TWD: Oatmeal Breakfast (Bread) Muffins

I love oatmeal.  I really really do.  It stands to reason then that we really loved this week's recipe for Tuesdays with Dorie for the Oatmeal Breakfast Bread, as chosen by Natalie at Oven Love (who incidentally made muffins too :)

You all know by now I never leave well enough alone, but I had a decent reason this time for fiddling with the recipe.  I have come to realize that I don't own any 9x5-inch pans.  None.  Nada.  The last time I attempted to make a recipe that called for a 9x5 pan (and all I have is 8 1/2 x 4 1/2) I thought, "oh, it can't make that much of a difference, can it?"  I'm here to tell you.  It can.  It really really can.  Scrubbing the overflowing batter of the loaf that took over my oven is something I hope to never repeat.

So.  Since there is no extra fundage in the budget to go buy another pan, nor is there room in my cupboards, I decided to just adapt the recipe into muffins, which made 18 muffins.  I did decrease the amount of applesauce in the muffin by 1/4 cup, simply to make sure the muffins would be a bit more sturdy than the 'soft, pudding-like' consistency described in the book.  Oh, and SURPRISE! (NOT) I left out the dried fruit.

The only other change I made was in the amount of topping.  The hubs and I have a bit of a running joke going about everything I bake these days.  Except, though it is funny, it really isn't a joke.  The usual conversation goes something like this these days:

ME:  So, what do you think of the _______ (insert name of various baked good here - really doesn't matter what it is... which is entirely the point :)


HIM:  It's good.  But it needs nuts.  (Or, the only variation of this conversation is for something that already has nuts and then his response is always that it "Needs more nuts.")

Without fail, this is pretty much all he says to me anymore.  So, in my defense to not have to have this same conversation again, I actually doubled the sugar and cinnamon for the topping, used dark brown sugar (it was what I had on hand) and tripled the amount of chopped pecans.  I used a heaping tablespoon of filling on top of each muffin and the ratio worked out just about perfectly.

My changes seem to have done the trick because he has been happily eating these muffins without any complaints - until next time I make something, I'm sure ;)

Visit the TWD Blog for more oaty goodness!