Roasted Ground Oatmeal Muffins – with Crunchy Orange Topping

My sister Margaret, known in some quarters as Lala, sent me a link to a video from America’s Test Kitchen where they made some oatmeal muffins.  To do this they used old fashioned rolled oats and toasted them in a pan  and then ground them in a processor.  This is different to other oat muffins that I have made so I thought I would give them a try.  

Getting the recipe wasn’t entirely straightforward, since I had to register with ATK, but then I had the recipes.  The only changes I made were to convert from cups/ounces, to metric weights and to replace the cinnamon for the topping with orange zest.  I have been using a lot of cinnamon lately so I decided to ring the changes.

As the muffins were baking I tasted the remainder of the topping and it was delicous, so I know my substitution will be fine.

The process is a little long winded, as most muffins are very quick to make, but with these the batter has to rest a while for the moist to be absorbed by the ground oats.  Other than that it takes no time at all.

The resultant muffins are wonderful, they rose well in teh oven and have a lovely crunchy orange flavoured topping with oats and nuts and the inside is the wonderful moist muffin texture flavoured with the nutty flavour of the toasted oats.

I highly recommend this recipe as one to try as soon as possible.  I am sure you will love it.

• 250g plain flour
• 170 old fashioned rolled oats
• 165g light brown sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 90ml melted butter, unsalted
• 30g unsalted butter
• 2 medium eggs(US large) beaten
• 420ml milk

for the topping:

• 45g old fashioned rolled oats
• 48g plain flour
• 40g chopped pecans
• 65g light brown sugar
• pinch of salt
• 60g melted butter
• zest of one orange

Method:

1. Grease and flour 12-cup muffin tin. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in 10-inch skillet over medium heat. Add oats and cook, stirring frequently, until oats turn golden brown and smell of cooking popcorn, 6 to 8 minutes. 
2. Transfer oats to food processor and process into fine meal, about 30 seconds. 
3. Add flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda to oats and pulse until combined, about 3 pulses.
4. Stir 6 tablespoons melted butter and sugar together in large bowl until smooth. 
5. Add milk and eggs and whisk until smooth. 
6. Using whisk, gently fold half of oat mixture into wet ingredients, tapping whisk against side of bowl to release clumps. 
7. Add remaining oat mixture and continue to fold with whisk until no streaks of flour remain. 
8. Set aside batter for 20 minutes to thicken. 
9. Meanwhile, adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 190C/170C fan/375 degrees.
10. Combine orange zest with the sugar in a medium bowl.
11. Add the oatoats, flour, pecans, sugar and salt. 
12. Drizzle melted butter over mixture and stir to ­thoroughly combine; set aside.
13. Using ice cream scoop or large spoon, divide batter equally among prepared muffin cups (about ½ cup batter per cup; cups will be filled to rim). 
14. Evenly sprinkle topping over muffins (about 2 tablespoons per muffin). 
15. Bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 18 to 25 minutes, rotating muffin tin halfway through baking.
16. Let muffins cool in muffin tin on wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove muffins from muffin tin and serve or let cool completely before serving.