Breakfast Muffins: Fruit and Oats

Trust me to win something from a fitness website. When a 1.5kg bag of Carman’s Premium Traditional Oats landed on my doorstep, I envisioned baking kilos of naughty sugariffic crumble with it. Tee hee hee.

Contrary to my plans however, I slowly found oats creeping into my diet. In a totally adult responsible way too! Now I love starting the day with a big bowl of oats, soy milk, apple, banana and a dash of cinnamon. Gees, who knew The Cake Mistress had a healthy side? (Hope you’re reading this, Mum).

But surely, it’s possible to bake everything I love about breakfast into one big tasty muffin. And by jove, this morning I did it! This muffin features:

The smell of warm cinnamon, apple and banana spills through the kitchen as they bake. Splitting a golden brown muffin in two straight from the oven reveals a fluffy moist crumb, while hints of apricot and earl grey reach your nose as the steam rises. A lick of butter, a glass of orange juice and your breakfast is complete.

Of course, feel free to substitute you favourite fruits for a different flavour combination. I know these babies are gonna see some mango pulp action once summer hits

Recipe by The Cake Mistress

Makes 12

300g Plain Flour

200g Caster Sugar

125ml Vegetable Oil

100ml Milk

1 Earl Grey Teabag

2 Large Eggs

1 teaspoon Baking Powder

20g Rolled Oats + more for the topping

1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon

1 apple, grated

1 banana, mashed

65g Dried Apricots, chopped

50g Dried Dates, chopped

Directions:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Grease a 12-hole muffin tin with non-stick spray.

Heat the milk in the microwave for 1 minute. Tear open the teabag and pour the contents into the hot milk. Allow to infuse for at least 5 minutes. Don’t strain the tea leaves from the milk.

In a medium bowl, hand whisk the oil, sugar and eggs. Add the mashed banana, cinnamon and milk, mixing well.

In a large bowl, add the flour, baking powder, oats, apple, dried apricots and dried dates, stirring well. Make a well in the middle and pour in the wet ingredients. Fold in the wet and dry ingredients with a wooden spoon, until just combined. Do not overmix.

Completely fill each muffin hole with batter. Sprinkle a few more oats on top to decorate. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown and a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Serve warm or cold. Keep at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

(This fruit and oat breakfast muffin recipe is inspired by, but largely deviates from a Donna Hay recipe spotted on Panda & Cakes.)