Perfect Sunday Morning Oatmeal Muffins

Oops.

I'd just tried the batter of the oatmeal muffin recipe I'd been tinkering with between sips of my first cup of coffee, when I suddenly realized I had something special. What I didn't have were the pictures I generally snap on my ancient iPhone when working through a recipe I think might be worth sharing. Alas... may all life's problems be so small.

First snapshot of the morning. Oh well.

I'm not sure what's with the baking recently -- I usually leave it to the pros, like BonBonerie, my mad-scientist/baking genius little sister, or opt to skip it entirely citing caloric reasons. (You don't believe that, do you?)

Instead of over-analyzing, let's just call this the perfect Sunday morning muffin. It smells like oats and vanilla and cinnamon and love. It's light and a little cakey, comforting somehow when the house is quiet (someone's still curled up in bed & someone else has been at work since dawn), and chases away any reminders that Monday is just around the corner.

PERFECT SUNDAY MORNING OATMEAL MUFFINS
Makes 12 muffins

Ingredients:

1 c. McCann's quick cooking rolled oats, OR 1 c. old-fashioned rolled oats
1 c. buttermilk, well shaken
1 tsp. vanilla
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/2 c. firmly packed light brown sugar
1/4 c. (1/2 of a stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/4 c. canola or vegetable oil
1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 c. whole-wheat flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 c. pecans, roughly chopped (NOTE: If you're a fan of dried fruits, a handful of dried cranberries would work beautifully, too)
Turbinado sugar, or other coarse sugar (I had bourbon vanilla sugar in the pantry -- perfecto!)

Rule #1: Don't disturb the cat.
Rule #2: Please refer to Rule #1.

Directions:

In a large bowl, combine oats, buttermilk, and vanilla. If using old-fashion rolled oats, let mixture soak for 1 hour. If using quick cooking rolled oats, 15 minutes should do the trick.

Preheat the oven to 375, and prepare your baking tin with liners, or by greasing each individual cup.

Add the beaten egg, sugar, butter and oil to the oat mixture, and stir to combine.

In another bowl, sift together the flours, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon. Whisk to combine. Add dry ingredients to the oat mixture, stirring just to combine. Gently fold in the chopped pecans, being careful not to overstir.

Divide batter evenly into the 12 muffin tins and sprinkle the top of each muffin with the coarse sugar.

Bake until golden -- about 15 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cook in the tin for 7-10 minutes. Remove from muffin tin and enjoy paired with the Sunday paper, thick-cut bacon, scrambled eggs and coffee.