Eat Your Bran! - Homemade Bran Muffins

Eat your bran, that's the scream of the day.  It's healthy, it has a ton of fiber, protein, vitamins and minerals, it plays a big part in helping with your digestive health, so it's all good for you.  Eat healthier, do this for your health, do that for your health, studies show that eating more fiber is better for your health.  Every time you turn the TV on, see or read the news, everything is bad for you so eat more of this or take that.  It's annoying, especially if you like all the bad stuff, like me.  I try to eat healthy, it doesn't always work out, I have a devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other.  I do give it my best shot when I walk into the kitchen though.  But I have to say, I may not be eating that bad, all my health reports come back great, so I must be doing something good, right?

This recipe is one of those foods I make to keep me on track.  Many years ago, a woman I worked with, would bake and bring into the office these bran muffins that were to die for.  I was skeptical to try them at first, eeewww! bran muffins, who eats those? Gross, dry, no taste bran muffins.  Give me some chocolate chip or blueberry muffins or something all sugared up, that's the muffin I want!  Well let me tell you, they are the best bran muffins around and you can't eat just one.  I begged for her recipe, she relented and finally gave it to me.  I pulled it out again the other day and made a batch.  They're like a dessert, heavy so they fill you up, but moist.  They are full of raisins, nuts if you want them in there, and flavorful my friends.  They are that good!  OK, I already ate two of them right from the oven, I need to stop!

  Recipe below.

To print recipe, click on it, highlight and print.

These are my ingredients, as always I pull them out first.

  This recipe has a few tricks up it's sleeve, you have to mix the baking soda with hot water, but be careful, it's like a science experiment, do it over the sink for sure! I didn't and it bubbled up all over the place and down the kitchen cabinets!  BE CAREFUL, DO IT OVER OR IN THE SINK.  Then set it aside and let it cool.

Toss together the bran flakes and buds, set aside.

Coat raisins with flour, set aside

Cream the butter and sugar, then add the eggs. 

 Flour and buttermilk.

 Alternately add the flour and buttermilk and mix, the recipe calls for a whole quart of buttermilk, then add the water and mix to combine.

Add bran then the raisins.  Mix it all up with a spatula, the batter will be somewhat thin, until the next day.  The bran will soak it up.

  I divided the batter into 2 bowls, it does expand overnight.  Cover tightly with plastic wrap.

This recipe makes a lot of muffins, but I only baked 12.  I lined my muffin pan with foil liners.  If you are brave just grease the pan, I'm not!

 Baked and out of the oven!

Chock full of  yummy-ness.  They are good for you and you don't even know it because they are so delicious.  Add butter, jam, marmalade or just all by themselves, a darn good muffin!

 HOMEMADE BRAN MUFFINS

THIS MIX HAS TO SIT FOR 24 HOURS IN THE REFRIGERATOR BEFORE USING

Ingredients

2 cups boiling water

5 teaspoons baking soda

2 cups bran flakes
4 cups all bran original or buds (buds have more RDA of fiber in them)
1 1/2 cups raisins
2 tablespoons flour

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

2 cups sugar

4 large eggs

1 quart buttermilk

5 cups unbleached flour

(walnuts, pecans, optional, toss with flour if you add them in)

Directions

Mix the 2 cups of hot water with the 5 teaspoons of baking soda.  Do this over the sink, it will bubble up and you may get burned!  Once bubbling stops, whisk together to combine.  Set aside and let it cool. In a large bowl, mix the bran flakes and all bran/buds together, set aside.  In a small bowl, toss the raisins with the 2 tablespoons of flour, set aside.

In the bowl of a mixer, cream butter and sugar together.  Add the eggs, one at a time and beat after each. Alternately add the flour and buttermilk, ending with flour.  Mix well scraping the sides of the bowl as you mix. Add the water mixture and blend well.  Turn the mixer off and fold in the bran with a spatula or wooden spoon, until all is combined.  Add the raisins by folding them in.  Don't work the batter to much it will make for tough muffins.  Divide the batter into 2 mixing bowls, it will expand overnight.  Cover with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator for 24 hours.

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease muffin tin or line with foil liners.  Stir the batter lightly with a spatula.  Spoon batter into muffin cups, or use an ice cream scoop for more even filled muffin cups.  Bake for 30 minutes or until a cake tester inserted comes out with a few crumbs on it.  Do not over bake, it will make the muffins dry! Although these won't last long because they're that good, the batter will keep in the refrigerator for 6 weeks, keep it tightly covered. The buttermilk acts as the preservative, so you can bake a few muffins or as many muffins as you want. Makes 36 muffins.

All Natural Applesauce Cake

Trying to make desserts for a vegan is hard!  Almost everything you bake or make has butter, eggs or milk in the recipe.  My son, who is the vegan, does not eat any dairy products at all.  He drinks almond milk, and substitutes butter with coconut oil.  I do have a very good chocolate cake recipe, that he loves (check this blog for my Chocolate Dessert Cake featured for Mother's Day) that is all natural, but other than that I was at a loss as to what to make.  I now have this new recipe someone shared with me to try.  No mixer was required to mix it, just a whisk and 3 bowls.  Easy as that and good to boot!  This cake proves, you do not have to give up anything by not using dairy in baking.  It is full of flavor, raisins and walnuts.  If you don't like raisins or walnuts just leave them out.  You can top this cake with a glaze that is also non dairy.  So pull out your fork and enjoy a piece, or two or three, with a cup of coffee or tea.  This is certainly an Autumn, sit on your porch and watch the leaves fall, kind of dessert.  A little something extra - the house smells fantastic as it's baking!  Recipe below.  To print this recipe and other recipes in this blog, click and highlight the recipe then send to your printer.

All of my ingredients for the cake.

 Dry ingredients in a large bowl, then whisk them together.

 All the wet ingredients and the sugar in a medium bowl and mix together.  Dust the raisins and the chopped walnuts with flour in a small bowl.  This is so they do not sink to the bottom of the cake.

 Spray a Bundt pan with Bakers Joy, or grease with oil and flour.  The cake is baked and cooling.

Perfect Bundt cake full of raisins and walnuts, and so moist.

Glaze, cut and....

Enjoy! Rich tasting, moist and delicious.

Vegan Applesauce Cake

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups of unbleached flour

2 teaspoons of baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon of ginger

2 1/4 cups of unsweetened applesauce

1 1/2 cups of dark brown sugar

1/2 cup of canola oil

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1 tablespoon of vanilla

1/2 cup of chopped walnuts

1/2 cup of raisins

Maple Syrup Glaze 

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a Bundt pan with Baker's Joy, or grease with oil and dust with flour. Tap the pan to remove any excess flour.  In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger. Whisk together.  In a medium bowl, combine the applesauce, brown sugar, oil, vinegar and vanilla.  Whisk together.  Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir just until combined. Do not over mix the batter.  In a small bowl, add about 2 tablespoons of flour, and coat the raisins and the walnuts.  Fold into the the batter.

Fill the prepared Bundt pan and spread the batter evenly.  Bake for 45 - 50 minutes, depending on your oven, until a cake tester inserted comes out clean.  Rotate the cake halfway through the baking process. Remove from oven and let cool before turning out of the pan.  Loosen the cake around the edges with a knife and invert on to a cooling rack.  If you are glazing the cake, let it cool completely before frosting. Transfer to a cake plate to serve.

Maple Syrup Glaze

1 cup of confectioners sugar

2 tablespoons of pure maple syrup

1 - 2 tablespoons of water

Mix together, using 1 tablespoon at a time to your desired consistency.  Drizzle over the cake.

Cucidati (Sicilian Filled Cookies)

My family is passionate about all things food.  We're Italian/Sicilian and Irish - What a combination that is!  Growing up my Sicilian grandmother always had the BIG Sunday dinner - homemade pasta, meatballs and breads.  She made Ricotta Pie, Tomato Pie, Spinach Pie, all of it from scratch.  She taught my mother how to make all things Italian/Sicilian, AND my mother was all Irish - go figure that one out!  My mother was a fantastic cook in her own right, she made food with love.   But, my grandmother made her an even better cook by teaching her how to make Italian/Sicilian food from scratch, and more love!  You would have thought my mother was Italian/Sicilian after eating those homemade meals. One of the other things my mother leaned how to make was Cucidati (Sicilian Filled Cookies).  My mother was a learner, who would stick to something until she mastered it, and she mastered these cookies to a point of perfection.  Unfortunately for me, in her cookbook she did not have measurements for the ingredients just the ingredient itself.  So I had to wing it, and change up some things when I made these for the first time.  The best part about these cookies, they are totally handmade - hand cut and hand filled - so they don't have to be perfect in shape and size.  Recipe is below.

This is the recipe as it appears handwritten in her cookbook.  I mixed everything for the filling in the food processor.

 Cutting the pastry dough and rolling them out.

Filling the dough and rolling.

Rolled and lined up on baking sheets.

 Baked and cooling off.  And yes, some will run out of the ends, don't worry there is more inside!

 Cucidati (Sicilian Filled Cookies)

For the dough:

4 cups of unbleached all purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup of Crisco Vegetable Shortening

1 egg

1/2 cup milk, skim is fine

1 Tbsp vanilla extract

(1 egg beaten with 1 tsp water to use for sealing the cookies)

For the filling:

2 - 12 oz cans Solo Prune Plum Filling

1 cup of raisins

1/4 cup semi - sweet chocolate chips

1 1/2 cups slivered almonds

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup apricot jam

1/4 cup apple butter

1 tsp cinnamon

1 Tbsp orange zest

Directions for Dough:

In a large bowl whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together.  Cut the vegetable shortening into cubes, then cut into the flour mixture with a pastry blender or fork, until mixture becomes crumbly.  In another bowl, beat the egg, milk and vanilla together.  Add to the flour and mix with clean hands until the dough forms a ball. Knead it until the dough becomes soft.  Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 35 - 45 minutes.  Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper. While the dough is chilling make the filling.

Directions for the Filling:

In a food processor, process the prune filling, raisins, chocolate and almonds.  Next, add the honey, jam, apple butter, cinnamon and orange zest.  The mixture should now be like a thick paste. 

Directions for Making the Cookies: 

On a floured surface, roll out 1/4 of the dough and cut into strips.  Then cut those strips into 1 1/2  x  2 1/2 inch rectangles.  I roll each of my rectangles out before filling so they are on the thin side, not thick.  Fill each cookie with about 1/2 - 3/4  teaspoon of filling.  Brush egg wash on both ends, roll and seal.  Place seam side down on baking sheet, brush each cookie with the egg wash and sprinkle with colored nonpareils. Bake for 20 -25 minutes or lightly browned.  Remove from oven, let cool for a minute or two, then transfer to cooling rack. Some of the filling will run out while baking.  Store in an airtight container.  Makes about 5 dozen cookies.

NOTE 1: Traditional Cucidati have a fig filling, I like figs, but my family does not.  Use 2 cups of dried chopped or canned figs, if you like them, in this recipe instead of the prune filling. 

NOTE 2:  My mothers recipe included a tip - if the filling is too thin add unseasoned breadcrumbs to the mix.  I didn't need to do that, but by all means if you feel it's too thin thicken it with the breadcrumbs.

NOTE 3: Don’t be afraid to change the filling with other fruits you like.  They sell the fruit in cans, ready to use.