I Heart Cooking Clubs
Morning Glories
I was a Gourmet Magazine devotee. I kept my magazines for a very long time but I finally got rid of them in one of my moves. I did manage to keep a couple of issues of The Best of Gourmet. Now that we are cooking with Ruth Reichl I pulled out my Gourmet books for this challenge. I decided on these Sour Cream Bran Muffins. I think it is so hard to find a good bran muffin but I figured Gourmet was a good place to start. I loved these. The sour cream provides a nice amount of moisture, the butter keeps them from tasting like cardboard and the molasses keeps it from being overly sweet. I did not find this recipe on Ruth’s website so I have listed below.
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 large egg, beaten lightly
1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup dark molasses
1/2 cup raisins
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup miller’s bran
In a large bowl with an electric mixer cream together the butter and the brown sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy, beat in the egg, the sour cream, and the molasses, and stir in the raisins. In a bowl whisk together the flour, the baking soda, the salt, and the bran, add the mixture to the sour cream mixture, and stir the batter until it is just combined. (The batter will be lumpy). Spoon the batter into 12 well-buttered 1/3 cup muffin tins and bake the muffins in the middle of a preheated 400 degree oven for 15-20 minutes, or until they are golden and springy to the touch. Turn the muffins out onto a rack and let them cool. Makes 12 muffins.
One note, I bake all my muffins at 375 degrees and these came out done at that temperature in 15 minutes. I found the recipe at Epicurious.
I also managed to make pomegranate sunrise fizz (page 83 from My Kitchen Year). “Cut a pomegranate in half and squeeze it as if it were an orange. On its own, the color is extraordinary-like liquid garnets-but if you combine it with the juice of an orange, you end up with the color of a sunrise. Pour over ice and splash in a bit of soda water”.
I used the whole pomegranate, a whole orange and some soda water. Mine was less sunrise since I used the whole pomegranate. It was tasty but nothing special. It was expensive juice since my pomegranate was $2.50.
CafeMomCooks 
I made muffins this week too. 🙂 I am a pomegranate hoarder during this time of year when we can get them in stores. I was already to go juice one until you mentioned it wasn't that fabulous! 🙂
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You know what's funny, bran muffins get a bad rap, but they are one of all-time favorites. Martha has a raisin bran muffin I really like, but I'd love to give these a go. Sour cream and/or yogurt always makes for a fabulous texture.Loved the notes on the sunrise fizz. My 12 year old son has been wanting to try a pomegranate. I know he won't like the arils. This drink would be a better way for him to try it.
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