I have been craving Bran Muffins with raisins lately. I know, it’s a weird craving to have. The thing is I love them. I especially love homemade muffins that are not too big, have beautiful texture and just the right amount of sweetness. My big problem with bran muffins in general is that many of them are overly sweetened as if to hide the fact that they are in fact filled with bran. This is a no-no for me. Muffins in my opinion should not be cupcakes without icing. Muffins should be a quick handheld snack that’s got style and flavour of it’s own. I want them to be healthy (or healthy-ish) and provide my family with the boost of energy needed to make it to the next meal. It’s hard to find a good muffin recipe that meets these criteria.
With these requirements in my pocket and a weekend worth of reading up on bran muffins and what it takes to create a good one this morning I set about making the perfect bran muffin. I had everything ready to go and was about to get the raisins to mix in when I discovered that there were in fact no raisins left in the container. It would seem that our house has an elf who sneaks into the cupboard and eats all the raisins. I wonder who that might be? A quick switch was required and I pulled some dried cherries out instead. Can I just say that it was perfection? Seriously delicious and not something I would have thought to do had raisins been available.
Lotsa Cherry and Bran Muffins
Makes 12
Ingredients:
1 c soy milk
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 c wheat bran
1 c whole wheat pastry flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c maple sugar
1/2 c applesauce
1/4 c canola oil
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 c dried cherries
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a muffin tin with liners or lightly spray.
In a small bowl combine the soy milk and apple cider vinegar. Set aside.
In a large bowl whisk together the wheat bran, whole wheat pastry flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
Add the maple sugar, applesauce, canola oil and vanilla to the soy milk mixture. Stir until well combined.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until combined taking care not to over mix.
Fold in the dried cherries and then pour mixture into the muffin tin.
Bake for 25 minutes or until muffins are finished.
Remove from oven and set aside to cool completely.
Extra Information:
These taste delicious warm but you may lose half the muffin with the liner. If you let them cool completely they will peel off perfectly.
If your not into cherries feel free to sub in whatever dried fruit suits your fancy.
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