Kitchen therapy...

Tonight's I-can't-go-to-the-gym-to-run-because-I'm-injured hissy fit resulted in baking. Because I'm opening for the next week and a half, I thought it would be a good idea to make some wheat bran muffins for breakfast. They are healthy, super easy to make, and full of fiber... not to mention they taste fabulous and are great to grab on the way out the door! They keep well--I like to keep 4 on the counter in an air-tight container, and freeze the remaining 8 so I can take them out the night before as needed.

The story behind my obsession with wheat bran muffins: I worked at The Feast of Reason from March 2004 to January 2007, and my boss made the best oat bran muffins. Well, I don't know if they were the best, because they were the only oat bran muffins I'd ever eaten, but boy were they delicious! A few months ago, I decided I would try to make some, but had no idea where to begin. I searched my mom's cookbooks but had little success finding recipes with ingredients similar to the recipe at The Feast. I did, however, find a recipe that struck my fancy--it called for applesauce and looked simpler than Jen's (yes, my boss' name was also Jen!) and I thought I would try wheat bran instead of oat bran. The resulting muffins tasted nothing like Jen's oat bran muffins at The Feast, but satisfied my craving and I've been baking them ever since.

I decided to adapt the recipe tonight by substituting whole oat flour for all-purpose flour, increasing the applesauce from 3/4 to 1 cup, using soy milk instead of regular milk, and substituting a combination of brown sugar and honey instead of the 1/3 cup honey the original recipe calls for. I'm planning on trying variations with fresh and dried fruit (maybe blueberries or chopped apples), and I'd love to come up with a variation using banana, zucchini, or pumpkin. 

I can honestly say this blog was inspired by recent conversations I've had with Jamie, my friend Julia's wonderful cooking blog, and of course my old boss Jen.

As always, I'd love to receive feedback or helpful hints! :)

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Wheat Bran Muffins

1 1/4 c wheat bran

1 c whole oat flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 c applesauce

1/2 c soy milk (I had vanilla Light Silk in the fridge)

1/4 c brown sugar

1/8 c honey

1 egg

1 tbsp cooking oil

2 handfuls dried fruit (I like dried cherries and cranberries)

Preheat oven to 400. Spray bottoms of twelve 2 1/2-inch muffin cups with nonstick spray. Set aside.

In mixing bowl, combine wheat bran, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Make a well in the center of the dry mixture. Set aside.

In another bowl, combine applesauce, soy milk, brown sugar, honey, egg, and oil. Add wet mixture all at once to dry mixture. Stir just until moistened (mixture will be lumpy) then fold in dried fruit.

Spoon batter into prepared cups, filling each 2/3 full. Bake about 20 minutes or until golden. Cool on wire rack for 5 minutes then remove from cups to continue cooling. Makes 1 dozen muffins.