Bran Muffins

 I decided to make bran muffins so my husband would have something reasonably healthy to take to work for breakfast.  Originally I was going to make a recipe from AllRecipes, but there was a recipe on the bag of wheat bran (Bob's Red Mill brand, I found it in the organics section rather than the breakfast or baking section) so I just went with that!  Of course I ended up changing it slightly because I didn't have honey (or at least not honey I was willing to sacrifice to muffins- I do not use the $20 a pound raw local honey from the farmer's market for cooking!) and I left out the raisins but added more salt in an attempt to make a somewhat savory muffin.  Anyway, they turned out GREAT.  I mean, really good.  We just finished the last of them this morning and they were still perfect after spending the past week in the fridge.  They're flavorful, soft, moist, and a tiny bit sweet, but not dessert like.  Bran muffins sound like an odd thing to get excited about, but these are just so good.  They actually remind me of a nice honey wheat bread.  Great spread with a little butter, jam, or apple butter.  We had them for breakfast several days, but I also heated some up to go with dinner a couple of nights, because why not?  Most definitely a repeat!

Bran Muffins

1 1/2 C whole wheat flour
1 C wheat bran
1/2 C brown sugar
1 t baking soda
1 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1/2 C raisins (optional- reduce salt to 1/4 t if you use them)
1 egg
2 T vegetable oil
1 1/4 C milk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and grease a muffin tin.  Stir together dry ingredients in a medium bowl.  In a small bowl, beat egg lightly.  Stir in oil and milk.  Add mixture to dry ingredients and stir just until moistened.  Batter will be quite thick.  Spoon into prepared muffin tin and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, about 15 minutes.

Yield: 12 muffins