Naturally Sweet Maple Bran Muffins – www.cooklikejames.com

America’s Test Kitchen recently published a new cookbook called Naturally Sweet which features classic desserts and baked goods using recipes that rely only on natural, less-processed sweeteners like Sucanat (unrefined cane sugar), coconut sugar, date sugar, honey, and maple syrup. Much attention is focused now on reducing the amount of sugar that we consume in our diets. In a recent NY Times article, it was determined that “the sugar industry paid scientists in the 1960s to play down the link between sugar and heart disease and promote saturated fat as the culprit instead, newly released historical documents show.” (O’Connor. “How the Sugar Industry Shifted Blame to Fat”. Sep 9, 2016) This morning I decided to try the Bran Muffins recipe and they are truly delicious. Most muffin recipes contain close to 30 grams of serving per serving, but ATK has whittled it down to 12 grams while still maintaining a sweet, moist, well-structured muffin. I highly recommend this cookbook and look forward to trying all of the recipes. One note, I substituted canola oil for the melted butter.

1 ½ cups flour

1 ½ cups wheat bran

1 ¼ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

¾ teaspoon allspice

½ teaspoon nutmeg

½ teaspoon salt

1 ¼ cups buttermilk

½ cup maple syrup

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled (or vegetable oil)

2 eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla

½ cup of raisins, chopped

1. Adjust oven rack to lower middle position and heat to 375 degrees. Grease or spray 12-cup muffin tin, set aside.

2. Whisk flour, wheat bran, baking powder, soda, spices and salt together in a large bowl. In a medium bowl, whisk buttermilk, syrup, butter (or oil) eggs, and vanilla. Using a rubber spatula, gently stir liquid mixture into dry ingredients, just until combined. Fold in raisins.

3. Divide batter evenly into prepared tin, an ice cream scoop works well. Bake 16-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in center comes out with a few moist crumbs. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes and then transfer muffins to wire rack.