Recipe: Vanilla Chai Muffins

Today's rainy weather left me wanting some comfort food for breakfast, something warm, with a hint of spice, and something that can double as a snack until they're all gone. I have a "base muffin recipe" that I just tweak to suit any muffin flavor we're dreaming up, so today we took a chance on chai! Well, they were gone almost immediately, so I don't need to worry about that, but maybe next time I'll make 2 dozen!

Vanilla Chai Muffins

¾ cup rolled oats -or- granola -or- multigrain cereal

½ cup brown sugar

¼ t. salt

1 cup sprouted whole wheat flour

3 tsp. baking powder

1 t. cinnamon

½ t. allspice

¼ t. cardamom

⅓ c.  strong black tea or chai spiced tea

⅓ c.  milk or milk substitute (we used vanilla hemp milk)

2 T. oil

1 t. vanilla extract

2 eggs

Optional mix-ins  (a half cup of any of these): chopped nuts like pecans, walnuts, etc., chopped dates, dried fruits, chocolate chips, grated carrots or zucchini (to day we used chopped dates and pecans)

Preheat oven to 350° F, and line a 12 cup muffin pan with paper, silicon, or just grease the cups. Mix dry ingredients in a bowl, and wet ingredients in a separate bowl. In the dry ingredients, toss in any mix ins and coat them in the flour mixture. Add the wet ingredients and fold together until mixed through. Using an ice cream scoop or a spoon, fill the muffin cups to almost full, they won’t rise a lot in the baking. Bake the muffins for 20-24 minutes, until the tops are springy when lightly pressed. Cool, and serve. I like mine split open with butter or a butter substitute in the middle.