I am always shopping around for good deals, maximizing value for my money. I take that approach with cooking as well, looking for bargains in the calorie department and health. I fondly remember my university days (college if you are American) and time away from home learning to cook for myself and friends. For some reason we got stuck on bran muffins..."nature's internal scrub brushes" my friend would say. I came upon a recipe which used coffee as a liquid and being students, I always had a pot of coffee on to help us stay awake. So this was a great way to use up left over coffee...another bargain. So for months on end we would live on bran muffins and coffee, a cheap diet.
I think I may have had my fill since I went for a good 10 years before I could look at a bran muffin again. When I started to be more concerned about the effect of processed ingredients, even in baking, I looked for and started adapting recipes which give me good fibre, low calories, and great taste. A winner in the bran category which disguises the bran somewhat and makes for a moist product are these muffins with pumpkin in them. I started to make them for holiday brunches and often fulfill my need for the taste of pumpkin pie. Enjoy!
Ingredients
- 3 cups bran
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 4 tsp. baking powder
- 1 1/3 cup sucralose (white or you can mix brown/white)
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- 1 tsp. nutmeg
- ½ tsp. salt
- 2 cups canned pumpkin
- 1 cup skim milk
- 4 tbsp. apple sauce
- 4 egg whites, beaten
- 1 cup raisins (optional)
Preheat oven to 425 degrees
Method
- Combine bran, sugar, flour, baking powder, spices and salt in large bowl.
- Mix pumpkin, milk, beaten egg whites and apple sauce together.
- Add wet ingredients into dry, stirring only until blended.
- Using an 1/3 cup icecream scoop, scoop into muffin tins sprayed with cooking spray (using Pam, what else?).
Bake at 425 degrees for 20 minutes. Remove from pans and cool on racks.
Makes 1 dozen
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