Thanksgiving’s Forgotten Meal
Most families will be having a very different kind of Thanksgiving this year. Traditionally, this is our biggest family holiday, with most of my side of the family coming to town for the weekend. Sadly, this year it will just be our local family, a whopping 8 of us altogether.
In years past, we are usually buzzing with activity early in the day, with family popping in and out of my front and back door, prepping food for the early afternoon main-event meal. Our family likes to eat THE meal around 2 p.m., and then a light dinner in the evening, consisting of turkey sammies in all of their glory.
Somehow, in all of this, breakfast is largely neglected. You don’t want a big meal, but you definitely need to eat something so you don’t perish while prepping the rest of the day’s food.
Fresh cranberries are in all of the stores right now, ready for cranberry sauce, relish, salsa and every other way they may be used from Thanksgiving to Christmas. I bought a huge 2 lb. bag of them while out at Costco this week.
I love a good tart cranberry and they are delicious cooked up in sweet baked goods, so I set out to find a great breakfast muffin recipe for Thanksgiving morning.
Personally, I do not care for the combination of orange and cranberry, so it was a little challenging to find a starting point sans orange zest.
But I did find a delicious looking recipe on a blog called www.bakemesomesugar.com. Her recipe is for a fairly healthy muffin with a scrumptious streusel topping. Sold!
I am not going to lie to you, there are a few extra steps to these muffins than your average go-to favorites, but some of the steps could be done ahead of time, if you need to skip a step or 2 on Thanksgiving morning. But the extra steps make the muffins extra yummy.
The original recipe uses frozen cranberries, but I wanted to use my fresh beauties. My particular batch of cranberries were quite large, so I started by roughly chopping them.
Instead of using just walnuts, I chose to use a mix of walnuts, pecans and sliced almonds. I also chose to toast them a bit to give them a little more depth. You can always toast up a batch of nuts a day ahead of time, which will save you a step the day you bake.
The streusel topping is also an extra step, but do not skip that. Because cranberries are naturally tart, the added sugar in the topping helps balance the sweet and tart flavors. This step is easy enough to do just after you have filled your baking cups with batter.
The batter is easy enough. Start by mixing your dry ingredients in one bowl. Next you cream granulated sugar and brown sugar with one egg in another bowl. Then add yogurt and oil and combine well. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until just combined. Do not over mix or you will have tough muffins.
The next step is to gently fold in your cranberries. Scoop the batter into your muffin tin and set aside while you prepare the streusel topping.
To prepare the topping, mix together 2 tbsps of flour, 5 tbsps of granulated sugar and some cinnamon with your finely chopped nut mix. Using a pastry cutter or a fork, cut in about 2 1/2 tbsps of butter until the mixture turns into a crumbly consistency.
Sprinkle this yummy mix on top of each muffin and add a little more chopped nuts to each muffin. Bake the muffins for about 15 minutes, or until golden brown.
Like all good muffins, these are best served warm. Because this recipe uses Greek Yogurt and vegetable oil and very little added sugar, they are, in fact, healthy breakfast muffins. Feel free to spread some butter on them for good measure.
Leftovers can be kept in an airtight container on the counter for a day or 2, or keep them in the fridge for up to a week.
These muffins will get you through your viewing of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade, but they will also be great on Christmas morning or any other time you need a healthy breakfast snack.
Even though it has been an unusual year, to say the least, I have a lot to be thankful for, including YOU, my faithful readers. I will be taking next week off spending time with the family that can be here and then enjoying Christmas decorating.
I wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving and I hope you, too, can enjoy time with loved ones.
AuthorMelissa JoyDifficultyBeginnerPreheat the oven to 400ºF and line muffin tins with liners or spray with cooking spray.
In a small nonstick skillet, lightly toast the mixed nuts until fragrant and beginning to brown. Set aside.
Wash and coarsely chop the cranberries and set aside.
In a large bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, soda and salt well. Next, add the oats and mix well.
In another bowl, cream the egg and sugars until frothy.
Add the yogurt and vegetable oil to the creamed sugar and mix well.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until blended, but do not over mix.
Add the coarsely chopped cranberries and gently fold in.
Scoop the muffin batter into the muffin pans and set aside while you prepare the topping.
In a small bowl, mix together the 5 tablespoons of granulated sugar, 2 tablespoons of flour and the cinnamon. Next, add 1/4 cup of finely chopped mixed toasted nuts. Using a pastry cutter or fork, cut in the cold butter until the mixture becomes a crumbly topping.
Sprinkle the muffin batter with streusel topping and a little bit more chopped nuts. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.
Serve warm by themselves, or with a little butter. They can be stored in an airtight container on the counter for about 2 days, or in the fridge for up to a week.
Ingredients
Directions
Preheat the oven to 400ºF and line muffin tins with liners or spray with cooking spray.
In a small nonstick skillet, lightly toast the mixed nuts until fragrant and beginning to brown. Set aside.
Wash and coarsely chop the cranberries and set aside.
In a large bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, soda and salt well. Next, add the oats and mix well.
In another bowl, cream the egg and sugars until frothy.
Add the yogurt and vegetable oil to the creamed sugar and mix well.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until blended, but do not over mix.
Add the coarsely chopped cranberries and gently fold in.
Scoop the muffin batter into the muffin pans and set aside while you prepare the topping.
In a small bowl, mix together the 5 tablespoons of granulated sugar, 2 tablespoons of flour and the cinnamon. Next, add 1/4 cup of finely chopped mixed toasted nuts. Using a pastry cutter or fork, cut in the cold butter until the mixture becomes a crumbly topping.
Sprinkle the muffin batter with streusel topping and a little bit more chopped nuts. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.
Serve warm by themselves, or with a little butter. They can be stored in an airtight container on the counter for about 2 days, or in the fridge for up to a week.
