats in the recipe, it's probably difficult to add a lot of lift to the batter. But regardless of what they look like, these muffins are a wonderful hearty breakfast, and a great way to start the day. 

The original recipe called for crème fraîche, but that is not something I usually keep in the fridge. It sounds absolutely wonderful in these muffins, but I just went with some plain Greek yogurt instead. Maybe the muffins would dome a little more if I used the crème fraîche? But who knows. The yogurt worked just fine though. You could probably also use sour cream for a little bit richer muffin. I also cut back a little on the sugar and they were plenty sweet. I find that in most muffin recipes I can cut back on the sugar a little without any real change in the final product. 

Finally, I made 16 muffins out of this recipe like it said to do, but they didn't end up being huge. I think you could definitely make 12 if you wanted with no problem. Just a little bit bigger would be nice. 

Brown Sugar Cranberry Oat Muffins
Adapted from Williams Sonoma
Ingredients:

• 1 cup (5 ounces) white whole wheat flour
• 1/3 cups (1.5 ounces) all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
• 2 1/4 cups (180 grams) rolled oats
• 3/4 cup plain yogurt 
• 1/2 cup milk, at room temperature
• 8 Tbs. (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 3/4 cup (5 ounces) firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/2 to 1 cup (I used 2 ounces) fresh or frozen cranberries, roughly chopped

Directions:

Preheat an oven to 350°F. Line 16 standard muffin cups with paper liners, or butter or oil the cups.

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In another bowl, stir together the oats, yogurt, milk and butter until combined. Add the eggs, then the brown sugar, and stir until combined. Gently stir the flour mixture into the oat mixture. Fold in the cranberries.

Fill the prepared muffin cups to the rims (~65 grams per cup). Sprinkle some oats over the muffins if desired. Bake until the muffins are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, about 21-23 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool for 5 minutes, then unmold the muffins onto the rack and let cool slightly. 

Yields 16 muffins, approximately 191 calories each