Oatmeal Muffins

By Addie

The following recipe comes from my mother's home economics class in Louisiana back in the 1940's. I hope your readers enjoy the muffins as much as I do. (Gourmet | February 1995)

Ingredients

• 1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 large egg, beaten lightly
• 1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup dried currants

Preparation

Step 1

In a large bowl, combine oats and buttermilk and let stand 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 400°F. and butter twelve 1/2-cup muffin tins.

Add egg, sugar and butter to oat mixture, stirring until just combined.

Into another large bowl, sift together flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda and add to oat mixture, stirring until just combined. Fold in currants.

Divide batter evenly among prepared muffin tins. Bake muffins in middle of oven until golden and a tester comes out clean, about 20 minutes.

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REVIEWS: (176)

Just remade adding 1 tsp vanilla, 1 tsp cinnamon, zest of large deep colored orange, 1/2 cp each dried canberries and pecans. No sugar on top. 375 (no higher) for 20 minutes. Over the top!

Terrific muffin! Subbed dried cranberries for the currents and added 1/2 cp chp pecans. Baked at 375 for 20 minutes, perfect. My oven temperature is on the money so I think 400 is way too hot. Interesting sidenote, I sprinkled raw sugar on the top of all but one before baking and while the raw sugar looked great, the naked one rose much higher.

I made too many changes to this recipe to review it - however, I would like to ask why Epicurious has labelled this a "healthy" and kid-friendly recipe. This is a delicious recipe for a decadent treat, and shouldn't be confused for anything else.

These are great! I added fresh blueberries instead of currants and topped the muffins with a mix of the juice of a handful of blueberries and confectioners sugar. Really good, fairly healthy, pretty and my 4 year old loves them...he's on his second as I'm writing this.

Ok, I read a lot of the reviews and these muffins were SO GOOD with the changes I ended up making. I used all whole wheat flour, half butter and half applesauce, added 1/2 tsp vanilla, 1 1/2 cups chopped granny smith apples, and 1/2 cup chopped pecans. I also used baking cups and baked them at 325. The muffins didn't stick at all. Oh and I sprinkled some turbinado sugar on top. I think they're absolutely perfect this way.

I wish I had read the reviews first as I would have cut down the butter a bit - no worries though - Hubby inhaled one, happily proclaiming it 'awesome'. He is not usually much of a fan of muffins. I did have to sub the buttermilk with soured 1% and I added a mashed banana that needed to go. Chocolate chips instead of currents this time, next time cranberries. Really

Just a quick follow up -- I made these again today with several of the changes I mentioned. Soaked the oats the full hour (made a difference); I used half vegetable oil / half of the melted butter -- the crumb was MUCH better, and the muffin held together beautifully. I also used part blueberries and part currants, added a dash of cinnamon and a splash of vanilla. Splendiferous!

Really so simple and straight forward -- clearly a classic recipe as the description implies through its brief history. But, I swear, if one day I'm not baking with a better oven and whipping together recipes with better knowledge of how to do so at altitude, I'm giving up altogether. Well, not really, but sometimes the science of altitude baking isn't as straight forward as the science of sea level baking. My muffins didn't rise quite as I would have liked, and though their crumb and consistency were rather incredible (these are certainly not a very dense muffin), I do still wish they were more moist. Possible fixes: soak the oats the full hour next time (only did so about 40 minutes this go around); add a dollop (T. or so) of crème fraiche; opt to use part oil / part melted butter. I'm also going to test my oven to see if it was, indeed, at 400°F. When all is said and done, though, this recipe is an absolute must in any muffin-making repertoire. Mix, bake, repeat.

I used half the butter called for, 1/3 cup brown sugar and almost a cup of mostly thawed blueberries. They're delicious, soft and sweet. My husband said they're like pillows. I'll take that.

I made these without the currants and topped each muffin with 2 teaspoons of strawberry jam. They were delicious, but next time I'll halve the butter and substitute half apple sauce and add 1 tbsp of ground flaxseed. These are very rich muffins.

Lol - these are great, my husband loved them, too. We added dried cherries instead.

Chill Valencia...AdrienneHB explained and appologized. It's a recipe review for Pete's sake...that the rating might be skewed will surely not make or break your day...

Update, these were awesome 2nd time around using quick oats, chocolate chips & a cap-full of vanilla extract. Definitely let the oats soak in the buttermilk like the recipe says! Yum! I'm at altitude too, I didn't change anything but cooked them for more like 18 minutes rather than 20. I could have maybe even taken them out a minute or two earlier.

I followed the recipe exactly except I substituted craisens (dried cranberries) for currants. They were delicious & moist. Great texture. I brought them on a road trip & they were still delicious after almost a week driving in the car! I think I'm going to make it again today using chocolate chips (because I ran out of dried fruit).

Follow recipe exactly to get a perfect texture and crumb. I've made this recipe over half dozen times since I discovered it a month ago. I used fresh ground wheat flour instead of all purpose and it turned out GREAT! We've tried out different mix-ins: raisins and frozen blueberries and raspberries. All good.

Great recipe. As usual, I use just 2/3 the sugar and sometimes add cinnamon, or maple syrup for flavor. Oh, and I always make these with fresh blueberries, instead of currants. Delish,

Made these today with 3 changes - 1 t. cinnamon, plumped the currants, and a dollop of strawberry jam in the center of the muffin. Only tasted them warm - delicious!

This is a really good muffin. Based on other reviewers' suggestions, I reduced the butter to 4 tbsp and cut the brown sugar in half. It was still pretty sweet, but reducing the butter may be why the muffin was a bit crumbly. The buttermilk soak changed the oatmeal's texture for the better. I will make this muffin again and again.

I love this recipe and make them whenever I have guests in town. A few tips: Can substitute 1% milk for buttermilk and can soak for 15min. I used Wheat Flour (more healthy and can't taste the difference). Also added a little cinnamon and vanilla. Used half the butter recommended and was perfect. Also used blueberries (roll in flour so they don't explode prior to baking). Delicious! Will make again and again!

I follow this recipe as written with the exception of baking at ~350 F, any higher is too hot in my oven. I also add blueberries. It is possible to substitute half the butter with applesauce as well. Delicious and hearty muffins!

Great recipe. I follow the inital instructions except cut the butter to 1/4 cup, added a splash more milk as well. Was going to add vanilla and then forgot. Added chocolate chips instead of currents. Will make again, seems like a great base recipe to add any fruit into!

I make this all the time! Delicious in their simplicity. Little ones love them baked as mini-muffins and they are now a staple at my brunch table.

These muffins are so delicious! I added craisins and walnuts to half the batch and they were even more wonderful. They are moist and the slight texture and background of the oatmeal is nice. But beware for those who are watching their figure: They are high calorie. I did the math and they equal out to about 200 cal per muffin - without any added fruit or nuts.

I loved these muffins!! I used half whole wheat and half white flour, apple sauce instead of butter and honey instead of brown sugar. Typical 'healthy' substitutions. Delicious and so easy to make!!

Delicious little muffins, I have made them many times and they are always very popular.

I have made these twice. Once I substituted 3/4 cup of the buttermilk with skim milk, replacing all of the butter with spiced chunky applesauce, and cutting the sugar in half. I added vanilla to both batches. the second batch was definitely healthier and the muffins were still quite good but stuck to the paper baking cups I used. next time I'll bake these directly into the muffin pan. I will definitely make these again.

These are good. The two times I've made them, I just let the oats sit in the buttermilk while I put the other ingredients together with no adverse outcome. I wouldn't call them "healthy" being made with 2x the amount of butter as most muffins and with white flour.

These were very good, but could use a little cinnamon or chocolate chips or orange zest for a flavor kick. I was about to make these on a very busy day, then saw the instructions to let the oats and buttermilk sit for an hour. Didn't have an hour, so I microwaved the oats, buttermilk and the stick of butter until the oats were soft, essentially oatmeal. I didn't even let it cool that long, stirred in the eggs then the rest of the ingredients and crossed my fingers. The texture was outstanding, they weren't too sweet, and as I said, just needed the tiniest flavor boost. Will definitely make again.

I was craving an oatmeal muffin so when I found this recipe I couldn't wait to try it. These were the most moist and delicious oatmeal muffins! The buttermilk really gave it a nice tang and complex flavor, these are anything but boring! Delicious!

I followed the recipe exactly with the exception of substituting cranberries for the currants (I didn't have any currants!) they were easy and delicious.