Three years ago Bill and I thought we were going to be empty nesters and we downsized to a smaller house. Now we're about to upsize because I have two young adult kids who are living at home and attending university. For my American readers, this is common here in Canada. Both of my kids, who attended private schools in the Washington, DC area, would have balked at this arrangement back then, but they've now become culturally acclimatized and realize that graduating with no debt is a good thing. Fortunately, they're both reasonably able in the kitchen, although they frequently end up coming to me to find out where my copy of a favourite recipe is to be found. So, to encourage greater self-sufficiency, I've devised "The Recipe Project". Every week, I'll type up one of my basic recipes and add it to a file on my computer. By the end of a year, I'll have a printable booklet to give to each of them next Christmas. Every Friday, I'll post the week's recipe so anyone else who wants it can have a copy too.
To start things off, here's my recipe for plain bran muffins. These are old-fashioned, medium-sized muffins that don't resemble the giant super-sweet cake-like goodies you find in fast food courts at your local mall. They're nice cut in half and spread with butter for breakfast or with afternoon tea.
Bran
Muffins
½ c canola oil
½ c sugar
2 ½ tbsp molasses
1 ½ c milk
3 eggs, or 3 tsp egg replacer + 6 tbsp water
2 ½ c bran (not bran cereal, just the plain unadulterated stuff)
1 ½ c whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
Preheat oven to 375F. Spray muffin tin with non-stick spray. Mix
everything in a large bowl in the order given. Spoon into 12 muffin cups and
bake for 20 minutes or until firm to the touch.
Makes 1 dozen.
Optional: throw in ½ c of raisins or chopped dates.
Yes, that's my new knitting project in the background, looking rather like the trunk of a baby elephant.
OK, a tweed elephant.
