Cran Bran Muffins

Although the majority of my baking is done solo, I’ve always loved baking with kids. I worked at an elementary school for a year, and baking projects quickly became a normal event when I was in the classroom. We made brownies and pies, strawberry lady bugs and smoothies, fruit salads and bread art. Now I’m volunteering in another elementary school, and while I haven’t had the chance to get their hands dirty with tempered chocolate or bread mixes, I have been able to bake for them. And while it doesn’t have the exact same effect of walking a group of children through the thrilling world of measuring cups and mixing bowls, I still loved it. These Cran Bran muffins were to be for snack time, and the night before as I was making them, I was full of legitimate joy, knowing that I was creating something nutritious and yummy that they would eat, they would like, and they would appreciate.

I’ll be one of the first people to tell you that what you expect to happen is rarely what occurs, but I was beyond pleased the next day; when I told everyone that I had brought muffins with cranberries in them, I heard a couple of little squeals of happiness and several smiles. I passed out the muffins, and many of the children looked up and me and gave me a polite “thank you,” which was simultaneously heartwarming and reassuring. And I’m aware that it’s silly to care about, but everyone finished their entire muffin and I heard no one complain, “I don’t liiiike this!”


I know that baking muffins for a group of kids is not particularly noteworthy or amazing, and droves of parents do the same thing every single day. But I’m not a parent yet, and I am planning on spending the rest of my life teaching in elementary classrooms surrounded by the adorableness that I get to see now only intermittently. Given how so many children eat – or do not eat at all – in this world, making a batch of muffins for these kids did feel noteworthy to me. And while I would also love to give them cupcakes or chocolate chip cookies, I felt no quarrel in putting these muffins up for snack time consumption: the ingredients are wholesome, using whole-wheat flour, wheat bran, and rolled oats, and low in sugar. The blackstrap molasses is a particularly good sweetener here, both for taste and for its low glycemic index.

Cran Bran Muffins
Ingredients:
1 cup whole-wheat flour
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
¾ cup wheat bran
¾ cup rolled oats
3 Tbsp. canola oil
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
2 Tbsp. blackstrap molasses
1 egg
1½ cups buttermilk
½ cup dried cranberries

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375°F and line a muffin tin.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt and then stir in the wheat bran and the oats. 3. In another bowl, beat together the oil, sugar, and molasses and then add the egg and buttermilk. 4. Stir the bran mixture into oil mixture, then fold in the dried cranberries.
5. Place batter in the muffin tin, filling each muffin space about three-quarters full. 6. Bake for 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in a muffin comes out clean.