CookThatBook

A little background: this recipe was chosen by Baker Street’s Anuradha as the yin to last week’s Cream Cheese Muffins’ yang. Balance. Unfortunately I missed out on the sinfulness of last week (nope not bitter at all, can you tell?!) but as a lover of granola I was excited to try this recipe.

Developed by cookbook author Martha Rose Shulman, these Granola Muffins exemplify Martha’s dedication to healthy cuisine. The recipe came together easily, and I love how it calls for soaking the granola in milk for 30 minutes prior to mixing with the other ingredients. The result was a nice, soft consistency that allowed the granola to blend seamlessly with the muffin batter. That being said, next time I would definitely add some dry granola for extra crunch as I found it got lost.

Now I should mention that my family has decided to give our bodies a bit of a vacation from gluten for a while. My eldest daughter was allergic when she was a baby, and while she can now tolerate gluten she still tends to be sensitive to its consumption. So you’ll have to bear with me as I fumble my way through Muffin Mondays as this will be a learning experience for me! If any of you have some tips or advice re. adapting baking recipes to be gluten-free I would LOVE to hear from you.

This time around I ended up using a gluten-free flour mix. I decided to simply use the same 1 cup amount as called for with the whole wheat flour, and it worked well. The consistency was quite runny but when I pulled the muffins out of the oven they were perfect. I was afraid they might be too dry and thought about adding apple sauce for moisture, but because the batter was already so runny I left it out. Thankfully they turned out super moist and were not too crumbly either (an issue I often find with gluten-free baked goods). I also added orange zest and opted to use apple juice infused dried cranberries instead of raisins. The classic combination of orange and cranberry were divine. NOTE: because the flour mix already contained baking powder and baking soda I did not add extra.

For a copy of the recipe for Granola Muffins, please click here

Muffin Monday is an initiative by Baker Street. A culinary journey of sharing a wickedly delicious muffin recipe every week. Drop in a quick line to join her on her journey to make the world smile and beat glum Monday mornings week after week.