Apple Bran Muffins
makes 12
dry mixture
1 1/4 c (6.25 oz) flour
⅓ c brown sugar
⅓ c sugar
1 ½ t baking powder
½ t baking soda
½ t salt
wet mixture
1 c (8 oz) sour cream
1 c (4.5 oz) shredded apple
1 c (2 oz) bran cereal
½ c (4 oz) unsalted butter melted
1 egg
1 t vanilla
1. Heat oven to 350. Position an oven rack to the middle position. (1)Line a muffin pan with 12 cupcake liners. Spray lightly with cooking spray and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl add flour, both sugars, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix well and set aside.
3. Peel and core two apples. Shred using a cheese grater. Measure 1 c and add to a bowl of an electric mixer. Also add sour cream, bran, shredded apple, melted butter, egg, and vanilla. Using an immersion blender, pulse until bran is in small pieces. Mix with the paddle attachment until just blended.
4. With the electric mixer on low, add the dry mixture. Mix until (1)just blended. Using a (2)ice-cream-scoop, scoop batter into prepared muffin tin. This is a thick batter and will mound slightly above the liner. Bake 17-20 minutes or until they (3)spring back slightly when touched. Remove from oven and cool 5 minutes. Remove to a cooling rack or serve hot.
Mini-Muffins
These make great mini-muffins as well. Use mini-muffin liners and follow the same instructions. Decrease the baking time by 2-5 minutes.
Freezing
This batter freezes very well when separated into a muffin pan lined with cupcake wrappers. Follow the instructions up until baking. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze until solid. Remove from pan store in a zipper-lock bag. To bake, place them back in the muffin pan and bake as directed, adding a few extra minutes because they are frozen. They bake perfectly from a frozen state. I have not tried to defrost them first, but I think it would work fine.
Notes
1. I like to line muffin pans with cupcake liners for three reasons:
1) The muffins don’t stick to the pan.
2) It’s easier to freeze and package them.
3) The bottoms don’t burn. It seems they are more likely to without liners.
It’s also nice to lightly spray inside the liner so the delicate muffin will release easily.
2. Muffins should be tender so be careful not to over-mix the batter. Mix only until the last bit of flour blends in.
3. Ice-cream-scoops with a spring release are great for dividing batters of muffins, cupcakes, and ice cream cones.
4. To test done-ness of muffins, cupcakes, and cakes, first peek through the oven window. If the sides are starting to crack open the oven and very lightly touch the middle of one. If it jiggles, gently close the oven and bake an additional 2-5 minutes. Test again by very lightly touching one. It is done when it springs back gently. If it is very firm it is over-done.
5. I have a gas oven and tried baking two muffins pans side by side. The bottoms burnt badly while the tops were underdone. I think the pans were preventing the heat from circulating, so most of the heat was at the bottom. I don’t know if this would happen in an electric oven.
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