Brown Butter, Oat and Chocolate Chip Muffins

Sometimes my kitchen experiments turn out for the better (most the time, I would say) and sometimes they don’t (thankfully this is rare). This recipe is based on a recipe I found for Brown Butter Honey Oat Muffins. While stirring the honey based mixture, the thought occurred to me that I should be using brown sugar instead of honey as a sweetener. What goes better with brown butter than brown sugar? (Nothing in my opinion.)

Although these muffins turned out good. The honey-version turned out better. They were more moist, though I cooked these a minute less. The real star of the show for both of these muffins was the brown butter streusel topping. Without the topping, these muffins would be pretty boring, basic muffins. (Seriously, I don’t ever want to have a non-streusel topped muffin again!)

I used half a recipe of streusel topping for each recipe of muffins. But since the topping is sooooooo good, I would suggest using a full recipe of streusel for one recipe of muffins.

muffin ingredients.

• 3/4 c. old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
• 3/4 c. brown sugar, packed
• 3/4 c. half-and-half
• 1/2 c. butter, browned and cooled a bit
• 2 large eggs, at room temp
• 1/2 c mini chocolate chips

streusel topping ingredients.

• 6 T. butter, browned and cooled
• 1/3 c. brown sugar
• 2 T. unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 c. rolled oats

directions.

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.  Line a 12-cup, regular-size muffin tin with liners and set aside. In a large bowl, combine the oats, flour, baking powder, cinnamon, cream of tartar and salt with a whisk.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, eggs, half-and-half, and browned butter.
3. Add the wet to the dry ingredients, and stir until just combined.  Add chocolate chips.
4. Combine the streusel ingredients and mix.
5. Scoop muffin batter into tins (about 2/3 full). Sprinkle with streusel and bake for 18 to 22 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean.

Recipe rating: 1/2