Tuesday, August 01, 2006

Fig Muffins

We have our list of favorite muffin recipes here at home, but since I like muffins quite a lot I am always experimenting with new recipes. Fig is a delicious fruit, which I always had fresh when growing up, and just recently I came across and actually tried the dried ones. Don’t have to say that I like it, as I do love most fruits! And basically the same is true with their dried counterparts, I like most of them, figs included.
This recipe, Oat-Topped Fig Muffins, was a very nice surprise; the muffins came out delicious in all kind of senses. They are hearty and sort of dense, but not too much that they still have some lightness to it, and the figs blended into the mixture gives enough of its flavor without making the muffins overly sweet.
Be sure not to over process the liquid mixture though, just so that you get little pieces of the figs in the batter, they were the best part!
My only complain is that I found the topping to be a little on the sweet side (even my son commented on that, and he like his sweets), so if I make them again I will definitely decrease the sugar, if not omit the topping completely. Some people might think it is the best part, but to be quite true I am not very fond of streusels on my muffins, they are usually super sweet and sometimes messy - falling off the muffins all over the place. In my humble opinion, good muffins don’t need topping/streusel at all; they should be perfect just by themselves, but that is just me.
“Streuseled” or not, these fig muffins have a nice balance of flavors, it was a nice change for our usual morning muffins, we all liked it here and it will probably be made many other times!
Enjoy!
Ana

Oat-Topped Fig Muffins
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1 1/4 cups chopped dried figs
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
Cooking spray
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup quick-cooking oats
1 tablespoon butter, melted

Preheat oven to 400°.
Lightly spoon flours into measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flours and next 4 ingredients (through salt) in a large bowl; stir with a whisk. Make a well in center of mixture.
Place buttermilk, figs, oil, vanilla, and egg in a food processor; process until well blended. Add fig mixture to flour mixture, stirring just until combined. Divide batter evenly among 12 muffin cups coated with cooking spray.
Combine brown sugar, oats, and butter in a small bowl; toss with a fork until combined. Sprinkle oat mixture evenly over muffins. Bake at 400° for 18 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool in pans on a wire rack for 5 minutes; remove muffins from pans, and cool completely on rack.

Yield: 12 muffins (serving size: 1 muffin)
Cooking Light, March 2006

5 comments:

Karen said...

Have the same opinion about streusels myself. My husband always makes a mess and i find crumbles everywhere!

Akemi said...

Os figos que você usou são do tipo soft ou bem sequinhos, com a casca amarelada? Bom, nem preciso dizer que adoro muffins ne, com ou sem crumble! rsss

Ana said...

Karen, I hate when the struesel fall off all over the place, Matheus and I really do make a mess with them! hehe!

Akemi, eu usei dried figs, sao secos, mas tinham uns bem macios (uma delicia!!). Quando fui comprar tinha dos amarelinhos e dos mais pretinhos, eu comprei os pretinhos mas creio q nao faca diferenca aqui nao, eu ja provei dos dois e ambos sao deliciosos! Nos gostamos desse muffim aqui em casa, eh bem bom o sabor!

Ana

Annie said...

I found your blog on Joe's broccoli casserole comments page which I'm going to try as well. I love your posts. This one caught my eye because a fellow blogger was just talking about needing recipes for dried figs. I am going to give this one to her. Hey come visit Mixed Salad Annie sometime.

Ana said...

Hi Annie, thanks for visiting! I went to see your blog and liked it too!
These muffins are very nice, good use for dried figs! I hope your friend like them too!
Ana