Oat Flour Apple Muffins in the Dutch Oven
Blended oats stand in for flour. Applesauce does the work of most of the fat.
- calories
- 170
- weight
- 2.2 oz
- cal / oz
- 77
- protein
- 4 g
- serves
- 12, scales
- prep
- 15 min
- cook
- 25 min
- total time
- 40 min
- water
- none
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Breakfast
- Snack
- Dutch oven
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Vegetarian
- Real dishes
- Pre-mix at home
- Needs a cooler
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| Rolled oats | 2 1/2 cups | blended to flour at home; quick oats and steel cut both fail here |
|---|---|---|
| Baking powder | 2 tsp | |
| Baking soda | 1/2 tsp | |
| Ground cinnamon | 1 1/2 tsp | |
| Ground ginger | 1/2 tsp | |
| Salt | 1/2 tsp | |
| Eggs | 2 | carried in a hard case in the cooler |
| Unsweetened applesauce | 1 cup | single-serve cups travel without leaking |
| Brown sugar | 1/2 cup | |
| Butter, melted | 1/4 cup | coconut oil works and holds better in heat |
| Vanilla extract | 2 tsp | |
| Apple | 1 medium | cored and diced small |
| Turbinado sugar | 1 tbsp | optional, for the tops |
Method
- Burn a fire down to coals well before you start. You want a bed, not flames.
- Stir the premixed oat flour, leaveners, spices, and salt in one bowl. Beat the eggs, applesauce, brown sugar, melted butter, and vanilla in the other.
- Pour wet into dry and stir until it just comes together. Fold in the diced apple. Let it sit ten minutes so the oat flour drinks the liquid.
- Grease a 12-inch dutch oven or set 12 foil liners inside it. Spoon in the batter and scatter the turbinado sugar over the tops.
- Lid on. Put 8 coals under the oven and 16 on the lid. Bake 22 to 28 minutes.
- Check by lifting the lid straight up so ash does not fall in. A pick pushed into the center should come out clean. Rotate oven and lid a quarter turn every ten minutes if one side is running hot.
There is no flour in this. Rolled oats blended fine enough behave close to soft wheat flour, and the little bit of texture they leave is the point. Oat flour also drinks liquid slowly, which is why the batter rests before it goes in the oven. Skip the rest and the muffins come out wet in the middle.
Applesauce carries most of the moisture, so the butter is down to a quarter cup for twelve muffins. The diced apple is there because oat batter tends toward uniform and dense, and pockets of fruit break that up. Coals are the variable you actually control: too many underneath and the bottoms scorch before the centers set, which is why most of the heat sits on the lid.
Packing
Blend the oats to flour at home and mix them with the leaveners, spices, and salt in a bag. Sugar goes in that same bag. Eggs, butter, and apple ride in the cooler. Applesauce and vanilla are shelf-stable and can live in the food bin.
Variations
- Swap the butter for coconut oil and the eggs for 2 tbsp ground flax in 6 tbsp water, and it goes vegan.
- Half a cup of raisins or dried cranberries replaces the fresh apple if you would rather not carry one.
- Bake the batter flat in a greased foil pan over the same coals and cut it into bars. Faster and it packs better.
https://projectmealplan.com/oatmeal-applesauce-blender-muffins