Friday afternoon muffin bake

Despite the fact that it's one of the sunniest days I've yet to see this spring, and sun is glistening on the fresh snow in the distant mountains, I am inside baking. No complaints though because if I need to run to the store in the middle of a recipe, I don't need gum boots, a rain slicker, and an umbrella! And I can go bask outside on a lawn chair (admittedly still wearing a hoodie and jeans) with a book while the muffins are in the oven.

 This recipe is based on Anne's Bran Muffin recipe from The Grand Central Baking Book. I'm not sure how their muffin recipe yielded 12 muffins unless they have giant muffin tins, so that's the reason for the extremely odd number of muffins produced below. I would rate these muffins a success! An aside to baking: while most recipes say to fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, I always do the reverse, using a large bowl to hold the mixed dry ingredients and a smaller bowl to hold the wet ingredients. No baking items have been injured in this manner.

Buttermilk Bran Muffins (makes ~18-19 muffins)

1/2 c. packed brown sugar
1/2 c. butter 
1/3 c. molasses
2 large eggs
1 c. buttermilk
1/4 c. yogurt (alternately just use 1 1/4 c. buttermilk)
1/2 c. applesauce
3/4 c. wheat bran
1 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
1/4 c. whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c. - 3/4 c. chopped walnuts
1 c. raisins (or currants or chopped dried apricots)

(1) Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.  Line two muffin tins with paper liners. Whatever cups you don't end up filling, remove liners and put a bit of water in.
(2) Whisk sugar down through applesauce together and add wheat bran in to soak.
(3) Whisk together all the dry ingredients in a bowl (reserving walnuts and dried fruits for later).
(4) Fold the wet ingredients into the dry mixture until just combined. Add the nuts and dried fruits in. This batter appears very runny compared to other muffin batters, but it works. You can always add in a little extra flour if you really want to.
(5) Scoop batter into the muffin tin, filling each cup 3/4 full (or as close as you can get!)
(6) Bake for 25 min until edges are browned and the centre of the muffin springs back when gently poked.