Original All Bran Muffins (small batch)

 

Here today is my latest down-sized recipe, my all time favorite recipe for the original All Bran muffins, that my ex mother in law gave to me when I was a very young Bride.  It is the best recipe and has stood the test of time.

This down sized version makes six beautiful, low fat, low sugar muffins and lack none of the qualities of the original full sized version which you can find here. 

 

Back in them thar days there was only a few ways that you got recipes to add to your repertoire. This was the olden days before the internet,

If you wanted a recipe, you either got it from the back of a box or a can,  at the library, from a magazine, or by word of mouth.

That first year I was married my mother in law gifted me that Christmas with a lovely little handwritten notebook, filled with her favorite recipes.

 

These were her tried and trues.  The recipes she had been cooking for her family with success over a great many years.

Some of them even handed down to her from her own mother. Elizabeth was a fabulous cook.  I never had anything to eat at her house that I didn't love.  This little book was and is a family treasure.

 

I am so grateful that I was clear-headed enough to pack it into my suitcase when I flew back to Canada last November. To have lost this would have been a real tragedy.

No doubt about it.  It is really old now and actually falling apart.  Many of its pages are splattered, faded and torn. 

 

I keep telling myself that I need to copy it over into a new notebook, maybe even five, so that my children can each have one.  Somehow it never gets done.

I better do it soon however as the writing in it is fading fast.  Elizabeth is 94 years old now and lives not too far from me. I would love to take my daughter Eileen and go to visit her one day. We will see how it goes.

  

I really love and loved my mother in law. That old saying about people not getting along with their mother's in law is not true in my case.  Elizabeth is a sweetheart.  I have never heard her say an unkind word about anyone.

Not once.  I am sure she would give me a warm welcome.  She is still driving and going strong, believe it or not!

 

So anyways, this muffin recipe was one of the ones in the book. It is a healthy bran muffins recipe in that there are no refined sugars and very little fat. 

I love how Elizabeth gave the amount of raisins to be used as "a lot."  She loves raisins. Happy to say I do too, and I probably add more than the recommended amount, although . . .  being a diabetic now, I do need need to restrain myself somewhat.

 

 

These muffins are moist and delicious with a beautiful crumb.  Not too sweet, never dry.

Out of all the bran muffins I bake, this is one of my favorite ones.  It blows any store baked muffin out of the water. Seriously.

 

Because there is not a lot of fat in the muffins themselves, you can feel totally justified in enjoying them spread with lashings of butter, and why not.

That butter is sooooo delicious melting down into those lovely little nooks and crannies.

 

On a side note, I'm not sure why, but whenever I upload photographs to the blog, they always load on backwards, last to first, unless I load them up one at a time. Very time intensive to do that.

Does anyone else have that problem?  How do you get around it?

 

So anyways, if my butter from the photos seems melted and then suddenly coming back together again, that is why. The photos went in backwards.  

In any case that does not affect the deliciousness of these muffins. Not in the least.

They are moist and incredibly tasty. It has always amazed me that you can make something so incredibly delicious from a cereal that is so dry and unpalatable.  Designed as a, for lack of a better word, natural laxative. 

I could not ever sit down and eat a bowl of All Bran to save meself, But I can happily scarf down one or two of these muffins!

I dare say, you could too. They are quite simply fabulous.  Tried and true, having withstood the test of time, they are a favorite around here. 

Can you believe that I had a really hard time finding a box of All Bran in my little town??  I know!  I had to buy two packages of those packs of cereals where you get about 8 different little boxes.  

They were quite an unusual mix.  All Bran, Raisin Bran, Frosted Flakes,  Cornflakes, Special K and Rice Crispies.   

I had to buy two packages to get enough All Bran, even for this small batch recipe. Crazy that!

Yield: makes 6 muffins

Author: Marie Rayner

Original All Bran Muffins (small batch)

Prep time: 20 MinCook time: 25 MinTotal time: 45 Min

This is one of the recipes my ex MIL gave me when I was first married back in 1977. We love these muffins, not only are they delicious but they are also low in fat, high in fiber and loaded with lovely sultanas! Small batched now for the empty nesters.

Ingredients

• 1 cup (75g) all bran cereal (2 cups)
• 1/4 cup (60ml) molasses
• 3/4 cup (180ml) milk
• 1 large free range egg yolk, lightly beaten
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 2 TBS oil
• 1/2 cup (70g) of plain flour
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp mixed spice
• 2 small handfuls of raisins

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6. Butter a 6 cup muffin tin very well, or line with paper liners.
2. Warm the milk along with the molasses in the microwave on high for one minute. Measure the all bran into a bowl and pour the warm milk mixture over all. Mix together and then allow to sit for 15 minutes before proceeding.
3. At the end of that time, beat in the egg yolk, oil and vanilla. Whisk together the flour, salt, soda and mixed spice. Add all at once to the wet mixture and mix together just to combine. Lumps are ok. Stir in the raisins.
4. Spoon into the prepared muffin cups, filling them 2/3 full.
5. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until well risen and the tops spring back when lightly touched. Serve warm with butter for spreading.

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