Every week -- often with your help -- Food52's Executive Editor Kristen Miglore is unearthing recipes that are nothing short of genius.
Today: A bran muffin that's somehow both more wholesome and more delicious than the rest. What gives?
Bran muffins have always been the
Silverton was uninspired by bran muffin recipes that called for processed bran cereals and lots of sugar. So she built a recipe based on unprocessed bran, which is pretty easy to find at health food stores and online. She toasts the bran briefly to develop the flavor, but otherwise stirs it straight in—so there really is no reason for using cereal, other than the fact that cereal marketers are good at their jobs.
Nancy Silverton's Bran Muffins
Adapted slightly from Pastries from La Brea Bakery (Random House, 2000)
Makes 10 muffins (or 12 smaller ones)
2 cups unprocessed bran
1 1/2 cups raisins, divided
1 1/2 cups water, divided
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon orange zest, finely chopped (about 1/3 of an orange)
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 extra-large egg
1 extra-large egg white
1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 cup stone-ground whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
See the full recipe (and save and print it) here.
Got a genius recipe to share -- from a classic cookbook, an online source, or anywhere, really? Please send it my way (and tell me what's so smart about it) at [email protected]. Thanks to our A Bushel & a Peck columnist Ali Stafford and David Lebovitz for this one!
The Genius Recipes cookbook is here! (Well, almost.) The book is a mix of greatest hits from the column and unpublished new favorites -- all told, over 100 recipes that will change the way you think about cooking. It'll be on shelves in April, but you can pre-order yours now.
Photos by Bobbi Lin