(no subject)

[reldnahkram]

So, as far as I can tell, the following is the most common recipe for apple cranberry oatmeal muffins.



Dry
1 cup flour
1/2 cup oats
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt

Wet
1 egg
1/4 cup melted butter
3/4 cup sugar (often given as brown sugar)
1 tsp vanilla

Fruit
3/4 cup chopped apples
3/4 cup cranberries
1/4 cup raisins


Mix dry ingredients. Mix wet ingredients. Add fruit to wet. Fold wet into dry until moistened. Spoon into muffin tins, cook 20-25 minutes at 350-400. Makes 12.


Does anybody see a problem with this recipe? Suggestions for solutions?

(I've tried the recipe. I know what's wrong with it, and I'm looking for ways to improve upon it.)

Comments

[think-too-much.livejournal.com]

Does anybody see a problem with this recipie?

It has raisins.

The solution, as always, is to replace said raisins with chocolate chips.

[reldnahkram.livejournal.com]

I replaced them with chopped pecans. That wasn't the problem.

[uncleamos]

So good!

[reldnahkram.livejournal.com]

No, no. This was tonight's experiment, and it was awful. You're thinking of last night's apple cranberry oatmeal creation, which was much better.

[uncleamos]

Bah, was too excited to read the last word.

[tirerim.livejournal.com]

Sugar is not usually a wet ingredient. I would suggest replacing it with something useful, like milk. Maybe add some actual sugar if you like your muffins sweet, but there's plenty of fruit there already.

Also, that doesn't really sound like enought baking powder. Try doubling it.

[reldnahkram.livejournal.com]

The sugar is necessary due to the cranberries. The milk, however, would be really useful. Suggestions on a quantity?

No amount of baking powder would help the recipe as given. With more liquid (other muffin recipies use orange juice, which I think would be just too many fruit flavors here)), the baking powder might do something.

[wayman.livejournal.com]

Vegetable oil can also add moisture without affecting flavor all that much. 1/4 - 1/2 C, maybe?

[tirerim.livejournal.com]

The melted butter is already being the oil in the recipe, though. It definitely needs something water-based besides the egg.

[tirerim.livejournal.com]

Ah, didn't realize that the cranberries were fresh, not dried and sweetened (which I use a lot of). Yes, definitely keep all the sugar. I'd say somewhere around 3/4 cup milk -- start a bit lower, and keep adding until it looks the right consistency. For reference, my corn muffin recipe, which contains 1 cup of flour and 1 cup of corn meal, but also has two eggs, calls for about 3/4 cup of milk, and two heaping teaspoons of baking powder.

[wayman.livejournal.com]

Alton Brown treats sugar as a wet ingredient throughout his book on baking, saying in the initial chapter that "Since it's almost always integrated into either fat or liquid, professional bakers consider granulated sugar to be a 'wet' ingredient rather than 'dry'," and in the beginning of the muffin chapter "... your liquid ingredients, including eggs, oil, milk, and sugar--yes, sugar. Since it dissolves so quickly, most bakers treat sugar as a wet ingredient".

[sonatanator.livejournal.com]

Note: just because it's a wet ingredient does not mean you can use wet spoons to scoop it.

[sildra.livejournal.com]

The cookie recipes on the backs of chocolate chip bags (which actually tend to be really good) don't explicitly say "wet" and "dry," but they list sugar with eggs and butter, and you put it in during the wet ingredient stage, separate from the dry ingredients, which are mixed separately and added later.

[baaaaaaaaaah.livejournal.com]

what kind of oat are you usng? Rolled? chopped?

That could make a bit of differnce

[sildra.livejournal.com]

Looks like a lot of fruit for the amount of muffin. If it was a cobbler, maybe... Then again, I guess a cup of flour will go a long way, especially if you already have oats.

[ruthling.livejournal.com]

I made pumpkin cranberry walnut muffins which I liked a lot. If i can find the recipe, I'll post it.

I would as otherwise suggested delete the raisins and add walnuts (They're oilier and softer than pecans, IMO) and maybe chop the cranberries coarsely with some of the sugar before adding. I would also add some other spice in addition to cinnamon, probably cloves, a very small amount.

[reldnahcire.livejournal.com]

Does not one of the baking blanks (soda/powder) require acid to generate rising? If so which, and would that be the problem that would have been resolved by the OJ? (keeping in mind that murdering the muffins would also solve the problem)

[reldnahkram.livejournal.com]

Baking soda is basic and requires the addition of an acid to create bubbles. Baking powder has both the acid and the base and requires only liquid.