Did you follow the recipe or did you add your own flair?

My first thing that comes to mind when I think of muffins that are small and not very fluffy, is the batter was over mixed.

It’s important to have the dry ingredients mixed well in one bowl, and the wet ingredients beaten and stirred in another bowl before combining them.

Always make a well in the center of the dry ingredients bowl, pour in the wet ingredients and stir just until the flour is moist. Maybe 10 to 15 strokes around the bowl.
There should be lumps, not huge ones, but the batter should be lumpy.

Smooth muffin batter always leads to small, dense muffins with pointy tops.

As for the adding other grains to the flours, such as oatmeal. If I was trying to stay with the 2 cup measurement of flours, I would try a third cup of each and see what type of texture I would get in the end.

If I just wanted to add more grains in addition to the 2 cups of flours, then I wouldn’t add more than 1/3 cup. Adding more could lead to a drier muffin, making you wish you had an extra glass of milk or juice.

Some grains, such as old fashion oatmeal, can be soaked in a little water first to soften, then drained before adding the grain to the batter. It helps remove the chewy texture that gets stuck in our molars. Soaking grains also helps to keep the existing moisture in the batter to aid in the fluffy texture of the baked bread. It’s steam that makes those air pockets and creates the tender bite we love in our muffins.

Soaking dried fruits and nuts in hot water for 5 to 10 minutes before adding them to bread batters is a good thing as well. The fruits and nuts come out tender instead of chewy, and they won’t burn in the baking process if they happen to be on top of the baked good.

Please try them again. I’ve never heard from anyone that said these muffins were salty. One teaspoon of salt compared to the quantities of the other ingredients, I can’t imagine it’s noticeable.