Wind Swept

I love to bake when it is stormy. Nothing makes you feel warm and cozy like fresh baked muffins. One possible down side would be a power failure mid-bake. I have a scar on my finger from one such muffin making extravaganza. The nut chopping got a little wild and the knife got away from me, a snow storm I can never forget. The muffins were good though. 

This has all been a great winter welcome back to the West Coast. The rest of our vacation was amazing. The only down side was when my son projectile vomited while our plane was taxing to our gate in Vancouver. Apparently he doesn't do turbulence. FYI: there are no bathrooms until you get through customs. Good times, at least it was landing and not take off (to be honest Hudson and my husband bore the brunt of it).

Up until this point I have never made bran muffins, quite possibly a reason to have my right to practice revoked I am sure. I like bran muffins a lot, but just didn’t ever see a good enough recipe to make me go out and buy some bran (kind of a key ingredient). This Buttermilk Bran Muffin recipe was the one, bran bought.

Ingredients: 
1 cup wheat bran
1 1/3 cups whole wheat flour 
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups low-fat buttermilk (if you don't have buttermilk add 1 generous tbsp of white vinegar or lemon juice to 1 1/4 cups of milk and let sit for 5 mins.....magic)
1/4 granulated sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 large egg
1 1/2 tablespoons canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method:
Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350°.
Lightly spray or line with muffin liners twelve nonstick muffin cups with oil.
In a medium bowl, whisk the bran, flour, baking soda, and salt until well combined. Set aside.
In another medium bowl, using a handheld eletric mixer set at high speed, beat the buttermilk, sugar, applesauce, egg, oil and vanilla until frothy, about two minutes. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, and pour in the buttermilk mixture. Using a spoon, stir just until combined. Do not overmix.
Divide the batter equally among the prepared muffin cups. Bake until the tops spring back when pressed gently in the center, about 20 minutes. Do not overbake. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes before removing from the cups. Serve warm or cool completely on the rack. Adapted from here.

This is the basic recipe, which I think begs for additions. I added 1 cup of frozen blueberries and one tsp of cinnamon. The possibilities are endless: raisins, nuts (don't cut your finger tip off), shredded carrot with ginger, mashed banana, etc. I really loved the texture of these muffins, they were also very moist. They freeze well too. Loaded with fiber, low in sugar and saturated fat. 

Fire up the oven and use the stormy weather as an excuse to bake...