Cafe Darclee Photoshoot

It's been quite the busy past couple of months for me - new, big changes and settling into a new home, but all is well! Cooking has lightened, but my enthusiasm has not. Life at the cafe has been busy with new management and in turn, an opportunity for some new work. In attempts to give the place a little bit of a lift, I've been taken on to do the food photography for our website. Estimated to be up in the next week or so, as we still have some more product to shoot later this week, but these are some of the shots we've decided on thus far. Thanks for all of your support (especially through my Facebook account) and I hope you enjoy! All the best.

Fluffy Baby Bran Muffins

I'm a sucker for a good bran muffin. I don't normally cruise the pastry case at cafes, but if I see the silhouette of a dark brown, moist, chunky bran muffin in the corner of my eye - it and I, are sold. Unfortunately, a majority of them are loaded with copious amounts of refined sugars and butter, so I took it upon myself to find a healthier version that I could mess around with. This recipe was adapted from from a bran muffin recipe in The New York Times Natural Food Cookbook published in 1971.


Baby Bran Muffins

Yields two dozen baby brans, or one dozen larger muffins

Ingredients

2 cups white whole wheat flour OR stone ground whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups wheat bran
3/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
2 tablespoons raw natural cane sugar OR brown sugar
2 cups full fat yogurt
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup honey, preferably a light honey such as clover
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 cup of add-ins of your choice - raisins, chopped dried fruit, nuts, etc (optional) - I used apricots for a tang, and plump raisins for something sweet

Preheat oven to 425* F.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, wheat bran, salt, baking soda and sugar.

Beat together the yogurt, egg, honey, and butter in a second larger bowl. Add the dry ingredients and fold in until everything comes together. Fold in any optional add-ins, raisins, nuts, and the like. Resist over-mixing.

Either grease a mini-muffin tin with butter or line the tin with small muffin papers. Fill each 3/4 full and top off with a little bit of honey on top for a sweet, caramelized top. Bake 10 -15 minutes, until muffins are golden on top and cooked through. You can also make larger muffins in a standard size muffin pan with this batter, you just need to bake them about 5 minutes longer.

These babies are so great right out of the oven with a little jam and a spot of tea!