Guest Post #9: Peanut Butter Quinoa Oat Muffins

Bonjour mes cheris, get excited for me! After I finish these exams I am wading through right now, half of year 12 will be forever finished and over with! YAY!

Mais non, focus, FOCUS! It certainly is not over yet no matter how much I dream about year 12 formal. Ah, c’est la vie!

Anyhow, while I am not here to give you recipes, tips, tricks and well, my blog, I have some pretty fan-friggin-tastic fabulous chefs lined up to do so instead! A whole range of dishes for you to enjoy while I am on this undesired break  – You won’t even notice my absence I promise!

See you soon for the April holidays and wishing you all a marvelous Easter break! Promise me you will chow down on what that Easter Bunny brings you/your chocolate loot stashed in the bottom of your drawer – Yes, I am on to you all!

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Well my friends, it seems that we have reached our last but far from least guest poster!
Meet Erika. Pancake obsessed, cake obsessed, sweet obsessed Erika. Yeah, I think you all will get along just fine with her, especially when you see the muffins she has to share today 😀

Please welcome The Pancake Princess, with her flair for sugary treats and fantastic blogging style as your final guest poster 🙂

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Hi everyone! I’m Erika from The Pancake Princess. I’m very excited to be guest posting on Uru’s blog—not only does she write entertaining blog posts and bakes up some of my favorite nutella creations, she’s also one of the most supportive and best commenters around. Basically, she is super cool.

She’s undoubtedly attracted an equally awesome audience, so I’d love to get to know you too! I’m of the philosophy that although cake is my first love, I can make do with pancakes. If you like cake. Pancakes. Anything with sugar in it. Well. Let’s chat. 🙂IMG_2808v2

So these muffins: they were born out of an accident. There’s evidence in my instagram feed of some little puffed muffins with crackly, cracked tops poking out of a tin captioned “peanut butter quinoa muffins for…no reason at all!”

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Because that night, I just felt like making muffins, but I didn’t really feel like developing a recipe. I tossed some halfway measured oat flour, a handful of quinoa, a spoon or three of peanut butter, a generous dose of chocolate chips and a few other things into a bowl, stirred, dumped in a muffin tin and hoped for the best.

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Of course, when I peeled away a steaming, craggy, peanut butter-scented section of the muffin, it was just the right balance of tender, grainy, moist, and chocolate-studded—one of the best muffins I’ve ever made.

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So then I went back to the kitchen, and, like a frantic person, baked three more batches before I recreated something even close to the original muffin. I’d like to say I’ve learned my lesson, but the other night, I also made a super tasty potato cauliflower soup that I didn’t measure at all—and I NEVER make soup tasty.

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What’s the verdict—do you ever find yourself not measuring or making little slip ups in the kitchen that result in really good food—like, better than it would have been had you measured everything perfectly?

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Tell me your answer, then go make these muffins. Please. They are so good. And hello, oats + quinoa = health! You’ll be doing yourself a favor.

Notes

  • Cooking quinoa: I made these when I had some leftover quinoa in the fridge. Quinoa is super easy to make—simply put 1 part quinoa to 2 parts water, bring to a boil, then simmer over medium heat for 15 minutes or so, or until it turns slightly translucent and is tender to the bite.
  • Substitutions: I wouldn’t recommend subbing rolled oats for the instant oats unless you’re okay with a chunkier, chewier muffin. However, I made my oat flour by grinding instant oats in my food processor until they were a powdery, floury consistency—you can use rolled oats for this step. To make these vegan, I think a chia egg in place of the egg would do very well.
  • Technique: For these muffins, I used a tip that I learned from Sally of Sally’s Baking Addiction—if you bake the muffins at a really hot temperature for a few minutes, the muffins will quickly reach a high dome. You can then reduce the temperature for the remaining time to cook the rest of the muffin through.

Peanut Butter Quinoa Oat Muffins


Yield: 9 substantial muffins

Ingredients:

  • 3 tablespoons oil (canola, vegetable, or olive)
  • 3 tablespoons sugar
  • 3 tablespoons honey
  • 3 tablespoons peanut butter
  • 1 egg
  • 1.5 cups oat flour
  • 1/2 cup instant oats
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup almond milk
  • 1/3 cup quinoa, cooked and cooled
  • 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons chocolate chips

Method:

  1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C) and grease a standard muffin tin or line with wrappers.
  2. Stir together oil, sugar, honey and peanut butter.
  3. Beat in the egg. Combine the oat flour and instant oats, baking powder and salt.
  4. Add the oat mixture and almond milk in five additions, starting and ending with oat flour.
  5. Fold in the cooked quinoa and chocolate chips.
  6. Bake at 425 degree Fahrenheit for five minutes (220 degrees C), and then reduce the temperature to 350 (180) for 15-20 minutes.

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Anyone else have a certain taste for breakfast just now? Cause I suddenly have a craving for peanut buttery-quinoa-y treats 😀
Thank you so much Erika for being my final guestposter!

And now to you all, I say I will be back to post very very soon 🙂 – Till then mes cheris! I hope you enjoyed all of these wonderful guest posters the way I have! I have missed you all so much 🙂

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98 Comments

  1. Alisa says:

    These were seriously delicious! I doubled them, and I wish I quadrupled them! I used old fashioned rolled oats to make my oat flour, just blended them in my vitamix. I also used them in place of the quick oats with no problem. I did blend them a tiny bit to make them a little smaller.

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  6. Meenakshi says:

    These muffins look so delectable! You can actually see how moist they are in the windowsill picture. There have been quite a few times when I have measured wrong or not measured because I was just plain lazy; and still managed a yummy product.

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  12. Tisa says:

    What a healthful muffin! I’ve had quinoa, cooked in salads, always savory. Your muffins are such a great alternative. Thanks Julie and thank you Uru.

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  16. Three Well Beings says:

    I am really eager to try this recipe. And they make such a pretty presentation in the little papers. I have tried to do that and I’m not sure what the technique is, but they don’t end up looking as nice! I’ll have to practice again with these muffins!

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  17. Bam's Kitchen (@bamskitchen) says:

    I am so glad you did not make sardines for CCU, I don’t thing they would taste very good in a baked treat… Love your little cake muffins and like the hint about cooking the muffins in a higher oven temperature then reducing the heat. I need to try that.

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  18. jlaceda says:

    What an awesome idea!!! Will definitely be trying this! Quinoa is packed with protein and fibre – I like to sneak it in to my kids’ treats! Thanks for sharing such a wonderful recipe!

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  21. Reeni says:

    I used to cook like that all the time! In the days before my food blog. I’ve had to learn to measure everything which sometimes takes the fun out of it but blogging is a lot more fun and worth all the trouble. Love these gorgeous craggy muffins! I’d love one right now with my tea.

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  22. Kathleen Richardson says:

    Oh, yes, I can relate to Erika’s admission to creating a great new food but not noting quantities of ingredients. How frustrating! Yet, such fun coming up with better and better muffins. A never-ending process. I wonder, did Erika use small pieces of parchment paper to create her muffin wrappers? A clever idea.

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  30. carla @ eat sweet. by carla sue says:

    Yum…these look so good!! And I understand exactly what you mean…sometimes the best things I make are created when I’m not trying so hard. But then it’s frustrating when you can’t get them like it again. Haha. As always, a great post Erika 🙂 Oh, and PS…yup Uru, you are super cool!

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  34. Nancy @ gottagetbaked says:

    This is a dream pairing of two bloggers I admire, respect and adore! Erika – way to go girl in creating something so divinely delicious! I never have the courage to just throw things into a bowl while baking – to me, it’s still more of a science than an art. I love that a peanut butter muffin can be this healthy! And yay, Uru – you’re almost at the end of your exams! Can’t wait till you get back, girl. Thanks for all the wonderful guest posts – you’ve had some incredible bloggers step into your shoes for the past few weeks.

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  36. Norma Chang says:

    I have many of these occasions, throw something together, turns out fantastic, get annoyed at myself for not writing down quantities, try to recreate and never the same. Now you would think after a few times I would get wise but dumb me never learns. Love your muffin cups, I am guessing you made them.

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    • erika says:

      Nice to meet you as well Marta! I am seriously a huge fan of your blog. Food: delicious; photography: gorgeous; breakfast: can never get enough! All around winner!

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  48. girlinafoodfrenzy says:

    Two great dessert queens side by side fantastic! Erika’s pancakes and delicious treats I know, quinoa muffins with peanut butter do sound tasty (and yet) so yum too. I’m in the same boat as you, finished school for my first term break and holidays, which means a lot more fun and cooking in the kitchen!

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    • erika says:

      Caroline, that’s exactly what I did with them! It made for some heavenly mornings at work 🙂 Sometimes I toasted them and added a little extra PB&J in the middle, like a muffin sandwich!

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  55. Balvinder says:

    Hi Erica, Nice meeting you. And, Yes Uru is the loyal supporter I have met in blogging. One day I would love to meet her.

    On the other hand your quinoa muffins which you made by accident turned out really good.

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  59. apuginthekitchen says:

    Hi Erika, great post and recipe. I do that all the time, put something together and don’t pay attention to what I am doing, don’t measure and it’s really good. Then trying to recreate is a problem. Your muffins look fantastic, moist and delicious. So glad to get to know you and check out your blog.

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  61. The Little Spork says:

    these look amazing!!! can’t wait to try out this combo. it’s the worst when you end up creating something so perfect but aren’t sure of the exact measurements… thankfully you were able to figure it all out again though 🙂

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  66. Zoe says:

    These quinoa muffins looks amazing! I have not explore the baking and cooking of quinoa yet and would love to try…

    Thanks for introducing Erika. Will hop over to visit her blog.

    Just hang on… exams and year 12 will be over soon.

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  67. Pingback: Guest Post: Peanut Butter Quinoa Oat Muffins | The Pancake Princess

  72. Paula @ Vintage Kitchen Notes says:

    It is a nightmare when that happens, because even if you duplicate it or even make it better, it´s like you never go back to really achieving that first try again. They sound fantastic Erika, and healthy! What´s going on here Uru, healthy snacks? Wonderful guest post.

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  74. wackywhisk says:

    looooove them! And yes, how many times have I not measured because I wanted it now and then darn it, what was the recipe?! hahaha Now i understand my mother, when she’d make something we’d love, we’d ask her to make it again. Just that next time and all the times after that, it’s nothing like that one time & is different every time. Ah, kitchen adventures!

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