Cinnamon Jam Bran Muffins

Ha, I love saying that.

Jam Bran

It's a pretty satisfying thing to say, as are these muffins to eat. They're moist, light and slightly crumbly with a cakey texture. They're topped with plenty of cinnamon and sugar and swirled through with the jam of your choice (raspberry for me, as per ushe)

They were going to actually just have raspberries in them, like the raspberry bran muffin I had at Bird Bath in New York. However after I realised that in fact the large bag in the freezer was actually full of loganberries, I was forced to use jam instead. I ended up liking my mistake, but if you want, you can replace the jam with about 1 cup of fresh fruit folded into the batter.



Cinnamon Jam Bran Muffins
inspired by Bird Bath's Raspberry Bran muffins
makes 12

5 tbsp (2.5oz / 70g) butter
3/4 cup (6 oz / 170g) sugar
1 1/2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup (5.3 oz / 150g) oat bran
1/2 cup (1 oz / 28g) wheat bran
1 cup (250 ml) low fat yogurt
1 cup (4.6 oz / 130g) flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon
3 tbsp sugar

1/4 cup (4 tbsp) jam of your choice

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and 3/4 cup sugar. Stir in the eggs, a little at a time, vanilla and 1 tsp of cinnamon. Beat in both the oat bran and wheat bran until fully combined, then stir in the yogurt. Set this mixture aside for 10 minutes.

While you wait, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) and line the muffin cup. In a small bowl, mix the 2 tsp of cinnamon with the 3 tbsp sugar and set aside. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

After 10 minutes, fold the flour mixture into the bran mixture until just combined. Fill each muffin cup halfway with batter, top each with 1 tsp of jam, then top with more batter (Each muffin cup will be quite full, but they don't rise too much). Use a skewer to swirl the jam into the muffin batter a few times. Top with the cinnamon-sugar mixture and bake for 25-30 minutes until a skewer poked into the centre of the muffins comes out clean.