Muffle hunger with Cranberry Apple Oatmeal Muffins

A few weeks ago, my 3-year-old son had only Cheerios with milk for breakfast. That was the day I realized the importance of feeding my son a hearty breakfast, lest I pay the rest of the day. Yes, he spent the entire day telling me he was hungry every 30-45 minutes. I suppose it could have been somewhat related to a growth spurt as well. Regardless, he is never getting just Cheerios for breakfast anymore!

These cranberry apple oatmeal muffins are a cinch to make, and are so scrumptious they may fool your kids into thinking you are giving them mini cakes for breakfast. Thank goodness they’re yummy and full of good stuff. Notice I cut way down on the oil and added plain, low-fat yogurt to keep this breakfast offering high in energy but lower in fat. What is your favorite breakfast bread?

Cranberry Apple Oatmeal Muffins

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F

Ingredients

• 1 cup quick-cooking rolled oats
• 1 cup 2% milk
• 1 cup unbleached, all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 egg, beaten
• 4 ounces plain low-fat yogurt
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• muffin paper liners or non-stick spray
• Cranberry Apple Sauce (my recipe posted yesterday)

Combine oats and milk; let stand 15 minutes. Stir flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon into separate bowl. Mix eggs, yogurt and oil into oatmeal mixture. Add all at once to dry ingredients, stirring just to moisten. Put one tablespoon of muffin batter into muffins pan (I use muffin paper liners). Follow with about 1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons cranberry apple sauce on top. Top with batter to cover the cranberry sauce. You are ensuring a wonderful surprise of cranberry apple sauce inside a muffin. Bake at 425F for 20-25 minutes. Makes 12 muffins.