Gillian's Kitchen: Recipe for Bran Muffins with golden raisins and apricots

Gillian's Kitchen: Recipe for Bran Muffins with golden raisins and apricots

Gillian's Kitchen: Recipe for Bran Muffins with golden raisins and apricots

By special request: 
Here is my more-or-less recipe for my chock-full-o-health bran muffins.
The more-or-less refers partly to the golden raisins and dried apricots which I add in different quantities depending on my mood or what I happen to have in my pantry.
It also refers to the fact that I tend to experiment with ingredients, oven temperatures and cooking times - so this is the formula I am using currently (no pun intended!).

I usually mix these by hand since I am too lazy to have to take out my mixer and wash it afterwards. And muffins are not supposed to be overmixed anyway - or so I am told.

Heat oven to 425
I use the silicon baking trays and lightly coat them with oil
This recipe makes 24 muffins

2 cups of golden raisins
Dried apricots- chopped into raisin size chunks- I use about 0.25 to 0.5 cups
3 cups skim milk
Place raisins and apricots in bowl and pour the  milk over and allow to soak.

In another bowl blend 3 eggs, 1.25 cups brown sugar and 1.5 cups of oil (I usually mix  olive oil and grapeseed oil) and 1 tablespoon vanilla essence

mix together 
1 cup oat bran
1 cup wheat bran
2 and 2/3 cup organic whole wheat flour 
0.25 cup of flax seed
6 tablespoons wheat germ
3 tablespoons baking powder

Add the milk, raisins and apricots to the eggs, sugar and oil  and mix well
Then add the dry ingredients and mix till fully incorporated but not overmixed.
I use an icecream scoop to put the  mixture into the baking pans.

I used to bake these at 425 for 20 minutes. With my present oven that is too long so I now bake them for around 16 to 18 minutes and peek to make sure they are not getting too brown.

So give this a try.  As you can read in my About section I am a foodie not a chef - so there is nothing precise or set in stone about this recipe. It developed over years of experimentation and no two batches ever turn out exactly the same. That's why some of the quantities would seem odd to my more formally trained friends.
But all the batches  taste great. 

The only thing I do stick to is that I like Nunweiler's organic 100% whole wheat flour which I buy at my neighbourhood Urban Fair.

Oh and in the interests of saving my bathroom scale some trauma, I allow myself only one newly baked muffin before I wrap the others and freeze them immediately.

I gently place them in my freezer and close the freezer door, saying silently  "lead me not into too much temptation." 

A 35 sec microwave warm up and yum yum yum - delicious

So anonymous requester - I hope  you enjoy them. Let me know how your batch turns out.