Oatmeal “Muffones”
For reasons that are unclear, there has been an organic and cage-free egg shortage that has been wreaking havoc on our food plans. We usually have a freezer stockpiled with muffins that we use for breakfasts and in school lunches. Our boys often have eggs for breakfasts. We are big fans of fried rice for a quick weeknight dinner. All of that has become much less possible when you can only get half-a-dozen eggs for more than $4…
While it has been a major pain in the butt, it has also been sort of a good wake-up call about how dependent we are upon others for our food. I was chatting with the cashier at the supermarket and he told me that customers had started asking for the names of farms they could contact to buy eggs directly (really, what we should be doing anyway, but that’s another topic for another post). The other perk of fewer eggs is that it has also forced me to be creative and that is how “muffones” were born.
I wanted to come up with an egg-free baked good that I could have on hand for breakfasts and lunches. We’ve done a variety of scones, but I wanted something with oats and something that I could make as muffins, which do better in lunch boxes. I decided to do half oats, half flour (in this case, spelt but whole wheat would also work well) as I often do in muffins, but to use buttermilk, as I would in scones, to help them to rise. This morning, when I came down the boys were happily diving into what they and my husband had decided to dub, “muffones”—half muffin, half scone. They are delicious! Hearty enough to keep you going for a morning, but not as bready as scones. They are great with some butter, jam, and/or honey. Enjoy!
Also, if you have any egg-free options to share, please do so in the comments. I’d love to hear them!!

Oatmeal "Muffones"
Ingredients
- 1 cup spelt or whole wheat flour
- 1 cup oats
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1 cups mix of chopped nuts and dried fruit walnuts, pecans, cranberries, sultanas, etc.
- 1 cup buttermilk or 1 scant cup whole milk with 1 tablespoon lemon juice, left to sit 5-10 minutes until thickened/starting to curdle
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 390. Put liners into muffin tins.
- In a large bowl blend flour, oats, salt, sugar, and baking soda. Mush in the butter with your fingers (great thing to do with kids!). When well combined, add in the mix of nuts and dried fruit. Add in buttermilk and stir until just combined with a wooden spoon. Distribute the batter amongst your muffin tins. (NOTE: If you want really big ones, you could distribute just amongst 6 or 8 cups, but if you want smaller ones, say for lunches for little kids, all 12 would work well.)
- Bake for 20 minutes. Let muffones cool on cooling rack. Eat or freeze for later use.