Yummy Bran Muffins (and healthy too! shhh!)

Ingredients:
2 cups raisin bran cereal
4 cups whole bran cereal (I used grap nuts)
2 cups boiling water
1 cup plain nonfat or lowfat yogurt
1 1/2 cups sugar (white, or brown, or molasses)
4 eggs
4 cups buttermilk
5 cups flour (whole wheat is best, but any combination of whole wheat and white will work)
5 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Optional Ingredients:
1/4 cup milled flax seed
chopped walnuts or pecans
extra raisins
shredded carrots or zucchini
cinnamon, nutmeg
granola sprinkled on top

Pour boiling water over cereal in a large mixing bowl, stir, and allow to cool. Cream together yogurt, sugar, and eggs. Add buttermilk and cooled cereal mixture. Combine dry ingredients in a bowl, and stir into cereal mixture until combined. Do not overstir - batter will be lumpy. Spoon into muffin tin - fill almost to top.

Bake at 375 for 15 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. Yields about 48 muffins.

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As you can tell, this recipe is very flexible; you can alter the cereals, flours, yogurt=shortening=apple sauce, etc).

I made these tonight, and drastically altered them from the recipe I found online (but posted it as I made it). They turned out moist, fluffy, and not too sweet (most bran muffins are too sweet for me, or sweeter than they need to be, or both). The granola on top adds a crispy contrast to the moist muffins. Reviewers of the recipe say they freeze and refrigerate well, or you can put the batter in the fridge and make some each morning.

Gotta love it!

Beej