Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Muffins

The transition is made. My routine has switched from open windows, cotton clothes and light, summery fare to dark mornings, sweatshirts and oven-hot meals.

Autumn is in full swing! The trees sport vibrant reds and oranges and are beginning to drop their leaves. Pumpkins and gourds are everywhere, decorating porch railings and stoops. Apples are featured in every grocery store, in big, paper sacks. Fresh, sweet, juicy local apples.

I used one of those apples for these muffins. It's part of my never-ending search for ways to work oat bran into my life. This recipe was invented one chilly day last week--lightly sweet with a gently spicy fragrance, they were just right with a cup of tea, the very essence of a fall day.



Pretty nice crumb for a muffin without flour, eh?


Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Muffins
makes 10 standard-sized muffins

1 cup oat bran cereal
1 cup old-fashioned oats
1/4 cup sugar (I used Whey Low Type D granular for substitute)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup light vegetable or canola oil
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 apple, peeled, cored and chopped

Whisk together dry ingredients to combine; in a separate bowl mix together milk, oil and eggs. Pour milk mixture into the oat mixture and stir just until moistened. Add chopped apple and gently stir to incorporate. Don't overwork the mixture.

Spoon into greased muffin cups and bake at 350*F for 8-10 minutes, or until golden brown on top. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from muffin tins to cool completely.

Note: If you prefer a sweeter muffin consider doubling the sugar; the spices could also be doubled for a stronger presence. To reduce fat, substitute half the oil with applesauce or prune puree.

Variation: Substitute apple cider for the milk and omit the chopped apple; obviously this increases the natural sugar content of the muffin, but it still doesn't become overly sweet. (Added October 20, 2008)

Fried Oatmeal

Fried... what?

That's right. Oatmeal. This is walking on the wild side, people, so prepare yourselves.

It's not creamy, no. Instead, this is a yummy, yummy breakfast of clumpy clusters. Think muffin hunks, or a cross between a pancake and regular oatmeal. It's for people who don't like the texture of porridge, or for wierdos like me.

Made from a simple batter, let rest for 5 minutes, and fried up just like scrambled eggs. Whatever it is, I call it delicious, fast, easy, and an inexpensive breakfast for a cold day.


Fried Oatmeal

1/2 cup oat bran cereal (find it near the oatmeal and cream of wheat)
1/2 cup old fashioned rolled oats (not quick-cooking oats)
2 tablespoons brown sugar (I used substitute)
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
pinch salt
1 egg
1/2 cup milk

Combine all ingredients and let rest 5 minutes. Butter a large, hot skillet and add batter. Stir around regularly, as you would scramble eggs, until mixture starts to clump and is no longer liquid.

Serve hot with a pat of butter, along with a drizzle of maple syrup and dollop of milk, if desired.

Oat Bran Pancakes

Some days I just have a hankering for pancakes--and not just any pancakes. Fat, chewy, rib-sticking pancakes.

These pancakes are hearty enough for dinner and sturdy enough to freeze for future eating (divide each pancake with two pieces of waxed paper for easy individual removal).
I like to keep these in the freezer for a quick breakfast--preferably thawed in the fridge overnight, but they can be zapped in the microwave from frozen. Spread with a touch of butter and some jelly (I'm loving no-sugar-added blueberry preserves right now) for an easy breakfast full of fiber. Yum!

Oat bran cereal makes these a nice whole-grain option, as well as very economical. A box of oat bran cereal (look for it in the oatmeal/hot cereal aisle) often goes on sale for under $2.

Oat Bran Pancakes

serves 2

2 cups oat bran cereal (uncooked)

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar (I used substitute)

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1-1/2 cups milk

1 egg

Whisk dry ingredients together. Add milk and egg and whisk to combine.

Heat an 8-inch skillet over a medium flame; spray lightly with canola spray and add some batter. Reduce heat to low and cook pancake until the surface bubbles all over. Flip and cook another minute; remove from skillet and keep warm. Re-grease skillet between pancakes.

Serve warm with maple syrup, jam or whatever you like.

Oatmeal, Raisin and Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have this box of oat bran flour hanging around that I've been looking for more uses for... not to mention my constant quest for sugar-free sweets!

A couple of weeks ago Mr.W and I were visiting our local Barnes & Noble where I can most often be found either in the cookbook section or in the attached coffee shop reading them. I happened to grab the Fannie Farmer Cookbook. My grandmother had a paper-back copy years ago when I was learning how to cook, and I read it cover-to-cover several times. But back then I wasn't really interested in anything that contained something called bran. G'ma never would buy unusual ingredients anyway. But I found that recipe and copied it down.

Since then I've been thinking about the recipe. Maybe it could be morphed with my memories of a yummy little oatmeal-raisin-chocolate chip cookie that my mother used to make... way back before she was diagnosed, when she would make cookies with us.

Thus a new cookie is born. Using Fannie Farmer's recipe as a mere guide, I developed these wheat- and sugar-free cookies that taste just like the real thing. I even gobbled up at least two cookies' worth of uncooked dough. Mmm... so good. And as always, this could also be made with real sugar--I'd go with light brown sugar, myself.

Again, apologies for the poor photo quality. Mr.W has our digi cam with him on his trip... so I'm stuck with my cell phone camera.


Oatmeal, Raisin and Chocolate Chip Cookies (Wheat Free)
yield: 2 dozen small cookies

1/4 cup butter or margarine, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar substitute (to equal the sweetness of sugar; I used granulated Whey Low, but you could also use Splenda)
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup oat bran flour
1/2 cup regular-cooking oats
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (okay, I made a compromise here with the chips... but a girl's got to have chocolate sometimes!)
1/4 cup raisins (I actually used chopped prunes, because they're a similar texture and taste without the added sugar)

With a fork, thoroughly combine butter and sugar substitute. Mix in egg and vanilla. Add oat bran flour, oats, soda and salt and stir until just combined. Add chips and raisins and stir until just mixed in. You don't want to overwork the cookie dough.

Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet. These cookies puff up a little but, but they DO NOT SPREAD, so no need to space them too far apart. You'll want to flatten your little cookie dough blobs a little bit with floured fingers.

(Now I made my cookies a little too big--rounded tablespoonfuls, actually--and it made about 1-1/2 dozen cookies, plus about 2T uncooked cookie dough right in my mouth. Yes, I am guilty of the sin of gluttony.)

Bake in a preheated 350*F oven for 8 minutes. Remove from oven and cool 3-5 minutes on cookie sheet, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.


You'll never miss the flour. And seriously, I can't even tell the difference between sugar and whey low. It's a little pricey, but oh-so-yummy. And no, I don't work for these people, or receive incentive of any kind for writing that.

Potential warning: because these contain lots of fiber, and especially if you use prunes instead of raisins, like I did... well. You can imagine what might happen if you eat too many.