Making Bran Muffins work

My naturopath, Dr. Melissa Metcalfe, is a great doctor. She just glows with radiant health, so I have to figure she has a clue about how to live.

She gave me a recipe for some extremely healthy bran muffins, but I thought they needed something.

I have made variations of her recipe about 10 times now and have finally hit on a way to make them better. They still aren't the sticky, dripping-with-oil bran muffins you find at bakeries everywhere, but they are at least edible.

The most important change I made was to add the zest of a whole orange. That brightens the flavor and gives them some zip. I also added a banana, 1/4 tsp of cloves, 1/4 tsp of nutmeg, and 1/2 tsp of cinnamon. All good.


Bran Muffins
1 1/2 cups wheat bran
1 1/4 cups milk
1 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
1 egg
1 smooshed overripe banana
1/3 cup canola oil
1 tsp vanilla
zest of one orange
1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and grease 12 muffin cups.

Soak wheat bran in milk for 20 minutes. Add to same bowl the brown sugar, the egg, lightly beaten, the canola oil, vanilla, banana and orange zest.

In another bowl, combine dry ingredients. Add dry to wet and stir to combine. Put batter in muffin tin and bake for 20 minutes.