Crunchy Granola Muffins is a basic muffin recipe transformed into something special! Crunchy on the outside with a soft and fluffy inside and a hint of salted caramel apple deliciousness, these muffins don't last long!

I'm SO excited for fall, y'all! (I couldn't resist the southern rhyme time) I am looking forward to wearing sweaters & boots, eating caramel apples, & baking all day in the cooler weather, just to name a few of my favorite fall things! As soon as I feel that chill in the air, I don my coziest sweater & bake my Crunchy Granola Muffins! Loaded with crunchy granola, these muffins are a fall favorite & disappear quickly!

Granola makes a good snack too! I enjoyed it while making these muffins instead of eating lunch. It is seriously yummilicious and makes a filling treat that keeps you going! It is easy to take on the go, and I love to mix it with my yogurt for a satisfying breakfast or lunch.

Muffins are very easy to make, but they are also very easy to mess up. By using a basic muffin recipe and making sure you measure properly and combine the ingredients in the proper order without over mixing the batter, you will be making perfect muffins every time!

When we make muffins, we combine all the dry ingredients into one bowl. Be sure to use cake flour for best results, and when measuring the flour, you want to spoon the flour into the measuring cup and level the top with a straight edge such as a butter knife. This is the proper way to measure flour to avoid packing the flour and ruining the batter. If you have a kitchen scale, be sure to use it and measure 8 ounces of flour. That will give you the best results by far!

Next we combine all the wet ingredients into another bowl or measuring cup. I like to use a measuring cup to make it easier to pour. 

I make a well in the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients into the well. Gently fold them together until just combined. The batter will be lumpy. We aren't making cupcakes here, so lumpy batter is preferred.

If you over mix muffin batter they won't have the proper consistency and won't get that nice muffin top. The muffin top is the best part, so it is crucial we get this right! Once we have the wet and dry ingredients just barely combined, we can very gently fold in the extra stuff like I did using a little bit of banana and crunchy granola. Again, just barely mix these in.

Then the muffins need to rest a bit to let the baking powder activate. At this time, I preheat my oven and walk away from the muffin batter until my oven is ready. I usually busy my hands by cleaning up the mess I made, or I'll leave the kitchen all together to resist the urge to stir!

Muffins need a burst of heat to get them to rise properly, so I preheat the oven to 400°F. When the oven is preheated, I get my already greased muffin pan and scoop the muffin batter into each cup. I fill these 3/4 full to ensure a nice domed top on my muffins. Then I top them off with more granola to make them extra crunchy and give them a rustic look. I use about a tablespoon of granola topping per muffin.

I bake the muffins 20 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. I allow them to cool in the pan for about 5-10 minutes and then gently run a knife around the edge of each muffin and remove from the pan to cool on a wire rack. Enjoy! Muffins are made to be eaten warm, so don't waste time! Dig in!!

What is your favorite way to enjoy granola?

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Crunchy Granola Muffins

By Life Tastes Good
Published 09/09/2015

Ingredients

• 1 cup cake flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 egg, room temperature
• 3/4 cup milk, room temperature
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 1/2 cup granola
• 1/4 cup mashed banana (about 1/2 of a banana)
• 1 tablespoon each per muffin granola for topping

Instructions

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine 1 cup cake flour (be sure to read my tips above on how to properly measure flour), 1/2 cup sugar, 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt. Whisk to combine and aerate the mixture.
2. In a medium bowl or measuring cup, whisk 1 egg and add in 3/4 cup milk and 5 tablespoons melted butter. Whisk to combine.
3. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients in. Using a flexible, rubber spatula, gently fold the ingredients together. Fold until the mixture is just combined. It will be lumpy. Just make sure you get all the flour off the bottom of the bowl and combined with the wet ingredients. Stop mixing as soon as the ingredients are combined.
4. Gently fold in 1/2 cup granola and 1/4 cup mashed banana (about 1/2 banana) until just combined. The banana helps to keep the muffins from drying out too much and adds a hint of banana flavor, but these are not banana muffins, so the flavor is very subtle.
5. Now, walk away!! Step away from the muffin batter!! It needs to rest to allow the baking powder to activate.
6. While the muffins are resting, preheat the oven to 400°F and grease the inside bottoms of a 12 cup muffin tin. For muffins I prefer to grease the muffins cups instead of using cupcake liners. You can use liners if you prefer. Once your pan is ready, keep your hands busy, so you aren't tempted to stir the muffin batter. I usually clean up my mess or even leave the kitchen all together until the oven is ready.
7. When the oven is ready, I grab my greased muffin pan and scoop the batter into each cup, filling them 3/4 of the way full. Do not stir the batter!! I use an ice cream scoop to scoop the batter into the muffin pan. It works well. This recipe should fill 12 muffin cups, but if you have any empty cups, be sure to add water to them before putting in the oven.
8. Top each muffin with about 1 tablespoon of granola. I press down very lightly just to get it to stick to the batter.
9. Bake the muffins in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Oven temps vary, so the baking time will vary. Leave the oven door closed during baking. I turn on the oven light and leave the kitchen to let them do their thing. Then I come back in the kitchen when they are smelling wonderfully and get so giddy when I look through the oven window and see those beautifully domed muffin tops! Makes me happy every time! It's the little things folks ;)

Yield: 12 muffins
Prep Time: 10 mins.

Cook time: 20 mins.
Total time: 30 mins.