I’m in love with a muffin. Maybe you know this muffin. It lives at (gasp!) Starbucks. It’s tall, dark and hunger-busting. It’s name… is Apple Bran Muffin. I’m not ashamed!
Oh, I’ve thought about making my own. But it just couldn’t possibly be the same. How could I make that perfect muffin? There are endless ways to make them. How could I guess correctly? It’s heavy and dense and moist, full of fruit. The tart dried cherries, the sweet pieces of apple, the oats sprinkled on top. I did try to re-create it once. I tried. My bran muffin was an OK muffin. But a few days later, there I was back at the counter, wearing oversized sunglasses, digging out $2 for the original.
Well this time, my friends, I’ve finally done it. I bought a bigger muffin pan, swapped in whole-wheat flour for the all-purpose, used brown sugar instead of white. And of course, the key here is the wheat bran. Not something you probably have lying around the house. But it’s not that pricey. I bought a container of it at The Fresh Market for less than $2. It’s enough to make several batches of muffins. To fluff up the bran, put the dried fruit in with it and add some boiling water. Let it sit while the rest of the batter comes together.
The wheat bran combined with the whole-wheat flour creates the perfect density to hold the pieces of fruit. The soaking of the wheat bran and fruit is the biggest twist to this recipe. The rest of the batter comes together pretty much like any other. The only thing to do ahead of time is re-create some buttermilk if you don’t have any. Do that by adding a tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar to a measuring cup and letting it rest about 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, combine the whole-wheat flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl. Then put the butter into the bowl of a stand mixer and fluff it. Add the brown sugar and mix till combined and fluffy. Add the honey.
Add the egg and combine. Then add a third of the buttermilk and mix. Add a third of the flour and mix just till combined. You don’t want to overmix because you’ll get tough muffins. I don’t know about you, but I like my muffins soft, squishy and happy — unaffected by the cold, hard world. Repeat with two more additions of each.
Then add in the bran mixture.
Mix till just combined. You can tell the batter will make dense muffins because it looks coarse and hearty.
Now all you have to do is scoop that batter into your prepared muffin pan and top each with a little raw sugar and chopped pecans to give it some crunch.
Then pop it into the oven for about 20 minutes. But more accurately… until you start to smell the muffins. When you get a bit of a whiff, run and check them. They’ll probably be done. When you can really smell them, they’re getting overdone.
These are huge muffins. If you’re a light breakfast eater, you’ll probably only want half. I made the big muffins because I wanted them to resemble my inspiration muffin. But there’s nothing wrong with making smaller ones. Next time, I’ll probably make smaller ones and add a little cinnamon to the batter too. Remember that recipes are just suggestions; no one is making you follow them exactly. If you don’t have dried fruit, leave it out. No brown sugar? Use the same amount of white. Or try more honey.
No matter how you tweak it, I hope your muffin will be as gorgeous as this one. Who needs Starbucks? Apple Bran who? Oh. Yeah, I used to know that muffin. But I’ve moved on now.
While we’re here, can I just tell you something? Which isn’t even off topic, because you have to have coffee with your muffin. So here it is: Every day when I make my coffee, I hear Carly Simon…
Know why? Because, yes, there are clouds in my coffee! Clouds in my coffee! And… you’re so vain. I bet you think this song is about you! You’re so vain!…
You feel bad for my husband right now, don’t you? Speaking of my husband… I have a plan. He eats no vegetables. I just read a story about zucchini pancakes. This weekend, I’m going to make crispy zucchini and potato pancakes and see if he’ll eat them. But I’m not going to tell him about the zucchini. Muhahaha. Wish me luck!
Meanwhile, make these muffins!
Apple-Cherry Bran Muffins
- 1 1/4 cups whole-wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup wheat bran
- 1/4 cup chopped dried apple
- 1/4 cup dried sour cherries
- 1/2 cup boiling water
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup buttermilk*
- Raw sugar, for sprinkling
- Pecan pieces, for sprinkling
you can also sneak zucchini into chocolate chip cookies – they are good!
Oh Genevieve! I don’t think I could ever do that to my chocolate chip cookies! I’ve perfected that recipe over many years. They’re kinda sacred. 🙂 Also, I know you’re not a summertime baker, so I’ll post something more summery soon just for you!
A friend of mine Facebooked your post, and here I am to say I’ll be making these muffins hopefully this coming weekend, as my husband is a bran muffin snob! 😉 Nice to “meet” you!
Ooops, just noticed that this a 2 year old post, and maybe you are not blogging anymore… Too bad, I loved what I read today, but if you pick blogging up again, I’ll be sure to follow your adventures!
thank you! yes, it’s old and i kind of fell off of the blogosphere, but i really appreciate your comments. maybe i can come back to it at some point. 🙂