It’s almost a cliche already that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. If that’s true or not, I can’t say. What I can say is that a blueberry muffins breakfast is the most delicious meal of the day. Add some applesauce and you’ve got a healthy recipe that makes moist, mouth watering muffins, full of fruits and flavor. This is one of my mom’s blueberry muffins recipes which she used to bake for us a lot when we were children. Feel free to use it, if you find it appealing.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour (all-purpose is OK, whole wheat is healthier, therefore much better)
• 1 cup bran flakes
• 1/3 cup sugar (organic, brown sugar is best, but you can use whatever you have)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 cup applesauce (unsweetened is best)
• 1 cup low-fat buttermilk
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 egg, slightly beaten
• 1 cup blueberries (if you can find them fresh, it’s desirable, but frozen ones are also good)
• A pinch of salt

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Makes 12 muffins

Method:

Preheat the oven at 350 F. Take a muffin tin and grease it with a non stick cooking spray or with some olive oil. Another good idea to avoid muffins from sticking to the pan is to line it with paper cups, like the ones used for baking cupcakes. They are fairly inexpensive and they will make your muffins look more “festive”.

As in all muffin recipes, mix all dry ingredients together in a bowl, then add the blueberries to the mixture. Take another bowl and mix the wet ingredients separately, then combine them with the dry ones and stir well. Spoon the muffin batter into the tin cups, filling them only three quarters. Bake the muffins for 15-20 minutes. By the end of the interval, try them with a toothpick so see if they are done, especially if you notice they get brown before the 20 minutes lapse.

Bran muffins are a very good source of dietary fiber, therefore they make excellent and healthy breakfast meals. As they take a little bit more time to prepare than other types of muffins, you can make the batter and refrigerate it overnight, if you want to bake the muffins first thing in the morning, before your family wakes up. This is one of the favorite muffin recipes of many kids.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups wheat bran
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup raisins (you can also use dates or dried apricots, chopped)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 egg
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2/3 cup sugar (brown is better than white; you can substitute the whole sugar amount or a part of it with honey or molasses)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Cooking method:

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Line the muffin tin cups with paper liners or grease it. Mix the wheat bran with the buttermilk and let it sit for 10 minutes. This is the additional step that makes the preparation time a bit longer, but you can’t skip it if you want to bake perfect bran muffins. Beat the egg, add the oil and the sugar, then pour the mix over the buttermilk with bran after the ten minutes have passed. Mix together the dry ingredients, then stir them into the buttermilk and blend well. Now add the dried fruits, raisins or whatever you decided you want to go into your muffins and spoon the batter in the muffin tin cups. Fill them only 3 quarters, so the muffins have enough room to expand during the baking process. Bake for 20 minutes, then stick one muffin with a toothpick. If it comes out clean, take them out of the oven and let them cool for a few minutes before taking them out of the pan.