Refrigerator Bran Muffins

"Bran muffins" may not sound appealing, but just wait until you taste these! Our whole family loves them and there are endless variations and combinations of add-ins. Best of all, this batter keeps in the refrigerator up to two weeks, so you can always have freshly baked muffins in a flash. This recipe came from Relish magazine (a newspaper insert) and is just one of several excellent recipes I've found there.

Ingredients:

• 2 C All-Bran cereal
• 2/3 C wheat bran
• 1 1/3 C boiling water
• 2 2/3 C all-purpose flour
• 1 T baking soda
• 1 t ground cinnamon
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/4 t grated or ground nutmeg
• vegetable cooking spray
• 2 C lowfat buttermilk
• 1/2 C pasteurized egg substitute (I always substitute whole eggs here and lightly beat enough to make 1/2 cup)
• 1 C granulated sugar
• 1/2 C firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/2 C vegetable oil
• 1 t vanilla extract
• optional add-ins: shredded carrot, raisins, dried cranberries, pineapple, shredded zucchini, chopped dried apricots, blueberries, bananas, nuts...

1. Mix cereal and wheat bran in a large bowl (I use the large covered batter bowl from Pampered Chef so I can store batter in this container). Add boiling water; stir well and set aside for 1 hour.
2. Whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg in a medium bowl.
3. Preheat oven to 375F. Coat muffin cups with cooking spray.
4. Add 1 C buttermilk to bran mixture; stir well with a whisk. Add remaining buttermilk, egg, granulated sugar, brown sugar, oil and vanilla, stirring until smooth.
5. Add flour mixture; stir until a thick batter forms.
6. If baking just a portion of the batter, measure out what you're using and set aside. Cover remaining batter and refrigerate.
7. Stir in optional fruits, vegetables, or nuts (I use about 1-1.5 cups per dozen muffins) and scoop into prepared pan, filling each muffin about 2/3 full.
8. Bake 20-25 minutes, until puffed and lightly browned. Entire recipe makes 24-30 muffins depending on amount of add-ins.

Favorite combinations for us include shredded carrots with some crushed pineapple (shred your own carrots for this combo--pre-shredded ones turn green for some reason and it's icky)...and shredded zucchini with golden raisins. Fun to play with!