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Good Morning: Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Muffins

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Muffins

There’s a notion in my heart that when I hear or read the word muffins I think of wholesome produce themed quick breads.

Muffins say Good Morning. They can be a quick snack during the day and welcoming with evening tea. If you’ll take a peek at the Muffin Madness series on this site, you’ll notice the fondness for fruit or vegetable laden muffins with nuts. Part of my comfort food repertoire.

This morning I woke up with chocolate on my mind. I like chocolate, but wouldn’t consider myself a chocoholic. Over the more recent last years, I have arrived in appreciating more varieties of chocolate and their place in baking and cooking. It can really balance out the flavors of a dish or dessert…and the right chocolate paired with a lovely wine makes all the difference on your palate.

I worked a makeover for a recipe I found on Chocolate Chip Muffins in an attempt for a healthier muffin. The original recipe called for a 1/4 cup of vegetable oil…that’s on top of the 1/4 cup of butter AND 2/3 cups of buttermilk! That’s a lot of fat for muffins, so I substituted unsweetened applesauce for the vegetable oil. Other modifications like using the lowest fat content buttermilk, adding oatmeal, the applesauce, adding nuts and mixing up the chocolate chips…made for a great textured muffin.

The sweetness in these muffins stems from the chocolate chips, not the bread part. Sprinkle the tops with raw/turbinado sugar for texture.   I really liked how these muffin with chocolate chips turned out.   It wasn’t too sweet making me feel like I needed a glass of milk to wash it down (although milk with these muffins would be lovely too!).

Don’t Despair – The Muffins’ Bottoms = Great Texture
When baking up a batch of muffins, I don’t usually use baking papers unless there’s an ingredient in the batter that will make them sticky. I used baking papers on this batch and was initially dismayed when pulling the muffins out of the tin that it looked very “oily” on the muffin bottoms through the papers.     I gently pulled the papers off of each muffin and was pleasantly surprised that they were not “greasy”/”oily” when stripping the papers off.   Instead it gave the bottom of the muffins a lovely texture (like when you fry bread but without being greasy).     Take a look at the accompanying images and notice the bottom is a caramelized color.   Let the muffins cool for about 10 minutes, then gently pull the baking papers off all the muffins to avoid their getting soggy. You won’t regret this extra step. The texture is great and the muffin is moist enough without being greasy.

These taste great warm or at room temperature…but best when they’re slightly warm.

Teenie Notes

  • Used unsweetened applesauce in place of vegetable oil.
  • If you don’t have a mix of chocolate chips, using all of one or the other is fine too.
  • If you don’t use nuts in the batter, you could easily increase the chocolate chips for a total of 2 cups.
  • Sprinkling the tops with raw/turbinado sugar is optional, but it does add a nice texture to the muffin tops.
  • Use baking papers for these muffins. After baking and per directions below, remove the baking papers to avoid soggy muffin bottoms.
    • Other Suggestions – Making these again, I would:
  • Increase the whole wheat flour to 1 cup AND decrease the all-purpose flour to 1 cup.
  • Use 1/2 cup of light brown sugar AND decrease granulated sugar to 1/2 cup.
  • Adding 1/4 cup of shredded coconut could be a nice addition.
Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Muffins

Makes 12 Muffins

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup old fashion oatmeal (not instant)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup low-fat buttermilk

3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup milk chocolate chips
1/2 cup walnuts, coarsely to finely chopped

1 tablespoon raw/turbinado sugar, for sprinkling on top

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 12 regular-sized muffin cups with paper baking liners.

In a large bowl, whisk the all-purpose and wheat flours, oatmeal, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In a medium bowl, blend the sugar, eggs, butter, applesauce, vanilla extract and buttermilk.

Add the egg/buttermilk mixture to the flour mixture and mix just until blended. Fold in the semisweet and milk chocolate chips with the nuts into the batter.

Divide the batter equally among 12 muffin cups. Sprinkle the tops with raw sugar.

Bake for 20-23 minutes or until tops are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Let cool in pan for 5-8 minutes before lifting out of the muffin pan to continue cooling on a cooling rack. When the muffins are cool enough to comfortably handle, gently remove the baking papers from all the muffins to avoid soggy muffins.

These taste best warm, but can be served at room temperature.

Store in an airtight container.

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Muffins
Notice the beautiful caramelized bottom part of the muffins.
Remove the muffin papers promptly for these muffins to avoid it becoming soggy.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  3. denise @ quickies on the dinner table says

    Cristina – you make the prettiest muffins! I love the even distribution of the chocolate chips – mine always sink mostly to the middle or bottom of the muffin 😛 And, the bottoms do look nicer than those on most muffins I’ve seen (mine included!) Of course oats make everything (even chocolate) healthi-ER LOL Thanks for all the healthy substitutions so we can have a delicious but less damaging morning treat with our coffee 🙂

  9. Monet says

    I love your healthy adaptations. These muffins are just sweet enough to be a treat…but not too sweet to be a guilty pleasure. The tip you gave about the muffin liners is great! I can’t wait to try these. Thank you so much for sharing, sweet friend!

  16. redkathy says

    Oh my gosh you know how I love muffins. These look just fabulous. I will have to double the recipe right off the bat because a dozen won’t make it through a day in my house! BTW – Thanks and a great idea on the muffin madness series. Now I can find your muffin recipes PDQ!

    Have a great week!

  22. Sara says

    I love all your muffins recipes. I’m not a chocoholic either but if good chocolate is put in the right place and in the right amount I do appreciate it. Together with oatmeal seems to me like a perfect combination. Too bad I just had breakfast but hey, I’m still on time to make them for the afternoon snack 🙂

  27. Annie says

    I don’t think I’ve ever had an oatmeal muffin. They sound really good and I like the bit of chocolate and that its not too rich. I need to try this one!

  28. Karen says

    The perfect treat for a lazy Sunday breakfast! I love how they are healthy and tasty at the same time. Glad I stumbled upon your beautiful blog! 🙂

  33. Amanda @ bakingwithoutabox says

    I love your substitutions and the Teenie Notes. Unsweetened applesauce is such a great alternative. And thanks for the forewarning on the papers. Great job making those muffins healthier! Had to tweet ya.

  34. The Duo Dishes says

    The color gradient on the bottom of the muffins is nice. You can tell they have a nice texture and maybe a bit of sweetness that comes from the sugar cooking down there. They sound great.

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