Spiced Apple Butter Bran Muffins

Today I tried Spiced Apple Butter Bran Muffins.

1 dozen muffins

Active Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup raisins
• 3/4 cup whole-wheat flour
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3/4 cup unprocessed wheat bran, or oat bran
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1/2 cup low-fat milk
• 1/2 cup spiced apple butter
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar, or 1/4 cup Splenda Sugar Blend for Baking
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 3 tablespoons molasses
• 1 cup finely diced peeled apple

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Coat 12 standard 2 1/2-inch muffin cups with cooking spray. Place raisins in a small bowl and cover with hot water. Set aside.
2. Whisk whole-wheat flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon in a large bowl. Stir in bran.
3. Whisk egg, milk, apple butter, brown sugar (or Splenda), oil and molasses in a large bowl until blended. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients. Drain the raisins; add them and the diced apple to the bowl. Stir until just combined. Scoop the batter into the prepared pan (the cups will be very full).
4. Bake the muffins until the tops spring back when touched lightly, 18 to 22 minutes. Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Loosen the edges and turn the muffins out onto a wire rack to cool slightly before serving.

Tips & Notes

• Wrap leftover muffins individually in plastic wrap, place in a plastic storage container or ziplock bag and freeze for up to 1 month. To thaw, remove plastic wrap, wrap in a paper towel and microwave on Defrost for about 2 minutes.

Nutrition

Per muffin: 197 calories; 6 g fat ( 1 g sat , 3 g mono ); 18 mg cholesterol; 38 g carbohydrates; 4 g protein; 4 g fiber; 148 mg sodium; 221 mg potassium.
Nutrition Bonus: Fiber (16% daily value).
Carbohydrate Servings: 2
Exchanges: 2 starch, 1 fat 

I ended up with 15 large muffins, rather than 12.

They're okay, but not great. I feel this is probably due to some shortcuts on my part, and plan to try them again another time to give them a fair chance.  For one, I wanted to use up the apple butter I had in my refrigerator, and it was not "spiced", just plain old apple butter.  I've never actually seen spiced apple butter in the grocery store before, so I guessed at how it might be flavored and attempted to make up for mine by doubling the cinnamon to 1 teaspoon (I like cinnamon anyway!) and adding 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg.

Also, it turned out that I didn't have quite 1/2 cup left in the jar, so I added a bit of applesauce to make up the rest. 

The recipe didn't specify what kind of apple; I used Granny Smith, since I think I heard that kind is good for cooking with.  Think that has anything to do with the lack of flavor too?

Otherwise, the only things I did differently were: I used whole wheat pastry flour for the whole amount, rather than half all-purpose flour; and I didn't have canola oil so I used grapeseed oil, which if I understand correctly shouldn't have really made a difference in the flavor.

Other than flavor, the oat bran was still a wee bit crunchy in the finished muffins, which may not bother some people but I wasn't crazy about it.  There's another muffin recipe I've used before that uses oat bran or oatmeal (I've tried both), and it directs you to mix the bran/oatmeal with some of the wet ingredients first and let it sit a while before continuing. I think I will try that with this recipe next time.  I also may try some of the modifications people mentioned in their reviews on the recipe page.