Amazing, Moist Chocolate Chip Bran Muffins

Long ago when I had given birth to one our babies, a sweet friend brought us dinner.  And part of the dinner was a tin full of Grandma Larson's Bran Muffins.  They were from a recipe in her husband's family and they were moist, delicious, and tender.
They have become my favorite muffin recipe!  And since I made some this week, I thought I'd share this treat with you.  I have made some adjustments to the recipe to fit the ingredients I have on hand and to add a bit of chocolate to them.  So here we go!

The adjustments I made to the recipe are listed below:

1 1/4 c. boiling water
3 c. raisin bran flakes
1/2 c. cooking oil
1 c. sugar
2 beaten eggs
2 c. buttermilk (from a carton or homemade sour milk or buttermilk made with dry mix)
2 1/2 c. flour
3 tsp. soda
1/2 t. salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips stirred up with a teaspoon of flour so they won't sink to the bottom of the muffin.

Go ahead and follow the original directions while making the above substitutes if you wish.  I don't buy All Bran cereal, so that's why I just use bran flake cereal or raisin bran cereal.  I increased the boiling water since I add it to the whole 3 cups of raisin bran.  And please know that this recipe is very forgiving...if your batter is alittle thinner than you think it should be (mine was this past time) just add some more bran flakes to it.  Works just fine.

The recipe makes about 24 muffins.  I like to bake them right in the tin without liners but then when I give them to friends or family I sometimes place the finished muffin in a liner for a nicer presentation.  As the recipe says, you can bake a batch, then keep the rest of the batter in the fridge for up to 6 weeks.  Brilliant!!

They are equally good without chocolate chips, but in my opinion, the chocolate chips send them over the AMAZING top.  :)  I also top dress the unbaked muffin with chopped walnuts and a few more choc. chips.
I just had one, right from the oven, with a tall glass of iced coffee.  Summer bliss!

V E R Y moist.  Even 3-4 days after you bake them.

I gave some to our neighbor friends, and they all enjoyed them to the max!  These can be a nice gift for neighbors, families who need encouragement, new moms, friends at Christmas, etc.
And a BIG thank you to Debbie for sharing her recipe in our church cookbook many years ago and for introducing me to these wonderful treats from your family!

Enjoy!

Blessings,
Donna

Getting Ahead, Holiday-Style

I LOVE to get ahead in my responsibilities.  It makes me feel prepared and better able to enjoy each day.  So a recent blog post really caught my eye.  It's called Stock Your Freezer in Just an Hour Each Week.  You can click on that title and be taken to Crystal's inspiring article.  :)  I love the idea of freezing meals and desserts to have on hand, but the thought of spending hours in the kitchen and dealing with sinks full of dirty dishes turns me off.  I homeschool our 9th grade son, plus have a thriving Etsy business, so I don't feel I have time to make a month of meals in one day.  So Crystal's idea of just spending an hour a week preparing something for the freezer really appeals to me.  She even suggests just spending 30 minutes at a time doing such.  

My husband and I have all of our adult kids,  2 little grandbabes, and parents coming to our home for Thanksgiving Weekend.  Can. Not. Wait!  I want to be able to really enjoy them all so I am thinking ahead about what I can do to get ahead of the game, food wise and cleaning wise.  Today I had so much fun preparing one thing for the freezer, and now it waits there, ready for holiday baking.  Yippee!  I'll take you on a photo journey of my first one hour freezer cooking adventure, which I divided into two 20 minute segments.

Peanut Butter Blossoms are one of our VERY favorite Christmas cookies.  I'd like to have some to serve over Thanksgiving Weekend, since that is when my grown kids will be home.  During a break from school, between Grammar and Math, I got out the recipe and made the cookie dough.

All good Christmas Cookie making starts with Christmas music on Pandora...

And donning the apron my so-loved Grandma made for me when I married in 1984....

One recipe makes 3 1/2 dozen.  Easy to mix up the dough during my break. (Then, back to school and lunch before I came back to finish this job.)

Roll into balls and roll in sugar

And now for the surprising part...I put the cookie balls on plates to FREEZE!  I'm not a huge fan of cookies that have been frozen.  Nor of making cookie dough AND baking it all in one setting.  I'm a short-project kind of gal.

I had two plates full of cookie dough balls...into the freezer for an hour and 15 minutes of while I cleaned up lunch and finished school with my son.

Took the plates out of the freezer.  Two plates of amazing cookies ready to bake and top with a Hersheys Kiss.  Bliss!  Fresh baked cookies will only be about 15 minutes away, whenever I decide to bake them.  Nom, nom, nom.

Lickety split, I slid them off the plates and into a gallon freezer bag.  Zip it up, easing out the air as I go. And just for the fun of it, I tied a red bow around it.  Christmas Cookies just waiting to be baked.  (Can you tell, I'm excited!)

I wrote the cookie name on the bag and the oven temp too.  My recipe never had the minutes of baking written on it, so every year I have to figure it out again.  Sheesh.  :)

I am visualizing baking half of these at Thanksgiving, and saving the other half for Christmas.  Wouldn't these frozen cookie dough balls make a fabulous gift for a friend, neighbor, teacher, or your Pastor's family?  You could wrap them cute, and add a nice tag.  We sometimes are given too many cookies at Christmas, so being given frozen dough balls might be a real blessing for your friends to bake and use at whatever time they need them.

I'm planning to make 2-3 more types of cookie dough balls to freeze before the holidays.  Also several pies (baked), a frozen dessert, and our Thanksgiving Sweet Potato Casserole.  Any other ideas from you readers and friends?

Hope you are inspired!

Blessings and Happy Getting Ahead!

Donna

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Simply Special Chocolate Cake

Who doesn't LOVE chocolate cake? And cheesecake too?! Surprise Cake has a bit of both! So easy to make...here's how: Stir up a chocolate cake from any mix, following the package directions.

In a separate bowl, cream together: 8 oz. cream cheese, softened (I used low fat,) 1/2 cup sugar, and 1 egg.

Fill greased cake pans with 2/3 of the cake batter (I used 2 round ones to make 2 one layer cakes...a nice way to have one cake for home, and one to share with a friend). Spoon the cream cheese mixture over the batter in a random way, for a pretty pattern. Then spoon the remainder of the cake batter over the cheese filling. Bake at 350 til the top springs back when poked and a toothpick inserted near the middle comes out clean.

After a bit of cooling and removing from cake pan onto a pretty plate, serve slightly warm with a shake of powdered sugar over the cake and plate. Also great with a dollop of whipped cream. Must refrigerate remaining cake.

This cake was so easy, makes a pretty presentation, and is so so good. Very moist and not sickeningly sweet. Simply delicious! Enjoy.