Ypsi Cooks

Tom is emphatic about one thing: you must do at least 1 I-wouln't-have-done-this-except-it's-a-snow-day thing on each and every snow day. Getting caught up on laundry and cleaning the bathroom are allowed, as long as you do at least one totally fun snow day thing. For me, that means muffins. I started making these last spring and haven't made them much since, because they're really a cool weather muffin in my opinion. They've got that cozy molasses thing going for them, and I like them a lot, even with the lower sugar option.

Bran Muffins adapted from Joy
Makes 12 good sized muffins

Dry ingredients:
2 c flour (I used white whole wheat)
1 1/3 c oat or wheat bran
3/4 t baking soda
1/2 t salt

Wet ingredients:
2 large eggs
2-4 tbsp sugar
1 1/3 c butter milk*
1/4 c molasses
1/4 c apple sauce
1/4 c butter, melted and cooled
zest of 1 orange (at least 2 tsp).

1/2 c rasins (I once tried apricots, but the flavor was lost entirely)
1/2 c. walnuts, chopped

Preheat oven to 350*. Grease a 12 cup muffin tin. Mix the dry and wet ingredients separately. Add the raisins and nuts to the wet ingredients. Mix the wet into the dry. Do not over mix, but be sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl. Divide the batter between the muffin cups. Bake for 20-22 min until a toothpick come out with just a few crumbs. Let cool 2-3 min before removing from pan. Serve hot or cool on a cooling rack.

*or put 1 tbsp vinegar in measuring cup and top off with milk. let sit for at least 5 min. Or do 1/2 milk, 1/2 yogurt. I just took the extra whey from my messed up batch of yogurt (about 1/3 cup) and topped that off with milk to equal the recipe amount. The key is to have that acid to interact with the baking soda, but the flavor of real buttermilk is irreplaceable.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 10th, 2010 at 8:50 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.