Blueberry Bran Muffins

I just now teased Din that, when I die, on my headstone (which I will not have), he should not have carved "Beloved Wife," but the recipe for my Blueberry Bran Muffins, which I started serving at the shop the day we opened, then pulled when we hired a baker, only to receive emails along the lines of "BRING BACK THE BRAN!!!!!"

I did; shortly thereafter, Bon Appetit requested the recipe. I usually bake them only for the weekend crowd, though lately, business has been so brisk, you may just find them there on a Tuesday.

For those who've recently requested the recipe, here it is:

Blueberry Bran Muffins

Makes 12 large (sometimes called "Texas") muffins

Preheat oven to 350F degrees

3 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup dark molasses (not unsulphered)
1 cup oil (corn, safflower, canola, whatever)
2 cups sour cream
2 cups unbleached white flour
1 t. baking soda
1 t. baking powder
2 t. kosher salt
6 cups wheat bran
2 cups frozen blueberries

Whisk together eggs, sugar, molasses, oil and sour cream. Whisk in flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Stir in bran, then blueberries.

Spray two muffins pans (six cups each) with flavorless cooking spray. Spoon batter evenly into muffin cups, Bake, about 35 - 40 minutes. Cool on racks, though not longer than an hour, after which muffins will stick to pans. To remove, run a butter knife around the side of each muffin and pop out.

These will be more popular than you anticipate.

Comments

[Ben M]

Hi Nancy,

I don't know if you found it through web surfing yet, but I blogged on your recipe a few months ago. I've been making them often and I thought I'd make them the inaugural recipe for the large silicone muffin cups I bought a few days ago. I noticed you upped the cook time to 35-40 minutes from your original post, which I just noticed is necessary with large muffins.

Thanks for the best bran muffins I've ever made! (and I've been a bran muffin fan since I was seven)

[nancy]

Thanks, Ben; I hadn't seen your bran muffin post. Thanks! And what do you think of the silicone baking cups? They've always scared me.

Also, you need to check out my friend Jackie Danicki's site, www.jackiedanicki.com. She's brilliant; she's your neighbor (Cincinnati); she loves food and I know will find your site as yummy-looking as I just did (really; yum!), and... she built this blog!

Happy fooding xx

[Ben M]

Hi Nancy,

I'm actually scared of non-silicone muffin pans. I only started making muffins regularly after buying a set of regular size silicone muffin cups, as my muffins always got stuck on even nonstick pans no matter how well I greased them. The muffin cups are also nice in that they cool off after about two minutes out of the oven. You can then peel them off and transfer your muffins to cooling racks. I actually debated switching to a regular muffin pan when I saw a really nice looking large one at Williams-Sonoma the other day, but opted for the silicone from Sur Le Table instead.

Thanks for pointing me to Jacki's site. Hers is definitely a well-written, addictively readable blog, and I'll keep an eye on it.