Old faithful

Stacy has asked me for the muffin recipe. And by the muffin, I'm guessing she means the high fiber muffin recipe that my mom found in a coffee table book about simplifying your life. We can't find the coffee table book, but the recipe lives on. I think my mom and grandma eat a few of these a day. Warning these little treats are pretty high in fiber. They pack a punch.

So here's the recipe, some variations and pictures (soon!)

It makes 12.

Preheat oven to 450

line muffin tins with muffin papers (I spray cooking spray on the papers b/c the muffins like to stick to the paper)

combine:

2 and 1/4 cups of oatbran
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1/4 c sugar (doesn't matter much what kind--you can use maple syrup or brown sugar--one of these days I'm going to try some molasses)
1/4 cup of coconut
a handful of fruit (dried, fresh or frozen and chopped. If I use fresh or frozen I only use one handful, if I use dried I use two)
a handful of nuts (I haven't been adding nuts lately but crumbled walnuts or pecans are good as are slivered almonds)

in another bowl combine:
2 ripe bananas, mashed (I'm thinking about trying this with sweet potatos and or apple sauce in lieu of bananas, depending on your need for sweet tasting muffins and the fruit you choose--fresh cranberries are sour, you might have to adjust the sugar/liquid content if you did this. But I think a yam banana mixture would be pretty)
1 egg or two egg whites
1 1/4 cup milk

Mix the two bowls together. Pour the batter into muffin cups. Bake for 15-20 minutes. They don't really brown much. They don't really rise much either.

Some substitutions I want to try. I think it would be good to add a little citrus zest. I want to make them with buttermilk instead of milk, and I want to substitute grated carrots for the coconut and use canned pineapple for the fruit.

When I make these for old people or people who don't like a muffin that isn't greasy and sweet like a cake, I double the bananas. Or I spoon a streusel mixture (oats, melted butter, sugar, and sometimes, nuts) to the top. Sometimes I put a big piece of fruit or a nut in the middle of each muffin (like a peach slice or a banana slice or a whole walnut. Then they look fancy.
Because I make so many of these muffins, I have been running out of those muffin paper things that line your muffin pan. The coffee shop I go to puts their muffins in squares of parchment paper, the paper sticks up and looks pretty and sort of architectural. So I’ll probably experiment with that (and maybe post some pictures.)