These Blueberry Oatmeal Cups Taste Like Muffins Without the Flour

A muffin tin can turn oatmeal into a breakfast you can pick up instead of eat from a bowl. These blueberry oatmeal cups use rolled oats as the base, with applesauce, almond milk, egg whites, hemp seeds, honey, and fresh blueberries holding each portion together.

There is no flour in the recipe. The oat mixture bakes at 375°F until the cups hold their shape, then gets three minutes under the broiler for a firmer top. Each cup also gets an indent in the center that makes room for honey after baking.

Rolled Oats Replace the Flour

One cup of rolled oats forms the base of the cups, while a quarter cup of hemp seeds adds another dry ingredient to the mix. Unsweetened applesauce, almond milk, egg whites, vanilla, and three tablespoons of honey provide the moisture needed to bind the oats.

Mix the ingredients without the blueberries, then leave the mixture for about 10 minutes. That gives the oats time to absorb some of the liquid before the fruit goes in.

Fresh Blueberries Go Into the Oat Mixture

Half a cup of fresh blueberries gets folded into the mixture after the 10-minute rest. This puts pieces of fruit inside each cup rather than using blueberries as a topping.

Divide the mixture among 10 greased muffin cups. The oats, applesauce, egg whites, and fruit bake together into portions that can be removed from the pan once cool.

Press an Indent Into Each Cup Before Baking

Before the muffin tin goes into the oven, use the back of a spoon to press a small indent into the center of each portion. Bake the cups for 20 minutes at 375°F, then broil them for another three minutes to give the tops more crust.

Check the centers when they come out of the oven. If the indent has filled in during baking, press it again with the back of a spoon while the cups still hold some heat.

Honey Fills the Center After the Cups Cool

The remaining honey isn't mixed into the batter. Once the oatmeal cups have cooled and can be removed from the tin, add about one teaspoon of honey to the indent in each cup.

A scatter of hemp seeds finishes the top. The result sits somewhere between baked oatmeal and a blueberry muffin in format, with whole oats in place of flour and a pocket of honey in the center.

These cups can be eaten as they are or heated before serving. More important, the muffin tin changes how oatmeal works at breakfast: instead of making another bowl, the same staple becomes 10 individual portions with blueberries baked inside and honey added after they leave the oven.