love muffins

Last Sunday afternoon was spent relaxing in advance of our first bikram yoga class, and what better way is there to relax than to bake? We had two bags of frozen cranberries in the freezer left over from Thanksgiving, and a bowl full of lemons, so cran-lemon muffins it was. The recipe was adapted from one I (Becky) found on Le Petite Pierogi. The ground fresh cranberries turned the batter a bit pink, and I baked them in the sweetest little heart shaped silicon muffin molds that Sue gave me at my South African kitchen tea (bridal shower). Hence: love muffins. Also, Brendan has declared these "the best muffins in his life"-  sounds a lot like love to me. A couple notes: this recipe is sugar free- a plus for Brendan who can't really eat sugar. I used agave nectar because we just happened to acquire some from friends who were moving to London, but you could also use honey. Also, whole wheat flour could take the place of the oat bran. We just really like bran...we're crazy like that.

Ingredients

3/4 cup toasted oat bran

3/4 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup agave nectar

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 egg

2/3 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbs butter, melted

1 generous cup cranberries (frozen or fresh), whirled around a bit in a food processor (or otherwise chopped)

1/2 cup pecans, chopped

1/2 tsp lemon zest (use the zest from the half lemon you are about to juice)

juice of half a lemon

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 F, and oil muffin tins or whip out your cute silicon molds. Mix all the dry stuff in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl, whisk the agave, egg, millk, butter, and vanilla. Add the wet stuff to the dry stuff, add the cranberries, pecans, lemon zest and juice, and fold until just combined. Fill molds/tins 3/4 up (you can sprinkle the tops with sugar if you like a crystalized top) and bake for 25 minutes (but start checking on them at about 20). Once they look golden and an inserted toothpick comes out clean, take 'em out and cool on a rack.

Yield approx 15 muffins, and appreciative eaters

* Special note for users of the metric system: check out this handy dandy measurement converter *