Too many top muffins…..

….maketh a muffin top

I have lost count of just how many batches of muffins have been processed through the kitchen in the last few weeks.   I know I sampled enough to create a little muffin top of my own.  Bran muffins are quite healthy but even healthy muffins need to be eaten in moderation.  So both my clothes and my family are happy I have cracked the muffin recipe.

My mum used to make the most gorgeous bran muffins and as I didn’t have access to her recipe, I decided to recreate how I remembered that muffin to be.  I remember they were sweetened with golden syrup and were stuffed with sultanas.   I said my mum used to make and that’s not because she can’t bake anymore but because with just the two of them at home there isn’t so much call for baking up a storm.  If I dug hard enough through my stack of books I might chance across a similar recipe, and that would have been easier than mixing bowl after bowl of bran butter and other stuff that goes into muffins.  But each batch of muffins cooked meant the morning tea space in the lunch box was filled with something nutritious if not quite perfect.

These muffins are good with raisins but I use sultanas more often as they are less expensive and the Anster prefers them.  I have used some of the jars of homemade appelstroop that I have piled up, however golden syrup is an acceptable substitute.

These muffins are lovely and moist due to the unsweetened apple puree.  They are delicious when still warm – I tried one about ten minutes ago just to make sure they were good.  And now I am trying to ignore the warm baking smells wafting under my nose tempting me to test another one, just to be really sure.  The muffin cases have failed big time – there is no peeling pretty papers away from the muffin, more like getting out a spoon and scraping the cases clean.

Apple & Sultana Bran Muffins

2 cups plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups bran
2 cups sultanas
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 ½ cups milk
50g butter
135g (6 tablespoon) appelstroop
1 cup unsweetened apple puree
2 eggs, lightly beaten

Preheat oven 190ºC (375ºF).
Grease or line muffin tins with cupcake/muffin papers.
Sift flour and baking powder into a large bowl.  Stir in bran and sultanas.
Dissolve baking soda in the milk.
Melt butter and appelstroop together.
Add milk and butter mixture to the dry ingredients together with the apple puree and eggs. Mix until just combined.
Spoon into prepared muffin tins and bake 15-20 minutes or until ready.
Remove from oven and leave for 5 minutes before removing the muffins from the trays and place on a baking rack until cold.
Makes 20-24 muffins.