I have been dying to make these Oreo muffins for weeks
now. On our recent vacation to Vancouver
Island, we visited our absolutely favorite haunt - Masons grocery store. This place is awesome! It’s the overwhelming
smell of baked goods when entering the front doors, that gets you every
time. More specifically Mason’s is
actually not a bakery – just a plain old store with some necessities so you can
avoid the longer trip to a larger market.
However, they make some mean in house bakery items and have a candy
aisle that would knock your socks off.
And it’s Canadian candy, offering an array of different chocolate
bars that you can’t find in the States.
Have you ever had a Crunchie Bar or a Coffee Crisp? If you can get your
hands on these, they are heavenly, and my personal all time favorite candy bars.
OK – back to the decadent baked goods. On our first morning trip to the store
(the first vacation breakfast absolutely has to be purchased from Masons), my
daughter spied an Oreo muffin. It
was beautiful. It had a perfect
golden brown dome with flecks of cookie baked in and a mini Oreo perched
perfectly on top. Although it
didn’t appear to be the healthiest of breakfasts, we were on vacation so time
to throw caution to the wind.
When I got home I was determined to replicate this perfect
Oreo muffin. Therefore, I did some serious
muffin research. My first goal was
to produce a large baked good with a big, brown, domed top. The muffin top is the best part! I wanted the top lightly crunchy and
the interior to be light and airy, not too sweet, with good chunks of those Oreo
cookies to add some sugary yumminess.
These muffins came out perfect and I wanted to share 5 tips
I discovered, to make your muffins perfect and bakery style every time.
1. Pre-heat your oven to 425 degrees F. I know it sounds hot but the muffins
will rise quickly and effectively at this temperature. After about 8 minutes decrease temp to
375 degrees F and finish the baking process. You will have beautiful golden domes.
2. For nice large domes and substantial muffins, fill your
cups all the way to the top and then some (even if the recipe says 2/3 full). Be sure your batter is thick enough so that it doesn’t spill
over the sides.
3. There are two kinds of muffins – stirred and
creamed. Stirred muffins are
simple but must not be over mixed.
An over mixed muffin is tough.
In this variety the dry and wet ingredients are mixed separately. It’s very important to get your baking
soda and baking powder distributed evenly for proper rising and flavor. The wet ingredients are then folded
into the dry. Creamed muffins are
more like cake because you cream the sugar and butter together with a
mixer. However, you still want to
gently fold where indicated.
4. Baking soda
and baking powder are used to make muffins rise and provide a light
texture. Baking soda lends an
alkaline flavor so it is often combined with an acid such as buttermilk or
yogurt.
5. To make a truly decadent bakery muffin use butter. Of course you can sub in vegetable oil
or margarine, but the flavor will be different.
Oreo Muffins
Yield: 6-8 muffins
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup milk
- 1/3 cup plain yogurt
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup/1 stick, melted butter
- 15 oreo cookies, chopped into small pieces
- 6-8 mini oreo cookies
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
- In medium bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, soda and salt (if your baking powder is lumpy, push it through a small sieve). Set aside.
- In small bowl combine milk, yogurt, egg and butter. Whisk until thoroughly mixed.
- Fold the egg mixture into the flour mixture until just blended.
- Gently stir in the cookie pieces
- Spoon batter into 6-8 (depending on size you want) paper lined or greased muffin tins.
- Bake in a preheated oven for 10 minutes at 425 degrees F. Decrease temperature to 375 degrees F and bake for 10 more minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from pan and cool on a wire rack.
