Treasure Bran Muffins

Charley The Muffin Man 

Muffin #2 - Treasure Bran Muffins

    I have a friend visiting from out of town and made these for breakfast. I thought they turned out pretty yummy, even though I accidentally put two eggs in the batter, and I would definitely make these again. The recipe is in the Philadelphia Brand Cream Cheese Cookbook, published in 1981. The original recipe calls for raisins, but you could substitute cream cheese. It also doesn't call for nuts, but a small amount of finely chopped nuts would work.  My modification is in italics. 

Ingredients: 

1 1/4 cups bran cereal (I used bran flakes which I crushed up a bit)

1 cup milk

1/4 cup oil (I used vegetable oil, but you could use canola oil

1 egg

1 1/4 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 tbsp baking powder

 1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup raisins or dried cranberries

8 oz cream cheese (Philadelphia brand or whatever brand you have)

1/4 cup sugar

1 egg

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. In a mixing bowl place your bran flakes and pour the milk over top. Soak for two minutes. Add oil and add, mixing well.  Add flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder and salt. Mix until just moistened. I combined all of my dry ingredients in a small bowl and mixed them in all at the same time. Fold in the raisins and spoon batter into greased and floured muffin pan, filling each cup about 2/3 full. In a medium sized bowl, blend the cream cheese, 1/4 cup sugar and one egg, until well combined. Drop tablespoons full of the cream cheese mixture on the batter in each cup (I put more than a tablespoon and still had cream cheese mixture leftover). Bake for twenty-five minutes. Remove from oven, cool slightly, remove from pan and serve. 

Treasure Bran Muffins

Easy Brie

 Brie and Easy

Recipe 51 of 52

Appetizer #7

"Brie and Easy", quite a simple name for this dish. Rightfully so, as this four ingredient dish was so simple to make. I made it for Christmas lunch with my good friend and her mom, and we all enjoyed it.  The recipe is in the Hearts & Flours Cookbook - A Sampler of Recipes from the Heart of Texas, produced by the Junior League of Waco in 1988.  There is an inscription at the front of the book. Dated in 1997, it reads "Claire - Hope you enjoy this book as much as I have. Best wishes, Celeste". I really, liked this recipe and definitely plan to make this again. Modifications in italics. 

Ingredients:

one round of brie (I used a wedge which weighed about .67 lbs and I really liked how the wedge melted)

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/4 cup chopped raisins (I used a mix of dried cranberry, cherry, blueberry & raisin)

1/2 cup chopped green onion

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Thinly slice off the top of the brie and place into an oven safe dish (I used a Pyrex pie dish). In a small bowl, mix together the chopped walnuts, raisins or dried berries and green onion. Sprinkle the walnut mixture over the brie and bake for about 15 minutes, or until the brie softens. Serve with crackers or thinly sliced tart, green apples. 

Brie and Easy