Cranberry Pecan Oatmeal Muffins
These muffins are basically a baked version of a bowl of oatmeal with some great toppings like pecans, cranberries and brown sugar. Another bonus is that they’re easy to make gluten-free if you need to, as long as the oatmeal you use is gluten-free. I started with this great recipe, Gluten-Free Oatmeal Spice Muffins, and made a few simple modifications. The recipe calls for blending your quick oats in the blender to a flour-like consistency. I wanted chunkier muffins, so I skipped that step. I added dried cranberries and substituted brown sugar for the white sugar for a little richer flavor. Also, I used lemon zest instead of orange. Finally, with the chunks of oats, cranberries and pecans, I felt the muffins had enough texture without dipping the tops in butter and cinnamon sugar, although I’m sure that would be delicious. Here’s the final modified recipe;
3 ½ cups quick oats (use gluten-free if desired)
1 Tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon nutmeg
½ cup pecans, chopped
3/4 cup dried cranberries
¾ cup applesauce
½ cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup milk
coconut oil or spray for greasing pan
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, mix quick oats, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, pecans and cranberries.
In another bowl, mix together the applesauce, sugar, eggs, lemon zest, vanilla and milk. Combine the wet and dry ingredients and mix just until combined.
Pour batter into greased* muffin tins, filling each ¾ full. Bake 14-18 minutes.
*I used coconut oil spray to grease the muffin pans. It works and tastes great. Halfway through baking, I sprayed a little more coconut oil on top of the muffins to help them brown as they were looking a little bit pasty.
And as with most muffins, these are best enjoyed warm with butter!
