As much as food waste disappoints me, some things are just simply unappetizing in their leftover state. For example, one thing I find hard to swallow is leftover oatmeal. I make the same amount every time and sometimes we eat the whole thing and scrape the pan, and sometimes it seems like the oatmeal magically multiplied and no one was hungry. I would dutifully put the leftovers in a jar in the fridge, and then wait until a sufficient amount of time passed where I didn’t feel guilt about tossing it. The aha moment occurred when I was making one of my favorite oatmeal raisin muffin recipe. I opened the fridge to grab eggs and saw the cold oatmeal jar of shame sitting front and center and immediately did some research. I’m not the first person to put up a recipe, naturally, but I’ve since experimented with several recipes, some gloopy and chewy, and some delicious, and settled on this version as my go-to. If you like a cakey, sugary, tight-crumbed muffin, this is not your muffin. These are moist, craggy treats, not too sweet, with a loose, open structure. The slight bitter note of the olive oil keeps the sweetness in check, and keeps the muffs light and tender. In other words, muffin perfection. Love muffins? Hate wasting leftover oatmeal? Your delicious solution awaits.

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LEFTOVER OATMEAL BLUEBERRY MUFFINS

Recipe Notes: The secret with all muffins is to mix JUST UNTIL the last speck of dry ingredients has been folded into the wet ingredients and not one mix more. I find that if I mix the dry ingredients into the wet partially, then add the mix-ins (blueberries, raisins, etc) for the final mixing, I generally can avoid tough, dense over-mixed muffins.

*”Soured” milk is just milk with lemon juice or vinegar added. It acts like buttermilk in a recipe; if you have a source of good quality buttermilk you can use that instead. But if you have regular grocery store buttermilk it usually contains additives, so I prefer to clabber milk—it’s easy, cheap, and works great. Just use approximately 1 tablespoon vinegar or lemon juice (bottled or fresh) per 3/4 c to 1 c of milk. For this recipe I measure almost to 3/4 c milk then add lemon juice to get to 3/4 cup total liquid. I let it set for two minutes until it thickens, then proceed with the recipe as normal. (Please don’t use milk that has gone bad on its own!)

**I’ve used week-old leftover oatmeal in this recipe and it turned out great. Maybe I shouldn’t admit that.

***We usually cook our oatmeal with raisins and/or apples or blueberries, and I just leave these in and don’t worry about it for the recipe. We also cook our oatmeal in half milk and water but any unsweetened, cooked rolled oats will do. I haven’t tried the recipe with quick oats but I imagine it would work.

****If you don’t quite have enough cooked leftover oats, up to about a half cup shy, you can make up the difference with uncooked oats plus a little moisture (2T extra yogurt or milk for a half cup dry oats)

INGREDIENTS:

—1 1/2 cups leftover cooked rolled oats, any temperature

—2 eggs

—2/3 c olive oil or vegetable oil, or 11 T melted butter (cooled somewhat)

—3/4 c “soured” milk*, buttermilk, or plain whole milk yogurt

—2/3 c brown sugar, packed

—2 1/4 c all-purpose flour

—1 T baking powder

—1/2 tsp baking soda

—1/2 tsp kosher salt (1/4 tsp table salt)

—3/4 tsp cinnamon (optional)

—1 1/4 c frozen or fresh blueberries OR 3/4 cup raisins, or 1 c chopped apples (I leave the peels on!)

INSTRUCTIONS:

Preheat oven to 375 and butter, grease, or line a standard 12-muffin pan.

In a large bowl, mix leftover oatmeal, eggs, oil, yogurt, and brown sugar until well blended. Sprinkle flour over the surface of the wet ingredients, and sprinkle baking powder, soda, salt, and cinnamon (if using) on top of flour. Using a flexible spatula, fold the dry ingredients into the wet about halfway, then add blueberries or raisins and continue mixing and folding until just barely mixed and no pockets of dry ingredients remain.

Drop batter using a rounded half cup measure (or large spoon) into prepared muffin tin. The mixture should rise above each cup slightly but not tower above it; I get 12 large muffins. If you have a lot of extra batter, or want smaller muffins, use the cups you need of a second tin, making sure to fill any unused cups about 1/3 full with water.

Bake muffins for 22-30 minutes or until a wooden skewer stuck in the middle of the fattest muffin comes out just clean.

Let cool in pan for five minutes before gently releasing (using a butter knife) onto a cooling rack.

Enjoy!

Leftover muffins, fully cooled, can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container for 2 days.