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.

More Scones with an Interesting ingredient

I do love scones. As it happens, my husband also loves my scones, eagerly awaiting them as I make them most weekends. The fact that I have been experimenting with alternative flours has not stopped our appreciation of these wonderful breakfast (or any time) treats. Ever since using the recipe template for scones that I posted here, I have turned out more fabulous combinations than I would have believed possible. 

Finger Miller & Almond Scones with Craisins & White Baking Chips

This template for scones is simple. Keep to the amounts for the dry ingredients, barring small changes in amounts for salt or sugar, and when using whole grain flours, the amount of cream seems to lessen to ¾ cup, more often than not, so start with ¾ cup to be safe, then add in a bit more, up to one full cup in total, if needed. 

This is the formula, once again:

• 2 cups flour: Whether all purpose, whole wheat, whole spelt or Kamut, or other alternate grain flour mixed in such as buckwheat, teff, amaranth, millet, etc. Check out these Teff Amaranth Scones or Whole Grain Kamut Maple Pecan Scones. In general, I keep a small amount of all purpose flour, with up to 1½ cups of alternate flours. The one exception to date is buckwheat, which tastes wonderful, but too much buckwheat flour make the scones far too delicate, with a tendency to disintegrate. A little buckwheat flour makes amazingly melt-in-the-mouth tender scones, such as in these Buckwheat Spelt Scones, Buckwheat Scones with Romano Cheese, Dried Figs, Fresh Thyme & Walnuts. *Another great substitute is a small amount of almond meal or hazelnut meal. Keep in mind that these nut meals are not flour and do not act like flour, so keep amounts smaller.
• 1 to 4 tablespoons sugar. Depending on the other flavor components, less sugar, even only 1 tablespoon can be more than enough. This is purely to taste.
• 1 tablespoon baking powder.
• 1 to 1¼ teaspoons salt.
• Optional: ½ teaspoon cream of tartar.
• 5 tablespoons very cold unsalted butter.
• ¾ to 1 cup whipping cream or heavy cream.

So, back to the idea of alternate flours. In the past couple of blog posts, I have mentioned going to a Patel's Grocery in Chandler, AZ. They have the most amazing selection of lentils, grams and beans I have ever seen. And as the Indians market their lentils/grams/beans in any of three different ways EACH, it can quickly get confusing. Thankfully, I unraveled much of that particular conundrum some little while back (read about that here). And then there are an equally amazing array of different types of millets used in Indian cooking. I have used "white" millet before, in such recipes as these Buckwheat Millet Pancakes. This is the same kind found in bird seed mixes, simply called white millet, likely Proso Millet. This is only one variety. In the Patel's grocery I also found Pearl Millet, Foxtail Millet, Sorghum, Finger Millet, Koda Millet, Little Millet and Barnyard Millet - in addition to the Proso Millet! The choices then are whether to buy it whole or broken or in the form of flour. In order to begin familiarizing myself with some of the other types, I bought Kodo Millet whole, and Finger Millet pre-ground into flour. 

Finger Miller & Almond Scones
with Craisins & White Baking Chips

I added about ¼ or maybe ⅓-cup of Kodo Millet (very light colored) to a large pot (12 cups) of vegetable soup I was cooking, and it totally thickened the pot of soup! I opened the Finger Millet Flour, and added some to my Scones this past Saturday. They were absolutely delightful. Finger Millet ("Ragi" in Hindi) is a very dark little seed, and the flour is also dark. It adds significant color to anything it is used in. I used only ⅔ cup in the scone mix, an amount I think is just perfect. The scones grew beautifully and tasted amazing. I will be making these again and again.

Should you have access to Finger Millet in flour form, do try out this recipe as one way to use this flavorful grain/seed. Incidentally, this grain is naturally gluten free.

Finger Millet & Almond Flour Scones

(with Craisins and White Baking Chips)

Makes 8 Scones

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Line a 12 - 14-inch round pan or other baking pan with parchment. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the first 7 dry ingredients, whisking to combine. With a pastry cutter, cut in the cold butter until it is well broken down to bits smaller than peas. Stir in the craisins and white baking chips, then pour in the whipping cream. With a fork, stir in the cream until the mass begins to hold together. Grease a clean, non-porous surface and turn the mixture out onto the greased area. Using hands, bring the mass together into a single mass about 8-inches in diameter. Using a large knife, cut across the circle, then across again the opposite way, making 4 wedges, Now, cut across each way again to form 8 equally sized wedges. Use the knife as a spatula to transfer the wedges to the prepared baking sheet, keeping them at least 1-inch apart. If desired, use a small amount of cream and using a pastry brush, brush the cream over the tops of the scones. Sprinkle with sugar to make a pretty finish, though this is not necessary; they are great without the extra cream and sugar on top.

Bake the scones for about 15 to 18 minutes, until golden and set. Serve warm or at room temperature. These scones keep well at room temperature, sealed in a zip-top bag, for at least one day.


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.