Snickerdoodle muffins: a recipe

Snickerdoodle muffins

I try quite hard to keep this blog balanced.

Even though my most popular posts are for calorie- and/or bacon-laden baked goods, I try to sneak in some healthier suggestions, too.

(OK, maybe not the candied bacon, but come on. It's candied bacon!)

For example, right after the candied bacon, I gave you pickles (and no, there's nothing I want to tell you, trust me) and spring greens soup.

Lovely veggies, no butter.

Call it a yin-yang, angel-devil, white hat-black hat, Hall-Oates kind of thing ... I'm trying to keep it balanced.

Every once in a while I get really, really lucky and end up with something, like these snickerdoodle muffins, that is perfectly balanced all on its own: sweet, delicious and seemingly decadent, yet really not so bad for you.

I've been thinking about snickerdoodle muffins since I saw some on Pinterest but have shied away because every recipe seems to call for about 14 sticks of butter. (Seriously, one recipe listed 2 entire sticks of butter for 12 muffins. Seriously? That's just not right and I wouldn't do that to you. I like you non-ginormous.)

So, being all ninja-like, I decided to take a whack at my own version.

One with way less freakin' butter.

And some ground oatmeal, so I could eat them for breakfast.

I'm pretty pleased with the results, although I admit they are likely still a work in progress. They are definitely not an "oh my god these are so decadent" kind of muffin. (Wait, that wouldn't be a muffin at all, now would it? That would be a cupcake.) What they are is a not-so-sweet-but-tastes-like-a-snickerdoodle-cookie breakfast muffin.

I have made them as both full-sized and mini muffins -- both are great, but I'm quickly becoming a fan of the eat-it-in-one-biteyness of the mini muffin.

So, whaddya think? Going to give them a try? How would you change the recipe?

Snickerdoodle Muffins

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
1 cup of quick oats
1 teaspoon cinnamon
4 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
1 1/4 cups skim milk
cinnamon sugar for sprinkling (whatever ratio of cinnamon to sugar you like)

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Place the oats in a food processor and pulse until they resemble coarse flour. Whisk the ground oats in a bowl with the flour and cinnamon and set aside.

In a stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar. Slowly beat in the vanilla, egg and skim milk until pretty well blended (it will have bits of sugary butter in it). Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until just combined.

Fill muffin tins about 2/3 full with batter and liberally sprinkle the tops with cinnamon sugar. Bake for about 15 minutes (closer to 10 or 11 minutes for mini muffins). Cool on a wire rack.