Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Butter Muffins #MuffinMonday

Whole grain oatmeal muffins sweetened with cookie butter and studded with raisins. It tastes like a treat, and yet it's reasonably wholesome at the same time.  Try these for a super afternoon snack!

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It's no secret I'm a fan of whole grain baked treats for a snack. From my Banana Peanut Butter Cake to an upcoming Really Just As Good For You As A Bowl of Oatmeal Breakfast Cookie (yeah, the name is a work in progress) I just don't see why I can't boost the nutrition of a snack by making it a wee bit more wholesome some of the time. I won't mess with the classics--My Scottish Grandma's Shortbread will not be made with whole wheat flour in my kitchen--but for an after school snack for the kids, why not?

For Muffin Monday this month I am returning to my roots. I'm using my beloved classic Soaked Oatmeal Muffin (the 5th post on this blog) as the base for this recipe. Instead of using sugar, though, I dumped in a scoop of cookie butter (known as Biscoff Cookie Butter--Amazon affiliate link). I picked some up at the commissary and have been playing around with it. I've also tried the Trader Joes product with tasty results. This is not a sponsored post and neither the Biscoff people nor the Trader Joes people know my name.

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all our of lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events, and more information about Muffin Monday, can be found on our home page.

Since these muffins are made with mostly pantry ingredients (if buttermilk can be counted as a pantry staple), they are pretty easy to whip up when the urge strikes.  Cookie butter keeps in my pantry for a few months (until the kids discover it looking for more Nutella, and spread it on waffles, and then it's gone in a few days).  We are going through so many raisins due to my son's newfound oatmeal habit that I need to add them to the staples list, too.



Typically at this point I'd be pointing you to my Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient, telling you were you can find other recipes using ___________ (insert name of produce here). However, the only produce in this recipe is raisins and frankly they don't rate a separate category in my index. You'll find them in the Recipe Index by Category on the right sidebar, listed alphabetically because it's A Thing of mine.

Instead, I'll point you to the ways I'm around the internets. I'm pinning recipes to my Pinterest boards, please follow me there. I'm sharing behind the scenes photos and videos on my Instagram feed, please follow me there. I've got articles that catch my eye on my Facebook page, follow me there. And if you'd like to know How To Use This Blog, just click. Thanks!

Note: this recipe calls for oats soaked in buttermilk for at least an hour. If I've got buttermilk + oats + jars + lids handy, I'll set up a bunch of wide mouth pint jars and add 1 cup each of oats and buttermilk to them. Then I'll screw on these handy lids (Amazon affiliate link) and store the jars in my fridge until I am ready to bake (up to a week).

Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Butter Muffins

Ingredients

• 1 cup rolled oats (old fashioned is how I roll)
• 1 cup (8 ounces) buttermilk
• ¼ cup (2 ounces) vegetable oil
• 1 large egg
• ⅓ cup (sorry didn't weigh any time, just a big old heaping scoop though) cookie butter
• ½ cup raisins
• 1 cup (4 ounces by weight) whole wheat flour (I've used both white whole wheat and whole wheat)
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon or Baking Spice (a Penzey's cinnamon nutmeg allspice blend)
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt (I use kosher)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder

Instructions

1. You'll want to soak the oats in the buttermilk for at least an hour (see Note above). In a large bowl, combine oats and buttermilk. Set aside.
2. After they have soaked, preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a 12 well standard muffin pan with paper liners.
3. Dump vegetable oil, egg, cookie butter and raisins into the bowl. Stir until thoroughly combined.
4. Dump the remaining ingredients on top and stir until just combined.
5. Scoop (Amazon affiliate link to my time-saving muffin scoop) into prepared pan.
6. Bake for 15 minutes until golden brown. 
7. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a rack. Serve warm with butter or at room temperature.

Check out the rest of the #MuffinMonday bakers!

• Blueberry Streusel Muffins from Palatable Pastime
• Cranberry Orange Muffins from Making Miracles
• Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Butter Muffins from Farm Fresh Feasts (hey, that's me!)
• Quiche Lorraine Muffins from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Yiaourti Me Meli (Greek Yogurt and Honey) Muffins from Food Lust People Love