Bran Muffins - Gray Day Comfort Food

On a day like this its nice to turn the oven on.

 October can sometimes be mild but this year it has decided to be windy, cold and snowy. The potted rosemary and thyme have been brought into the kitchen window, the new raised bed remains unfilled, the compost and soil frozen solid before I had a chance to shovel in. I was too frantic trying to get the potatoes out of the garden before they froze. This morning it was -10, there was thick overcast and more fresh snow blown over the cars. As I made my coffee I knew it was time for bran muffins.

Coffee is an essential element in successful muffin making.

I started baking muffins about 25 years ago, maybe more, maybe less, I don't remember stuff like that. But for a long time I've been making bran muffins. I made them in earnest when our kids were small and just kept it up. Served up hot with butter or cheese or cream cheese they were popular. As time went on I moved beyond the traditional raisin bran muffin and started adding cornmeal (adding a little crunch), sunflower seeds, blueberries, cranberries, what ever we had in the house. This morning I added some salty green seeds I found in the cupboard, not sure what they were, tasty though. Might have been pumpkin.

Fresh bran muffin with a lovely aged herb Gouda left behind by some generous dinner guests.

The Recipe

In the busy days I'd get the dry ingredients ready the night before so that I could get up and have the muffins in the oven in about ten minutes in the morning. The kids seemed to like them for breakfast and it made me feel like I was actually being a parent - straying up late and putting hot food in their bellies.

• milk                                    185 ml
• cornmeal                             60 ml

• unsifted all-purpose flour     185 ml
• baking powder                       8 ml
• baking soda                           3 ml
• salt                                       3 ml  (less if adding salted seeds)

• butter                                  60 ml 
• brown sugar                      125 ml
• molasses                            60 ml
• eggs                                     2 

• raw natural bran                375 ml
• raisins/seeds/berries         125 ml

Preheat oven to 375' F.
Mix cornmeal and milk and let stand.
Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl.
Place butter, brown sugar, molasses and eggs in a large bowl and beat 2 or 3 minutes until creamy and blended.
 With beater slow add milk/cornmeal, flour mix, bran and raisins/seeds/berries until just mixed.
Turn mixture into an oiled muffin tin. Makes a dozen large muffins.
Bake for 18 minutes.