Bran muffins - a family legacy

One of my mom's best known recipes is a magical combination of wheat bran, oat bran, and who knows what that she used to bake into her special "muffins." Her muffins didn't really look like muffins - more like misshapen biscuits - but they were pretty tasty and we ate them regularly (no pun intended). Those outside the family tried them occasionally and, unused to the fiber punch, tended to have some... digestive side effects.  In fact, a friend of the family once called them colon-bombers and the name so aptly fit that it stuck. I'm not sure mom liked the name as much as we did. Maybe that's why she hasn't made them in a long while. 

The recipe below might be called a subtler version of my mom's muffins. I really like these, but then I can eat a whole flat of raspberries with nary a tummy-rumble. 

Moist Molasses Bran Muffins 

(from Bob's Red Mill package with my additions in italics)

1 cup wheat bran

1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour (white flour also works fine)

1/2 cup raisins (or other dried fruit)

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup milk

1/2 cup molasses

3/4 cup applesauce

1/4 cup chopped nuts (or flax seeds)

2 Tbsp oil

2 eggs, beaten

Preheat oven to 400. Combine wheat bran, flour, baking soda and baking powder. Stir in nuts and raisins. In a separate bowl blend applesauce, milk, molasses, oil and egg. Add to dry ingreadients and stir just until moistened. Spoon into greased muffin tin or paper muffin cups and bake for 15-20 minutes. Makes 12 marvelous muffins!