Fresh baked snow day

It’s a snow day in Columbia, Mo.! Woo to the hoo! After another downpour of more than half a foot of fresh, sparkly snow, the world outside our windows is looking quite winter wonderland-esque. Few things in the world are as peaceful and pretty as a snow-covered morning. Of this, I am sure.

Although we’re no longer the kiddos anxiously watching the news and waiting the listing of school cancellations, Jared and I still get a major kick out of this snowed-in kind of feeling (his office is closed until noon today! Eep!). And to make the morning feel even more special, I thought I’d swap our usual petit déjeuner of cereal and toast for a breakfast that says, “What? It’s a snow day? Let me warm up your insides with something homemade and delicious.” Your food talks back, too, right?

And, of course, the best part of the snow day baking challenge is that you’re snowed in (OK, we’re not really snowed in, but that’s part  of the fun), and you must use ingredients that are already dwelling in the comfort of your kitchen. So with an ample supply of flour, sugar and eggs on hand, as well as a few fun extras like raisins, cinnamon and vanilla, I thought I’d invent a cinnamon raisin muffin, from here forth lovingly referred to as the Snow Day Muffin. The recipe I whipped up today is based on a the cranberry wheat muffins I made a few months ago, but for today’s breakfast, I veered off in an oatmeal-raisin-cookie-meets-bran-muffin direction. And the results were just what the snowman ordered.

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Snow Day Muffins (cinnamon raisin)

• ¾ cup water
• ¼ cup cracked wheat cereal
• 1 ¼ cup raisins
• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• ¾ cup whole wheat flour
• ¼ cup granulated sugar
• ¼ cup packed brown sugar
• 3 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 to 3 tablespoons rolled oats, for sprinkling on top of muffins

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease or line 12 muffins cups.

In a saucepan, bring water and cracked wheat cereal to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer covered for seven minutes (stirring occasionally). Remove saucepan from heat, and add raisins to cereal, then let sit for three minutes.

In the meantime, mix flours, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. In a medium bowl, mix eggs, milk, oil, vanilla and cooked cereal with raisins. Add wet mixture to dry mixture, and mix until just blended.

Fill muffin cups, and sprinkle oats on top of batter. Cook for about 18 – 20 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean (start on the low end of the time; overcooking will make the muffins too dry). Let cool for a minute in pan, then remove and allow to cool on a wire rack.

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These muffins pack all of my favorite things about oatmeal raisin cookies (cinnamon, vanilla, raisins, brown sugar) but put them in a form I’m not ashamed to eat for breakfast (yes, I’ve tried reasoning that oatmeal cookies contain oatmeal and, hence, are breakfast-approved, but cookies for breakfast just doesn’t fly; a Cookie Crisp eater I was not.). A happy breakfast for a happy morning.

Is it snowy in your neck of the woods this morning? What kind of breakfast are you hunkering down with? Any delicious plans for lunch or dinner?

Stay warm! And happy snow day!

XO,
Katrina