Oatmeal and Apple Muffins

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix oats and buttermilk in a large bowl and allow to stand for 15 minutes. Add beaten egg, brown sugar and oil to oat mixture. In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder, soda, salt and cinnamon. Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix just until combined (overmixing may result in lower-quality muffins with peaked tops and tunnels). Gently stir in apple. Fill muffin liners or greased muffin cups about two-third full of batter. Sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar topping (1 T. sugar and ¼ tsp. cinnamon). Bake regular muffins for 15 to 18 minutes, or 20 to 23 minutes for jumbo muffins, until lightly browned and a toothpick comes out clean.

NOTES: If you don’t have quick-cooking oats, pulse rolled oats in a food processor, about five or six times, until oats are chopped smaller and reach the consistency of quick-cooking oats. Buttermilk can be made simply by combining 1 cup milk with 1 T. white vinegar and letting it stand for five minutes.