Strawberry Banana Bran Muffin

This recipe was a cupboard cleaning miracle.  Yahoo!

I got rid of a ton of wheat bran, most of the pumpkin seeds, all the sunflower seeds, all the frozen bananas and a bag of frozen strawberries.  Who cares that these aren't the most amazing muffins on the planet, they did a darn good job of helping me toward my pantry elimination goal.

I struggle with frozen strawberries in baked goods.  I feel like no matter what I do they make things soggy and soggy bread products activate my gag reflex.  Pre-made sandwiches are my nemesis. Because I was adapting a blueberry muffin recipe to include strawberries instead I knew I needed to get as much moisture out of these guys as possible.  I thawed the strawberries and drained them thoroughly, then chopped them and let them drain again. I also tossed them in flour to help absorb even more water.  I also substituted some whole wheat flour in here for the white flour which helped dry it out a bit more.  It worked OK.

I will say it was kind of nice making a recipe that didn't require me to use a mixer.  Sometimes it's nice to go old school and stir things up by hand.  However, I am getting really used to weighing my ingredients and I find myself annoyed when washing all the measuring cups and spoons it takes to make recipes that are volume based.  I tend to try to use the least number of measuring implements possible even if that means that I have to measure out a quarter teaspoon eight times to get a two teaspoons just to avoid washing another spoon.

I was surprised by how little the muffins rose but the original recipe warned me of that.  I was also surprised that the original recipe indicated this made 12 muffins but I ended up with 18.  I don't know how that happens.  Maybe it's like on TV cooking shows when they don't scrape the bowl.  Have you noticed this?  TV chefs make stuff in a bowl and then put into a pan or a serving tray and don't even put it all in there.  Are they just in a hurry because they have to fit in all into a 30 minute show or are they really so wasteful?  The only reason I can see for doing this is that they plan to eat the rest of the batter in the bowl when the camera's off.

These were not my favorite muffins in all the land.  Despite all the soggy insurance I took out, they still were a little soggy.    The bran flavor is good, if you like a bran muffin.  However, the lightness of my pantry and freezer makes up for any misgivings I have about these muffins.

Strawberry Banana Bran Muffin
Adapted from Real Simple
Makes 18 muffins

Ingredients

1 cup All Purpose Flour
3/4 cup Whole Wheat Flour
1 3/4 cup Bran
3/4 cup Sugar
1/4 cup Sunflower Seeds
1/2 cup Pumpkin Seeds
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Apple Pie Spice
3/4 tsp Baking Soda
3/4 tsp Baking Powder
4 ripe bananas, mashed(1 1/2 cups)
3 Eggs
3/4 cup Milk
4 T Butter, melted
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 lb Frozen Strawberries, thawed, drained and chopped (1 1/2 cups)
2 T All Purpose Flour

Instructions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Spray a 2 muffin tins with non-stick spray (you'll only need 1/2 of the 2nd tin).

In a large bowl combine both flours, bran, sugar, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, salt, spices, soda and powder.

In a separate bowl combine the bananas, eggs, milk, butter and vanilla.

In another bowl toss the strawberries with 2 T of flour.

Add the banana mixture to the flour mixture and stir until just combined.  Add the strawberries and stir gently to combine.

Divide the batter among the muffin cups, the batter will come to the top of the cups.  Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the middle of the muffin comes out with just a few moist crumbs.

Enjoy!
Julie