Bran Muffins are a Very Old Favorite

Long, long before bran and fiber became a health food, I loved bran muffins. Kellogg's® All-Bran® was common in our house when I grew up, and I recall my Grandma eating it as well. Of course, as a child, I didn't grasp what the reasoning was for this cereal, but I liked it. Even better though, were the bran muffins. No matter what, I have loved bran muffins.

Despite that, I hadn't eaten them or made them in a very long while, back when I started this blog back in 2012. And it wasn't until 2014 that I received all the bread cookbooks that started my journey into coaxing flavor from whole wheat, and not yet for another year or so that it came to be that I had a lot of accumulated bran at my disposal. I had long ago stopped eating cereal of any kind but oatmeal, so I wasn't keeping the All-Bran cereal at home, either. Many of the new bread recipes called for sifted whole wheat flour. As I was grinding my own wheat berries, for even better flavor (read more about why, here), some needed only the largest of bran flakes sifted from the flour, resulting in varying amounts of bran leftover. 

Bran Muffins with Raisins and Walnuts

It was still quite some while of accumulating bran that I reasoned, "I can make Bran Muffins!"

Once I finally sat down to create a bran muffin recipe, first looking into recipes all over online at the time, to compare what was done, read comments about them and such, I cobbled together a plan. And it was still a while before I got to the point of making them. I cannot recall why it took so long to actually get around to making them, except for the fact of a whole lot of things happening in my life back then. Once I did, I made them quite a few times, and quickly ran out of all the accumulated bran I had stored, and once again I lapsed. 

I did include the recipe in my Newsletter, which is now defunct, so once more I am placing it here to keep.

 

Bran Muffins with Raisins and Walnuts

Makes 12 muffins

Bran Muffins with Raisins and Walnuts

1 cup wheat bran 
1½ cups whole wheat or whole Kamut flour 
2½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt)
½ cup raisins
½ cup chopped walnuts 
¼ cup sugar, or palm sugar 
¾ cup milk
½ cup unsweetened applesauce
¼ cup molasses 
2 tablespoons cooking oil of choice
2 large eggs, beaten lightly

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease or spray with cooking spray the wells of a 12-well muffin tin, or line wells with muffin papers Set aside.

In a mixing bowl, combine the first 8 dry ingredients and stir them together, ensuring the raisins are all separated from one another for even distribution. The raisins may be substituted with dates, if preferred.

Separately, whisk together the milk, applesauce, molasses, oil and eggs. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon or spatula, just until all the dry ingredients are moistened. Quickly, scoop the batter into the prepared muffin wells, dividing the batter evenly between the wells, and pop the tin into the oven on a middle rack for about 15 minutes, or until a tester inserted in the center comes out mostly clean.

Remove the tin from the oven and set aside for 5 to 9 minutes, at which time the muffins will release quite easily from the tin. Serve warm, preferably with butter, for a treat any time.

My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Ground Cherries and Applesauce

Thyme Flower closeup, taken with an old Cannon Powershot

I have been very absorbed in beautiful food styling photography lately. I have been completely caught up pinning photos on Pinterest, to a board I called Artwork & Photography I Like. I am always in raptures over foods, and when I can take a photo that seems to really do it justice, I am well-pleased. I created the food, the food was amazing and I photographed it well - what more can one ask? Sometimes I am inspired by a photo I have seen, and try to do something similar - just to see if I can. I love photography. That said, I am no well-schooled photographer. I love taking photos. For the longest time my entire focus was on flowers. Big flowers, tiny flowers, and sometimes the tinier the better. All this is because I love to see what my naked eyes cannot. When I can get a photograph that shows me what a thyme flower (at about ⅛-inch in diameter) looks like closeup - now that makes me ecstatic. Stevia Flowers were one of the hardest for me to capture. They are similar sized to the thyme flowers, but for some reason came out slightly blurry every time. The thyme and stevia and many other tiny things, were photographed with an old Cannon Powershot digital camera that had the ability to do macro-like photography. I spent more time with that lens practically right against the subject than any other way.

Litchi Tomato - Solanum sysimbrium courtesy of Mother Earth News

Now I have a Nikon SLR digital, and use some of the functions, but am still no expert. The manual settings are a now and again venture. Most often I use Auto! I cannot take the closeup shots to simulate macro with the current lenses I own, so it's probably a good thing that I am mainly taking photos of food. And, when it comes down to it, my old iPhone often takes photos almost as good! 

So on Thursday, Farmers' Market Day, I went to one of my favorite vendors this year. He has been selling exclusively heirloom varieties of tomatoes, and has had a lot of varieties. Many of the photos I have posted have been of his tomatoes. I should have his name, but I do not! So as of this past Thursday, my own tomato plants decided to - finally - ripen a lot of tomatoes. There were so many I was not sure if I should keep on picking, since the bag was getting so heavy. I went to my favorite tomato vendor with no need to buy tomatoes this time, but he had a few other things. One was something I had never seen before: Litchi Tomatoes. They are not actually tomatoes at all, but are a member of the nightshade family. They were in a prickly husk. The fruit was the size of a larger cherry tomato and very red, yet the inside, filled with edible seeds was bright yellow. He had some for people to try and I tasted one. It is sweet, not really like a tomato at all.

Ground Cherries. Probably Physalis pruinosa, though there are nearly 100 different varieties.

The other fruit he had to sell were little bowls of Ground Cherries, another plant of the nightshade (Solanaceae) family. These are fruits I have seen before, and actually tasted once a couple of years back. These also are sweet, with another flavor in there I cannot describe. I liked them, and bought one bowl worth. When I was in Guatemala I became very well acquainted with Tomatillos. Tomatillos grow inside a papery husk, just as do these ground cherries. Tomatillos can grow to small tomato size, though in Guatemala, they were generally not much larger than an inch or so in diameter. The ground cherries are, on average, about ½-inch in diameter. They are filled with seeds and look similar to a tiny cherry tomato, but these are an orange-yellow in color. Where tomatillos fill out their husk and sometimes split it open when ripe, the ground cherries do not fill out the husk at all. They are tasty though. This morning I wanted to take some photos before I ate them all. The photo of ground cherries above, setting on a whiteboard, was taken with my Nikon D5000. Below is a photo of ground cherries on a mirror, taken with my older iPhone.

So here I was with this little bowl of ground cherries. I ate a few just as they were, but with my son and his wife here, I had other things to eat. Last evening, with the kids gone home, I had a few tiny apples from my sister in law's trees. The trees are amazingly laden with fruits, but this year the apples are so small, barely the size of a ping-pong ball. Far too much work to try and peel and freeze. I fear this years crop will all end up on the ground. But I had about 9 of these tiny little apples. I had a leftover pork chop to eat. I thought: APPLESAUCE! I rarely eat applesauce. I do love it when made fresh, with a lot of cinnamon. But I have been avoiding sugar as much as possible, so I wondered what it would be like with stevia? 
 
I peeled and cored the tiny apples, yielding slightly less than 1 1/2 cups of fruit. I set the apples in a small saucepan to cook with about 3/4 cup of water and a teaspoon of cinnamon (cassia), intending to just let the mixture cook down to mush. And last moment I thought about the ground cherries, which are sweeter than the apples. I took husks off and cut in half about ½ cup of them, as an experiment, and added them to the apples in the pan. Obviously, this could be made with only apples. My sense is that the ground cherries, if you have enough of them, would also make a wonderful sauce all on their own. I let the mixture cook down for about 25 minutes or so and most of the water was cooked out. I added in 2 droppers full of English Toffee flavored liquid Stevia and stirred. It was just delicious. And just enough for two, though the recipe can be doubled, tripled or made as needed.

No Sugar Apple & Ground Cherry Sauce

No Sugar Apple & Ground Cherry Sauce

No Sugar Apple & Ground Cherry Sauce

Serves 2

1½ cups tart apples, peeled, cored, sliced
½ cup ground cherries, husked, halved
1 teaspoon cinnamon, or to taste
¾ cup water
½ teaspoon liquid Stevia English Toffee flavor was great!

Place all ingredients except stevia into a small saucepan, bring to a boil, lower heat to medium low and cook until the fruits are completely disintegrated, about 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from heat and add the stevia.

My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Revisiting a Past Recipe

Last year's Lavender Nut Tea Loaf, in pieces

Nearly one year ago, I created a recipe for a dessert loaf I called Lavender Nut Tea Loaf. I had an idea and put it together, baked it. It smelled heavenly. It ended up tasting sublime. The part in between was the rub. Trying to take it out of the loaf pan was a complete and total disaster. It came out in bits and pieces, as it stuck to the pan.

All these bits and pieces were eaten, but there was no way to take a lovely photo of any of it, as it just broke up so completely. I titled that blog "Triumph and Failure Hand in Hand." Today I was thinking about that recipe and decided to take another look. Believe me, I have thought of it many times over this past year, but only today it seemed I had both the inclination and the time to revisit this recipe.

Thinking back, I was of the impression I had used yellow summer squash in the recipe, but that was incorrect. Today I did have some little patty-pan squash on the counter, so in making a revision of the recipe, and I did add some of those. Other things I decided to change were lowering sugar content as well as fat content. I skipped eggs completely and used flax meal and water as an egg-substitute (soak for 10 minutes - 1 tablespoon of flax meal with 3 tablespoons water to equal 1 egg). I used applesauce instead of some of the fat. I kept the same amount of lavender flowers in the recipe since these were the main flavor component.

Today's loaf, perfect and whole

In the past, using gluten free flours has seemed to result in a more moist bread, so I went that route. I found, when breaking out the calories, carbs and all those other nutritional considerations, that gluten free flours are far higher in carbs than regular all-purpose flour. Oh well. I used some of the recipe mix for a gluten free flour of: 6 cups brown rice flour, 2 cups potato starch and 1 cup tapioca starch  as the flour in the recipe. To the 2 cups worth of this flour blend used for the loaf, I added ½ teaspoon of guar gum.

When mixing up the final recipe, I completely forgot to add in the nuts. I intended to use ¾ cup, just as in last year's recipe. Instead, I lowered the amount, since the batter was already in the loaf pan, and just lightly chopped and pressed them onto the top of the batter before baking. The bread rose beautifully and baked in about 48 minutes. It is still cooling in the kitchen, so I have yet to see how this comes out of the pan. I did spray the pan with cooking spray and then used one narrow piece of parchment to line the pan across the bottom and long sides. I pray this will be enough to release the loaf. I will find out shortly. Here is my revised recipe, gluten and egg-free.

Lavender Nut Tea Loaf II

Makes one (8 x 4-inch) loaf

Lavender Nut Tea Loaf II

3 tablespoons (0.18 oz. / 5 g) dried lavender flowers
¾ cup (6 fl. oz. / 180 ml.) 1% buttermilk
2 tablespoons (0.50 oz. / 14 g.) golden flax meal
6 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon cooking oil
1½ cup yellow summer squash, grated
½ cup (4 oz. / 113 g) unsweetened applesauce
½ cup (3.67 oz. / 104 g.) sugar
1½ teaspoon vanilla extract
4 packets Sweet Leaf Stevia
2 cups (4.70 oz. / 132 g.) gluten free all-purpose flour mix
1 teaspoon (0.14 oz. / 4 g.) baking powder
1 teaspoon (0.18 oz. / 5 g.) baking soda
½ teaspoon (0.07 oz. / 2 g.) guar gum
½ teaspoon (0.11 oz. / 3 g.) salt
½ cup (1.85 oz. / 51 g.) walnuts or pecans

Spray an 8 x 4-inch loaf pan with cooking spray. Line the pan with parchment, at least one way. Spray the parchment. Set pan aside. Preheat oven to 350 degrees (325 on Convection Bake).

Set the lavender flowers in the buttermilk to soak for at least 15 minutes. Set the flax meal into the 6 tablespoons of water to soak for at least 10 minutes.

In a mixing bowl, combine the grated squash with the cooking oil, applesauce, sugar, vanilla and stevia packets. Set aside.

In another bowl, whisk or sift together the gluten free flour mixture with the baking soda, baking powder, guar gum and salt. Set aside.

To the squash mixture, add in the buttermilk and lavender mixture with the soaked flax meal and all its liquid. Stir well to combine. Add in the dry ingredients, stirring until all the ingredients are well moistened. You do not have to worry about over beating with gluten free flours. Either add in the nuts to the batter and mix, or pour the batter into the pan and place the nuts on top. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, or until a tester inserted in the center comes out with barely a crumb or two. Allow the loaf to cool in the pan for about 10 minutes before turning out to cool completely on a rack before slicing.
Based on 12 slices, each slice contains: 225 calories, 3.5 g protein, 4.6 g fat, 1 mg cholesterol, 
42.5 g carbs, 2.5 g fiber, 42 mg potassium and 256.5 mg sodium.

To make this recipe vegan as well as gluten free and egg free, substitute a nut or seed milk for the buttermilk, reduce the baking soda to ½ teaspoon and increase the baking powder to 1½ teaspoons. If nut allergies are a problem, simply leave out the nuts.
 

Lavender Nut Tea Loaf II, perfect and whole

The Verdict?

The loaf came out of the pan with great ease, even leaving the parchment behind in the pan. The ends did not stick at all. I believe this recipe revision would allow for not lining the loaf pan at all. 

The flavor is as good as I remembered, i.e. delicious! The loaf baked and tested done all through, yet is still so moist it is difficult to slice. Not impossible, mind you, only difficult. Using regular all-purpose flour would likely remedy this part, as wheat flour seems to be drier in general. In future I might bake it a bit longer or add in an extra ¼ cup of the GF flour blend to the recipe. 

I am pleased..... 😁

My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.