- 12
- 20 mins
- 45 mins
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups old fashioned oats
- 1 cup plain yogurt
- 1/2 pound strawberries
- 2 teaspoons granulated white sugar
- 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
- 1/2 cup brown sugar (packed)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 Tbsp baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon finely ground black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Preparation
Step 1
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Are you an oatmeal lover? Recently I started adding strawberries to my breakfast oatmeal and thought the combination would make a pretty good muffin too. Several experimental batches later I now have a strawberry oatmeal muffin that I'm proud to share with you. Here's the deal, you don't just want to toss some chopped strawberries into an oatmeal muffin batter. You can if you want, but they won't turn out as well as they could. Macerate the strawberries first in a little sugar with some balsamic vinegar, to concentrate and intensify the flavor of the strawberries. Macerating the berries first also releases some of the strawberries' moisture, which will go into the batter where you want it.
The muffins get plenty of leavening from eggs, baking powder, and baking soda. The baking soda and the baking powder will react with the yogurt and vinegar as soon as they come together, so work quickly. Do not let the batter sit around. Get it into a muffin tin and into the oven as soon as you can after you mix the wet and dry ingredients.
The addition of black pepper to this recipe is important, but make sure you are using finely ground black pepper, not coarsely ground. If all you have is coarsely ground, skip it.
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Mix the oats and plain yogurt together in a large bowl.
Rinse and core the strawberries. Roughly chop the strawberries (I cut them in quarters lengthwise and then make one or two crosswise cuts). You should have about 1 1/2 cups of chopped strawberries. Place in a small bowl. Sprinkle with white sugar and balsamic vinegar. Gently stir to coat the strawberries with the sugar and vinegar.
Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat oven to 400°F. Prepare a 12-well muffin tin by coating with butter or lining with paper muffin cups.
Whisk together in a medium bowl the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, finely ground black pepper, and cinnamon.
Add the eggs, melted butter, brown sugar, and vanilla extract to the oatmeal and yogurt mixture. Stir until just incorporated.
Use a wooden spoon to gently stir the flour mixture into the oatmeal. Stir until just incorporated and the flour is moistened. Do not over-mix! Or your muffins will end up rubbery. The batter should be rather lumpy, not smooth.
Makes 12 muffins.
I just bought some strawberries tonight and was looking for something yummy to make with them! These sound great and still pretty healthy. Great recipe and I like your special touches!
These look divine! I might have to make them Saturday morning for breakfast. Thank you!
those look great. do you have to add the sugar to the strawberry and vinager? i tend to find strawberries sweat enough as they are. also how do you think this would do in a loaf pan?
Have these in the oven right now, can't wait til they are done. Followed recipe exactly this time. Found a great little store that makes infused olive oils & vinegar. Got the fig balsamic & thinking may try that next time. Also have some fig butter to try with.
One question, notice that many baked goods recipes say to stir w/wooden spoon. Why? I don't mind using one but just curious about this. Do most of my mixing w/silicone spatulas, does it really make a difference?
Sometimes the batter or dough can be rather thick and a wooden spoon can handle it. Metal spoons can sometimes bend and plastic can sometimes break. Impossible to bend and hard to break a wooden spoon. I also find stirring with a wooden spoon much easier than with a rubber/silicone spatula. ~Elise
I have some rhubarb- could I add that to the muffins? Any idea how much? 1/4 lb strawberries and 1/4 lb rhubarb?
Just as long as once chopped they all add up to no more than a cup and a half, I think you're good. ~Elise
I usually substitute oil for butter when I make muffins. Is there any reason you would recommend against the substitution?
Posted by: Heather on May 18, 2012 11:21 AM
I just made these tonight for breakfast tomorrow and thought the flavor was fantastic; however, they did not rise AT ALL. Followed the recipe exactly; though the berry mix seemed pretty wet. Maybe that was the problem...
The recipe requires an entire tablespoon of baking powder. Baking powder is a mix of a dry base and a dry acid, that over time reacts with itself and goes flat. So it sounds to me like you were using baking powder that was too old. Basically, baking powder over 6 months old is iffy. ~Elise
My husband took a bite and said "Umm, Good." We both love good tasting food and I love using whole ingredients & these are GREAT. I think the balsamic vinegar in the strawberries and the black pepper are the two key ingredients in making these muffins stand apart. LOVE YOUR WEBSITE - my go-to place when I need a GOOD RECIPE. I always make our Tuna Salad now with cottage cheese!
Suggest cutting down the strawberries and spreading the mixture over 18 muffins instead of 12.
I just made these with Pamela's gluten free flour. I have a double problem as I need gluten free and also I am at a high altitude. Nevertheless they came out fine - very moist and delicious. I did make them smaller - got 23 small muffins - also I sprinkled the tops with turbinado sugar after baking. YUM!
These are great! My 4-yr-old and I picked strawberries from our garden to make them. My husband is requesting we add a banana next time. I guess I'll experiment. Any suggestions?
Sure, chop up a ripe banana (make sure it is very very ripe, like black skin ripe) and add to the mix! And then please let us know how it turns out. ~Elise
Can't wait for fresh, local berries so I can make these lovelies.
Thak you so much, I can`t wait to make these delicacies! ;D
Elise, these were great! I made a non-dairy version with soy yogurt and coconut oil. I also used whole wheat pastry flour and added 1/4 cup of wheat germ and 1/4 cup of chia seeds as nutritional boosters and a 1/4 tsp of cardamom because I thought it would go well with the cinnamon and black pepper.
I made these this morning and they are fabulous. Nicely moist, light texture, and flavorful. I had some light sour cream to use up so replaced the yogurt with that but otherwise followed the recipe as written using Quaker quick oats. I think this would be adaptable with other fruits as well. I'm new to this site and this is the first recipe I've tried but it won't be the last! Thank you for such a wonderful treat.
Thanks for posting this, Elise!!! :) I'm going to attempt to make these tonight for my friend's birthday, they look DELICIOUS!
What if, instead of using sugar and vinegar to prepare the strawberries, a bit of orange juice was added. It has sugar and plenty of acid, plus I know that when making shakes we use both milk and orange juice in order to make the flavor of the strawberries really pop!
Elise, these are simply fantastic. Thank you so much for featuring the recipe. The addition of black pepper and balsamic vinegar was a stroke of genius! We loved these. I posted about them on my blog, if you care to check it out! Love your website!
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