Muffins won't rise

Rogueish

I've recently got this recipe for oat and raisin muffins. I'm not a great breakfast person but these are really nice in the morning.

I only have the large 6 cup muffin tins and this recipe should make 12 so it does fill the muffin cups but even when I add in extra raising agent they do not rise. If anyone has any solutions I'd be very grateful.

This is the recipe:

8oz Rolled Oats
8 fl oz Buttermilk
4oz Butter at room temperature
3.5 oz of dark brown sugar
1 egg at room temperature
4 oz flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp of bicarbonate of soda
1/4 tsp of salt
1 oz raisins

Method:
- Combine milk and oats in a bowl and leave for 1 hour to soak
- Lightly grease a 12 cup muffin tin
- Preheat oven to Gas 6
- With an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Beat in the egg
- In another bowl sift the flour, baking powder, salt and bicarbonate
- Add it in to the mixture, alternating with the oat mixture
- Fold in the raisins
- Do not overmix
- Fill the prepared cups three quarters full.
- Bake until the a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean (about 20-25 mins)

The Sweeper

Baking powder makes the flour rise, but your base is oats, and it's not going to do anything to them to be honest. Are your muffins turning out like dwarf-bread?

If they are, try playing around a bit with your oats vs flour ratio and add another tsp of baking powder. That's all I could suggest tbh.

Rogueish

Thanks for your reply,

Ok I've made this oat based loaf http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/appledriedcherryanda_85217.shtml and there has been no problem with it rising so maybe if I cut down on the oats so.

P.S. the dried apple, cherry and almond loaf is really delicious fresh from the oven or even toasted. I've cut back on the honey when I've made it though.

The Sweeper

Sounds good. Funny you say that about the honey - I'd cut back on the sugar and use the set amount of honey. I've begun to think that some of the celebrity chefs are unnecessarily flagrant with their use of sugars, creams etc.

Himself made a batch of those Jaimie Oliver red-nose-day flapjacks recently. They tasted of too much butter and sugar. For a laugh I calculated the calories in one 1.5" square flapjack.

So then we put the rest of the tray full in the bin.

catho_monster

Minesajackdaniels wrote:

Sounds good. Funny you say that about the honey - I'd cut back on the sugar and use the set amount of honey. I've begun to think that some of the celebrity chefs are unnecessarily flagrant with their use of sugars, creams etc.

Himself made a batch of those Jaimie Oliver red-nose-day flapjacks recently. They tasted of too much butter and sugar. For a laugh I calculated the calories in one 1.5" square flapjack.

So then we put the rest of the tray full in the bin.

Ok, i've only made flapjacks that taste like that too (usually because there's nothing in the house but porridge oats and i need something sweet), but im really sick of them.
any recipes for ones that dont taste like that?

The Sweeper

I don't make them to be honest. I'd experiment happily enough with a base recipe. I might take JO's version, use 1/3 the butter, substitute some of the sugar and golden syrup parts for something else (honey instead of sugar and cut back on teh syrup?), maybe add an egg (they are baked after all) - I might even soak the oats in a little milk before adding the other ingredients. Basically you want oaty goodness, dried fruity goodness and something to bind it. That binding mix doesn't have to be a 500g butter/sugar mix.

Faith

I've been experimenting with flapjacks recently and I can't get them right! They're either too dry or too sticky. I either add too many oats, or not enough. I make them for the same reason as catho_monster, I need the sugar rush. I've been using the recipe off the back of a box of porage oats, I might try a different one next time. So fattening, but soooo tasty...