Muffin Mania!

My muffin pan has gotten a good workout lately.  Whenever I'm feeling like I need a little pick-me-up, out comes the dozen-cupped baking vessel.  In the past few weeks, I've re-made some favourites of mine: pumpkin muffins and berry bran muffins.  I tweaked them both a little bit this time around... details below!

Pumpkin Muffins
Adapted from "Muffin Mania" by Cathy Prange and Joan Pauli

• 4 eggs
• 2 cups white sugar
• 1 cup oil
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 1 3/4 cup pumpkin (small can)
• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 cup raisins

1. Beat eggs slightly. Add sugar, oil, pumpkin and beat thoroughly.
2. Add dry ingredients and mix until smooth. Stir in raisins.
3. Fill greased muffin cups 2/3 full.Bake at 375° for 15-20 minutes.

Mmm, nice and moist.  They didn't suffer at all from cutting down on the oil content.  Plus, I feel a little bit better having subbed in some whole wheat flour.

This next recipe comes from my dear friend Andrea.  I'll give you the original instructions below, then let you know what's going on with that ooey gooey goodness (see above) afterwards:

Berry Bran Muffins
From Andrea… not sure of her original source

Makes 9-12 muffins, depending on how you fill the tins

• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1/2 cup wheat bran (you can also use All Bran)
• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup of frozen or 1 cup of fresh berries

1. Mix together the egg, milk, and oil.  Stir in the wheat bran and let sit five minutes.
2. Stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a separate bowl.
3. Combine wet and dry ingredients until just moistened. Stir in berries.
4. Spoon into greased muffin tin (or cupcake wrappers). 
5. Bake at 400ºF for 20 minutes. 

My modification: À la Tim Hortons "Fruit explosion" muffins, I substituted some peeled, chopped apple for some of the berries, and added a small dollop of PC Blue Menu raspberry jam on top of the raw batter just before putting them in the oven.  No more messing around with the jelly jar when it's baked right in!

Overall, these were super-tasty.  The key is to eat them in moderation.... not four in a row (I'm not addicted... I can quit anytime I want...) I did fairly well with these, bringing just one at a time in for a mid-morning snack at work, with another one alongside a cup of tea for an after-dinner snack.  Reasonable, right?  Right??

Thinking she'll use up more of that jam making her godmother's PB&J muffins...
-Honeybee