Granola Muffins

Granola is a staple in my family's fridge. Every few weeks my father makes a big batch of granola and my parents eat it for breakfast with yogurt a couple of days a week. He also brings a gallon size Ziploc of it to Israel for me and shares some with my siblings in NY as well. Since my parents are unable to come to Israel I had to resort to making my own granola. I followed my father's recipe exactly, but it doesn't even begin to compare to when he makes it. 

When I was coming up with this week's muffin flavor I was looking in my fridge for inspiration and saw my jar of granola staring right at me. I mixed some granola into my muffin batter and then topped each muffin with an extra sprinkling of granola so the granola in the muffin will get a little soft and chewy and the granola on top is extra crispy making for a muffin with many different satisfying textures. 

For this recipe, you can use your favorite granola recipe or store-bought or you can make a batch of my father's granola (because it really is the best). The recipe can be found at the bottom of this post. 

This recipe uses buttermilk which adds to the flavor and more importantly the texture of the muffin. If you want to make them dairy-free, no problem! Just mix some acid in the form of lemon juice or white vinegar to the dairy-free milk of your choice let it stand for 5 minutes and you're good to go. 

Granola Muffins 

2 cups flour 

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp salt 

1/2 tsp cinnamon 

1 1/4 cups buttermilk -  or regular milk/dairy-free milk of your choice + 1 Tbs lemon juice or vinegar

1/4 cup oil 

2 eggs 

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 cup sugar 

1 heaping cup granola + 1/2 cup for sprinkling on top

Preheat your oven to 400°F/200°C 

Coat a standard-size muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray or line with paper liners. 

In a large bowl mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. 

In a liquid measuring cup mix together the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients along with the sugar. Mix until just combined. Make sure not to overmix your batter or else your muffins will be dense and chewy. Fold in the granola. 

Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin tin and sprinkle the tops with the remaining 1/2 cup of granola, gently pressing them into the top of the muffin batter.

Bake for 15-18 minutes 

Allow the muffins to cool for 5 minutes in the muffin tin before popping out and cooling on a rack. 

Yield: 12 standard-size muffins 

Abba's Granola 

10 cups old-fashioned oats

2 cups chopped raw, unsalted walnuts

2 cups chopped unsalted almonds

2 cups chopped unsalted pecans

2 cups maple syrup/silan

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon • 1 1/2 cup dried cranberries, optional

Preheat the oven to 300° F/150°C. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a large bowl combine the oats, nuts, maple syrup, salt, cinnamon, and cranberries, if using. Spread the mixture onto the baking sheets and bake until golden brown, about 40 minutes. At this point, the granola is still soft carefully stir the granola on the baking sheet. Turn the oven off and leave the granola in the oven until the oven completely cools down or overnight. Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container or zip-top bag. 

Plum Muffins

Here in Israel, fall is slowly arriving. It's still quite warm during the day and it's getting to be cooler at night, but that doesn't mean that summer is completely gone. 

There is still a fruit that's associated with summer but is in season until the fall. 

The humble plum. 

I feel like plums get overlooked at the market when they are next to big juicy peaches and nectarines. However, plums are really delicious and have a lovely sweet and tart flavor and the best part is that their season starts slightly later than the other stone fruit so you can still get beautiful plums when those other fruits are no longer available.

This muffin has large chunks of plums folded into a cinnamon-scented batter to bridge the seasons together. When you bite into these muffins you get bursts of juicy plums that remind you of summer with the warm cozy flavor of cinnamon, these muffins are the perfect treat toease you into the colder months. 

Plum Muffins 

2 medium plums

2 cups flour 

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cinnamon 

1/2 tsp salt 

3/4 cup milk of your choice

1/3 cup oil

2 eggs 

1 tsp vanilla extract 

1/2 cup sugar 

Cinnamon Sugar Topping 

2 tsp demerara or turbinado sugar (if you have neither not a problem just use regular white sugar)

1/4 tsp cinnamon 

Preheat the oven to 400°F/200°C

Line a standard-size muffin pan with paper liners, or spray with oil. 

Dice the plums into small cubes and set aside.

In a large bowl mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt until combined. 
In a liquid measuring cup mix together the milk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry and add the 1/2 cup sugar until just combined. Fold the diced fruit into the batter. 

Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin tin.

In a small bowl mix together the cinnamon sugar topping and sprinkle on top of each muffin.

Bake for 15-18 minutes.

Yield: 12 standard-size muffins