Muffins

I spent most of last night in the kitchen baking goodies for a retirement brunch for the lady who has cleaned the library for many years. We were all sad to see her go. Since it was a brunch, I decided to make bran muffins and chocolate muffins that are actually more like brownie cupcakes. I also decided to make chocolate banana cookies at the last minute. 

Here is the Bran Muffin recipe -

2 oz. (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
1/4 cup dark or light molasses or honey
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1 1/2 cup bran cereal
5 oz. (1 cup) raisins
4 oz. (1 cup) walnuts, broken into small pieces
1/2 cup sifted all-purpose whole wheat flour (stir lightly to aerate before measuring)
1/2 cup sifted all-purpose white flour (stir lightly to aerate before measuring)
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 400. Adjust rack to center of the oven. Butter and line muffin pans with paper liners (you can also make them without the liners).

Melt the butter in a small pan over low heat.

Pour the melted butter into a large mixing bowl.

Add the sugar

Add the honey (or molasses)

In a separate small bowl, beat the eggs only to mix.

Gradually add the milk and mix.

Slowly add the egg mixture to the butter mixture, stirring with a wire whisk to blend.

Add the bran.

Add the raisins.

Add the walnuts.

Sift together the whole wheat flour, the all-purpose flour, salt and baking soda.

Add the sifted ingredients to the bran mixture.

Stir with a rubber spatula very little and quickly, only until the dry ingredients are moistened.

Bake for 10-15 minutes, just until the tops spring back when lightly pressed. Baking may take a few minutes longer if you refrigerated the wet ingredients overnight. Cool on racks.

Variations: You can add about 12 coarsely cut dates or 6 coarsely cut dried prunes along with the raisins. Or add a few spoonfuls of pumpkin or unsalted sunflower seeds along with the nuts. Or sprinkle the tops with sesame seeds before baking. 


Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy