Bran Muffins

Over the past few weeks, I have become obsessed with muffins.  You can pack so many healthy ingredients into them, they are the perfect size and texture for babies, there are tons of variations, and they don't take much time at all to make!  Plus, they freeze beautifully so it's easy to make a batch, throw them in the freezer, and pop them in the microwave for 30 seconds whenever we need them.  I even bought myself a fancy mini-muffin tin at Williams-Sonoma to make them even more fun to bake :)

I've experimented with a few recipes (see my cornbread muffins for example), but my favorite so far are these bran muffins.  I have made them plain, with raisins, and with dried blueberries (see picture below!), and they all taste great!

Bran Muffins
adapted from 101 Cookbooks

2 cups stone ground whole wheat flour*
1 1/2 cups wheat bran
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 cups full fat yogurt
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup honey (or agave - I subbed agave because babies under the age of 1 can't have honey)
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 cup of add-ins of your choice - raisins, chopped dried fruit, nuts, etc (optional)

Preheat oven to 425F degrees.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients (flour, bran, salt, baking soda and sugar).

In a second larger bowl, whisk together the yogurt, egg, honey/agave, and butter.  Add the dry ingredients and fold in until everything comes just together. Fold in any optional add-ins.  Do not overmix!

Either grease a mini-muffin tin (I sprayed with canola oil) or line the tin with small muffin papers. Fill each 3/4 full (mine were actually practically overflowing before baking).  Bake 10 -15 minutes, until muffins are golden on top and cooked through. You can also make larger muffins in a standard size muffin pan, you just need to bake them about 5 minutes longer.

Makes about two dozen tiny bran muffins or one dozen larger ones.

*See updated recommended recipe here!