These giant gluten free oatmeal chocolate chip muffins are the first new giant muffin recipe that I’ve made in months and it feels good to get back to the giant muffin tradition! The last 5 weeks have shaken me up quite a bit and I’m thankful for friends and family who have truly supported me through unexpected challenges and disturbing events. And through their support, I’ve been able to regain my energy for getting creative and doing activities that I love, like baking and food photography. If you’re feeling down or low on energy or emotionally drained, I’m sending you comfort and support and hoping that you can get back to things that make you happy and feel alive very soon.
For those of you just joining, I started creating GIANT muffin recipes over a year ago after reminiscing over the giant Costco muffins we used to eat as kids prior to getting diagnosed with Celiac. The giant muffin saga has since developed into a plethora of flavors beyond the classic Costco lot, though over the past few months I’ve pulled back from recipe development overall including brainstorming the next addition to the giant muffin line up. I’m very excited to finally get back to it. As a bit of context, here are all of the other giant muffin recipes I’ve made so far: giant poppyseed muffins, giant blueberry muffins, giant chocolate chip muffins, giant double chocolate muffins, giant banana nut muffins, giant strawberry rhubarb muffins, giant apple streusel muffins, these giant lemon raspberry muffins, giant cherry chocolate chip muffins, these giant coffee walnut muffins, these giant pistachio apricot muffins, these giant orange marmalade muffins, these giant zucchini muffins, these giant mango muffins, these giant peach muffins, these giant chocolate zucchini muffins, these giant lavender earl grey muffins, these giant lemon saffron muffins, these giant ube white chocolate muffins, these giant chocolate orange muffins, these giant cinnamon chip muffins, these giant pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, these giant toasted almond muffins, these giant black sesame and white chocolate muffins, these giant carrot cake muffins, these giant chocolate ginger muffins, these giant cranberry orange muffins, these giant chocolate pear muffins, these giant cornbread muffins, these giant pineapple coconut muffins, and these giant chocolate Baileys muffins!
Tips for the best Giant Gluten Free Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Muffins:
A few tips for getting these to turn out perfectly:
- Use the right-size of pan! Apparently, Costco keeps their giant muffin pans as a trade secret because we can’t find them ANYWHERE on the internet and you can find EVERYTHING on the internet. Bravo, Costco, for a secret well-kept. However, we’ve found a way to crack the code and gone ahead and just used these brilliant 4-inch cake pans because, after careful inspection, we’ve discovered that Costco muffins are exactly 4-inches in diameter! HA! Take that, Costco-bakery-lords. I never thought I’d be regularly using 4-inch cake pans but here we are. I’ll just need to make a bunch of tiny cake recipes next!
- Use an electric mixer as instructed! I’ve done a lot of continued experimentation through all of the giant muffin recipes and I’ve discovered that using an electric mixer is actually the best way to get fluffy muffins that rise properly!
- Use a good 1-1 gluten free flour mix! We use the Bob’s Red Mill one (the baking mix), though we’ve heard good things about Cup-4-Cup. Here in the UK, I’ve been using the Freee From Dove’s gluten free plain flour mix. We’ve only tested this recipe with this one so if you want them to turn out exactly like ours, we recommend snagging a bag of that specific 1-1 gluten free flour.
- Do NOT open the oven door during baking time. Tape it shut if you have to! You can certainly turn on the oven light and peek and the gloriousness that is a set of rising muffins nearly-ready to be devoured, but do not open that door! Opening the door will immediately lower the oven temp and prohibit your muffins from rising correctly. If you’re in the last few minutes of baking and need to test to see if they’re done, open the oven just a tiny bit and reach in and just tap the top of one – if it springs back it’s done, if it presses in like a foam mattress topper, it’s not and needs a couple more minutes.
- Press the crumble into the muffin batter! This is key – you want your crumble to really stick to the muffin tops and because they rise so much, if you don’t press the crumble firmly into the batter, the crumbs are likely to fall off!
- These will keep in an airtight container (or in ziplock baggies) for a week or so – and they freeze REALLY well! So if you want to make a batch and save a bunch, put them in a sturdy plastic container or a freezer plastic bag and pop them in there. Then microwave for about 30-45 seconds (from frozen) before eating! I even like popping mine in the microwave for 10-15 seconds from room temp to get them all warm and floofy again before eating.
Giant Gluten Free Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Muffins
Equipment
- Six 4-inch round cake pans (link below to the ones we use)
- Electric mixer
- Cookie sheet
Ingredients
For the crumble topping:
- 5 Tbsp salted butter melted
- 1/2 Cup plus 1 Tbsp gluten free 1-1 flour mix with xanthan gum added if it doesn’t have xanthan gum, add 1/8 teaspoon xanthan gum
- 1/2 Cup quick cooking gluten free oats
- 1/4 Cup packed brown sugar
- 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
- pinch salt
- 1/8 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 Tbsp blanched almond flour
For the muffins:
- 1 Cup white sugar
- 1/2 Cup packed light brown sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 1 Cup vegetable oil
- 1 Cup milk
- 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
- 2 ¾ Cups gluten free 1-1 flour mix with xanthan gum added if it doesn’t have xanthan gum, add 1 teaspoon xanthan gum
- 1/2 Cup packed blanched almond flour
- ½ Cup cornstarch or arrowroot starch
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 2 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 2 Cups gluten free rolled oats not quick cooking
- 1 ½ Cups chocolate chips (plus a few extra for the tops of the muffins)
Instructions
- First, make the crumble topping. In a medium bowl, combine all of the crumble topping ingredients (the flour, quick oats, butter, cinnamon, brown sugar, vanilla, salt, almond flour), mixing together until all of the flour has been combined and there is no extra white/floury/oat bits. Then start crumbling the mixture into smaller chunks (1/4-1/2 inch chunks) and then let the crumble sit while you make the muffin batter.
- Make the muffin batter! It will need to rest at room temp for 20 minutes before baking. First, in a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the eggs, white sugar, and brown sugar until lighter (2 minutes). Add the oil, milk, and vanilla and beat to combine then add the flour, starch, almond flour, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt and beat to combine. Finally, fold in the rolled oats and chocolate chips until smooth.
- Place your six 4-inch cake pans on a cookie sheet and grease each pan with cooking spray or room temp butter, then spoon batter into each one evenly (they should be about 3/4 full). Then press the crumble topping onto the muffin batter in each pan and press in a few chocolate chips (optional).
- Then let the batter sit either on the counter for 20 minutes before baking. Once the batter has rested preheat the oven to 425° Fahrenheit. Bake for 5 minutes and then turn down the temperature to 350° (without opening the oven door!! Keep it closed) and continue 30-40 minutes until a skewer inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean (do NOT open the oven while baking or the muffins will not rise fully, only open the oven a tiny bit to check if done). Let cool nearly-completely before turning out.
Tag @sisterssansgluten on Instagram if you snap a photo of your muffins!
Food photography and styling by Amelia Farber
