Bran muffins are nothing new in this house. For 4 years and counting I've made bran muffins every weekend for my kids. Well, sort of bran muffins. Every weekend I would loosely follow this recipe from King Arthur Flour. Why loosely? Well, I never knew where to actually buy bran. Actual bran, not just germ or chaff. Go ahead, look the next time you're in the store and you're not likely to find it. But ask anyone over the age of 50 and they'll remember it from Kellogs!
The options for bran cereal on Amazon have all sorts of sugar and additives which, as a new mom, I wasn't gunning to add to my infant's diet. Instead, I would make a thick porridge from a medley of grains from Bluebird Farms and then add ingredients until the texture was "just right." Every week they came out a little different. In summer, I'd grate our garden zucchini. In fall, it would be carrots or even beets. Winter, candied ginger. They were ever changing muffins to meet my ever-growing daughter. Besides, I had truly never had a real bran muffin, so I had no idea how far off they were from the real thing!
Believe my surprise when I popped into our local British importer and saw it: Weetabix. Bran cakes, nothing else inside. Glorious! Exactly what the recipe had called for that I discovered almost half a decade ago! We now have a family tradition of visiting the store to stock up on Weetabix, grabbing two Bakewell tarts, then strolling to the toy store that carries our favorite dollhouse furniture. It's become a special monthly date for my daughter and I.
Making a true bran muffin with bran cakes was a wild experience. They have such a complex earthy flavor that you can't get with wheat germ or just chaff. Every time someone tries them, somebody asks me what I put in. Cinnamon? Brown sugar? One even suggested rum. Nope! That's just wheat.
All this preamble is trying to say: I love bran muffins; I know bran muffins. So, I was excited to try Dorie's take.
These are extremely easy to put together. My twist was topping them with streusel left over from the past weekend and instead of berries, freeze dried apricots. The apricots left behind an ethereal floral scent, which feels like a nice counter to the warm cinnamon and brown sugar. I used about two handfuls but could have gone even heavier with them.
Ultimately, you don't taste the bran. They have the same texture as corn muffins and are about as sweet as the Jiffy box mix (if you know, you know). These aren't real bran muffins to me, but they're quite tasty! I think I'll stick to my tried-and-true ones made with Weetabix, but these are a nice intermission from our regular bake.
LOVE the streusel topping here! Noted for another time. Confused about Weetbix and bran cakes - I grew up in Australia eating Weetbix (same thing) and they are cereal "biscuits" - so you crush them up? I can buy wheat bran at my local bulk food store and would have used that in the recipe you linked. I agree that this Dorie recipe wasn't really "bran-y" - I expected it to taste much "healthier"!
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