Summer, with its heat waves, is undoubtedly over. The last tomatoes are on the vine, and the dahlias are still blooming, but the writing is on the wall. The leaves are just starting to change to their autumn colors, and it’s getting cooler at night. I’m glad about that, but I’m also glad we’re getting good weather right now. This has been making it easier to put the garden to bed (at least mostly) since knee replacement surgery is coming up.
Prepping for surgery is keeping me insanely busy—there are so many appointments, and then there’s doing all the things I won’t be able to do for a couple of weeks. So I’ve been cleaning the house and doing a lot of meal prep for the freezer because my other half is not much of a cook.
Having surgery is a mixed blessing: I’ll be in pain before I’ll be out of pain, but at least I will be getting better.
One of the things I’m making is bran muffins because of that surgery and pumpkin bran muffins because of the season. I’m hoping these will do at least one trick post-surgery. You can probably guess what that is.
What works for me about these muffins is that they freeze really well, so I can make a bunch and have them ready when I need them. They can be ’dressed up’ any way you like, meaning you can change the goodies inside to your liking. Chocolate chips? Fine. Pecans instead of walnuts? Perfect. Dried pineapple and Mac nuts? Oh, yeah. Pumpkin’s versatility makes it easy.
Pumpkin Bran Muffins
- 1-½ cups wheat bran
- ¾ cup whole wheat flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1-½ tsp cinnamon Tbsp
- ½ tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp pumpkin spice
- ¼ tsp salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup cooked roasted pumpkin, mashed
- ½ cup buttermilk
- ½ cup maple syrup
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 cup raisins or dried cranberries
- ⅓ cup walnuts (or pecans, or ?)
Preheat the oven to 400º F. Butter, oil, or spray a 12-cup muffin tin, or fill the cups with paper baking cups.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the bran, flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, pumpkin spice, and salt.
Whisk the eggs, pumpkin, buttermilk, maple syrup, vanilla, and oil in a large bowl.
Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until they are just combined—don’t overmix. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean.
Allow muffins to cool on a wire rack. Makes 12 muffins.
