“There is nothing I would not do for those who are really my friends. I have no notion of loving people by halves, it’s not my nature.”  ~Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey

That’s right…if I love you, I bake for you. So today my readers, I’m baking for you. I am grateful every day that you are here to read and see what we’ve been up to. So today I am making an early Valentine from me to you…

Raspberry oatmeal muffins. And don’t forge the glaze. It’s the best part.

Oh, and the wearing of polka dots and fuzzy slippers while making this recipe is completely optional, but I do find it makes the muffins taste that much better…

All good “lovey” recipes start off with a little sugar…Once you’ve got your sugar in the bowl, mix in your oil or butter together until it’s nice a creamy. I will tell you now though…butter just tastes better. It’s a fact. Add in your eggs one at a time, mixing thoroughly between each egg. Add your yogurt and stir it all up…

Now this is where I get lazy. I’m not a fan of dishes. This means I don’t WANT to get a separate bowl to mix my dry ingredients in. So I don’t. They’re just muffins…not a souffle! I pile up all my dry ingredients on one side of the bowl just like this…Then I add my oats on the other side and kind of mix them all gently on the top of my wet ingredients. Once they are kind of jumbled together, I dig right in and start mixing the wet into the dry…*Side note: I would use quick oats if you have picky eaters in your house…some of the smalls didn’t like the big chewy bits.

Now you can fold in your raspberries. I had some frozen raspberry puree in my freezer from the summer, so I used a cup of that. If you are using fresh or frozen whole raspberries, you should use 2 cups so you get a good, strong raspberry flavour going on.Mix gently until your batter is pink…*If you are using fozen raspberries, your batter will not turn pink, but it will still be pretty!

I used tart-sized pans for our muffins so they could fit in the kids’ bento boxes…Drop batter by the tablespoonful into your muffin papers…Bake 10-12 minutes for the tiny muffins.

Once your muffins have cooled, get your glaze on…And there you have it…

RECIPE IN FULL…(adapted from The Heartland Cafe Cookbook and Dinner With Julie)

If you want to make the muffins larger, by all means go ahead! I made some heart-shaped ones in the bigger cups. They baked for 15-18 minutes.

Happy Valentine’s Day, and thanks for reading…

Arlee, Small Potatoes