Oat flour is a new addition to my pantry and I'm using it quite often these days. It's nothing but finely powdered oats. You can prepare it yourself using quick cooking oats and a food processor. I also noticed that cookies baked with oat flour are not as dense as the ones baked with whole wheat flour. I recently baked fat-free chocolate chip cookies using part all-purpose flour and part oat flour and I didn't feel any difference at all taste-wise.
Though the cookies were not the exact replica texture-wise because I had used unsweetened applesauce instead of butter. It felt more like a muffin/cake than a cookie. I'm still working to perfect a low-fat chocolate chip cookie recipe. Until then here's a recipe for cranberry muffins using oat flour. The original recipe is from Better Homes and Gardens' Off the Shelf Baking. I have made a couple of changes to make it egg free and healthy.
Recipe
Low-Fat Oat Flour Cranberry Muffins Recipe
Healthy and egg free cranberry muffins using whole wheat flour and oat flour.
Need To Convert Measurements?Check out the Baking Measurement Chart!
Ingredients
- 1 cup White Whole Wheat Flour
- ¾ cup Oat Flour
- ½ cup Sugar
- 1 teaspoons Baking Powder
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- ½ cup Dried Cherries OR Cranberries
- ¼ cup Chopped Walnut
- 2 tablespoons Plain Non-Fat Yogurt
- ¾ cup Fat Free Milk
- 3 tablespoons Oil (Any Flavorless Oil)
- 1 teaspoon Shredded Orange peel (I used 2 tablespoons Orange Juice instead)
- 2 to 4 tablespoons Water/Milk
- to sprinkle on top Quick cooking oats (Optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400F for 15 minutes. Line muffin pans with paper liners.
- In a medium bowl sift together the flours, salt, baking powder. Add sugar, dried fruit and the nuts. Combine well. Make a well in the center and set aside.
- In a liquid measuring mug measure the milk, add the yogurt, orange juice (or peel) and whisk well.
- Add the wet ingredients to the flour all at once and stir just until combined. Do not over mix. At this point I felt that the batter was very thick, so I added another 2 tablespoons of milk. The consistency felt right after adding the milk.
- Now spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling each two thirds full. I have a ladle which holds 3 tablespoons of batter and it's the perfect amount to bake the perfect sized muffins. Sprinkle oats on top, if using.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 18-20 minutes or until golden and a wooden toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. Mine was done by 19 minutes.
- Cool in muffin cups on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Remove from muffin cups; serve warm (See Taste).
My Notes
- The original recipe used 1 and ¾th cup of all-purpose flour. You can go with it if you are not a fan of whole wheat flour or don't have it. Baked goods with whole wheat flour definitely don't taste exactly like its white counterpart. Like tofu, whole wheat pasta, it's an acquired taste. We have got used to it now. So you may want to start slowly, maybe 1 cup of all-purpose flour and ¾th cup of whole wheat flour/oat flour.
- Oat flour is readily available in some of the grocery stores. You can make it at home too by finely processing quick cooking oats in a food processor/mixer. Since oat flour does not contain gluten, it cannot substitute 100% of all purpose flour/whole wheat flour. Baked goods will not rise if it is only used. So it has to be used in combination with either all-purpose flour or whole wheat flour.
- I didn't have fresh oranges to make the zest, so I went with 2 tablespoons of store bought orange juice. This does not give that fresh orange flavor, but be careful not to go overboard with the juice because sometimes the store bought juice has a bitter after-taste and it spoils the taste of the baked goods.
- I have used 2 tablespoons of yogurt in place of one egg white mentioned in the recipe. Even after using 2 tablespoons of orange juice I found that the batter was very thick, so I had to use another 2 tablespoons of milk. I think the whole wheat flour and the oat flour absorbed more moisture. So consider what type of flour you are using and add water as required.
- The original recipe is supposed to yield 12 muffins but I got only 9.
Taste & Texture
- The tartness of the dried cranberries and the orange flavor is a winning combination. But don't try tasting it warm if you are using whole wheat flour. The original recipe used all purpose flour but I have used a combination of whole wheat flour and oat flour, so it did not taste good when the muffins were still warm. It was a sticky and bitter mass of dough inside, which really freaked me out. Thank God I was patient enough to come to a conclusion the next day morning and was relieved that it tasted good. Actually good enough that my son had it for breakfast everyday.
Did You Make This?I love seeing what you made! Leave a review comment below and be sure to tag me at @EgglessCooking when you share a photo!
Kiran says
I tried this second time. First time was lovely but this time I experimented further and used Satoo flour instead of oat flour with same measurements and it was even lovely. I skipped orange juice or zest as wasn't sure it will go with Satoo but overall a hit. Going to freeze leftover for kids breakfast.
Thank you
Madhuram says
Wow! Satoo is the roasted chickpea flour, right? This recipe works with that flour too? Now I can't wait to try it. Thanks for the feedback, Kiran.
Bhuvaneshwari Gupta says
I tried it exactly the way mentioned but the result was very very dense and did not raise well. I would not recommend the recipe at all.
Amy says
I would love to try the oat flour with the vegan cranberry orange muffins. I think that you could probably use an all-purpose gluten free flour (i.e. Pamela's or Bob's Red Mill) in place of the 1 cup of regular flour - and then double the baking powder to 2tsp.
Madhuram says
That's a good idea.
Vidya says
Thanks, Madhu. Will keep that in mind next time.
Madhuram says
You're welcome Vidya.
Vidya says
Hi madhuram,
I tried this recipe today with a few variations, but the muffins did not turn out golden like yours - I used 1 cup APF(unbleached) and 3/4 cup oat flour(made at home). Instead of yogurt, I used flaxseed meal(1 tbsp mixed with 3tbsp water). What could be the reason? Your muffins look really moist, mine look a bit dry and cracked on the top. I'm yet to taste it since it is still warm.
Madhuram says
I'm guessing that you might have overcooked it. How did it taste?
Vidya says
It tastes good, the orange flavor is really a hit like you'd mentioned. The insides are moist though (not super moist). Yes, i left the muffins a little bit past the 20 min mark hoping they'd get golden. My batter was a bit tight too('cos of the oat flour i think).
Madhuram says
Sometimes we try to enhance the picture, so don't always go by that Vidya. I think adding about 2 tablespoons of liquid and baking it for a little lesser time would have worked perfectly.
Meena says
Hi Madhuram!
I tried this recipe as a snack for my toddler girl. I was disappointed with the overall results. I made a few substitutions to the recipe as i didn't have all the ingredients on hand.
1. I used All purpose flour (1 and 3/4 cups) Instead of oat flour+AP flour.
2. 3 tbsps of veg margarine instead of oil.
3. Orange juice instead of orange peel.
4. Raisins instead of cranberries
5. 2% milk
6. I did not use the paper liners as i didn't have them.
The muffins baked in 17 mins. They were tasty when warm. However, after about 10 mins the muffins were hard and had a rubbery texture. I am not sure what went wrong. They were not the usual moist muffins that i usually get from your recipes. Kindly let me know what improvements i need to make for this. Can vinegar be used in this recipe instead of yogurt?
Madhuram says
Meena, I would have thought that with all purpose flour the muffins should have tasted better than mine. So I too am confused why it didn't turn out good. Muffins/quick breads become hard when the batter is overmixed, especially this recipe being a low fat one. The wet ingredients and dry ingredients should be just stirred. Having lumps is okay. Since you have used margarine, did you cream it with the sugar or did you just mix it. If you had done the latter maybe the batter didn't have enough liquid. You could use a tablespoon of vinegar and increase the quantity of liquid depending upon the consistency of the batter.