Cranberry Bran Muffins

There was some forum talk about cranberry muffins yesterday, so I was inspired to make some. I decided to try a new recipe, and chose the bran ones, as I adore bran muffins.

The recipe comes out of the Martha Stewart Living Cookbook: The New Classics. Unfortuntely this recipe doesn't seem to be on her website.



What's in it?


The usual muffin ingredients
Wheat bran
dark brown sugar
buttermilk
orange zest (the classic cranberry mate)
fresh or frozen cranberries

The result

This muffin is really tasty and satisfied my cranberry muffin craving. I used a suggestion I picked up to cut the berries while still frozen. This eliminates the exploding juicy berries and the resulting mess. There is a large amount of batter for the 12 muffins and I was able to make a bigger sized muffin.

As I've mentioned before, if the recipe isn't available online, I won't reprint it without permission. I would recommend this book, as it is big and has some really great recipes or check out your local library. Another option...said in a whisper....is to go to google books, find the book and use the search box with the recipe name. This doesn't seem right to me, but it is there and you didn't hear it from me.

Now I hope I can keep family paws off the muffins so that our babysitter can have a treat tonight too. I'm going to the movies with hubbie, which is unusual for us with the kids and all. But I've waited a long time for this weekend. I'm going to admit a little guilty pleasure....I'm a Twilight fan. The movie based on the 2nd book, New Moon, was released last night, I'm sure you've heard about it. It seems Twilight mania is everywhere.

I've read all the books and watched the first movie numerous times. Okay I also admit owning the soundtrack & score to the 1st movie. But before you think I'm like an obssesed teenager, I have to say that I will never own a T-shirt, calendar or poster etc.

Muffins & Bread

I've been busy baking this week after a weekend of sewing.

I made Apple Bran Muffins for a nice breakfast treat and Irish Soda Bread with a triticale twist.

The muffin recipe can be found here.

They were so yummy that they were gone in one day. I thought I'd get an extra day out of them, but my family had other ideas. I have two packages of wheat bran, so I needed to use some up and with apples being in season here, it was a logical choice. The muffins were really moist, not dry and chewy like bran products can sometimes be. The molasses is something I don't use often, so I'll have to make more or find another recipe to use up the rest.

As you can see in the photo, the outside is slightly burnt, I needed to go out and hubby didn't hear the oven beep in time. But it actually gave the outside a lovely crispy texture and the inside was still really moist.



The next recipe is one I make often, but I mix it up a little every time. Soda Bread is an easy bread using baking soda instead of yeast for leavening. I find recipes for this bread everywhere and have incorporated various ingredients like caraway seed, different flours, raisins and in this case oats and wheat germ.
I also used triticale flour. Triticale is a hybrid of wheat and rye. I read about this grain in a health food book and ordered the flour to try it out.
I've made a casserole bread, which was good and homemade pasta, which was not so good, from this flour. There are more recipes at the Bob's Red Mill website.

An interesting fact I picked up is that the cross was traditionally made on the bread as a means to ward away the devil. So with that here is the recipe.

Irish Soda Bread

1 1/4 cups unbleached flour
1 cup triticale (or wholewheat or other flour)
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup wheat germ
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 1/3 cups buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 425 F (220 C)
2. Combine dry ingedients.
3. Using a pastry cutter, cut butter into dry ingredients until and a coarse meal forms.
4. Add buttermilk, stir quickly and turn out onto a floured surface. Knead gently and form into a round. Place loaf on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
5. Dust surface with flour and cut a shallow X into the centre. Bake for 30 minutes.

Makes 1 round loaf.