Morning Meals

 They say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  I don't know if that's true or not, but I do enjoy making breakfast foods.  Omelets, pancakes, muffins.  Although most mornings I'm pretty boring, pouring myself a bowl of cereal and calling it a meal.

A couple weeks ago I entered a giveaway on Cara's Cravings and won a new breakfast treat!  Paleonola Granola!

 

Paleonola is a grain free granola.  I've got nothing against grains, but even I didn't miss them at all from this granola.  I wouldn't have even known it was grain free if ...well, if I hadn't had known it was grain free!

My other breakfast excitement came in the form of some muffins.  It's been a while since I made muffins and I love having them on-hand for a quick breakfast or snack.  And they're easy for Thatboy to take to work too.

If you recall I'm trying to use my cookbooks more, so I flipped open my Ellie Krieger book for the recipe.  I adore Ellie Krieger by the way.  And this recipe might be my new favorite of hers.  It is definitely my new favorite muffin recipe.

Growing up bran muffins always seemed so grown up - I was never into them.  Bran doesn't even sound like something you'd want to eat.  And then, sometime in junior high I discovered Cracklin' Oat Bran in our pantry.  Sweet little branny o's.  I was in love.  Those things were fantastic.  And then I became a big fan of bran muffins and their inherent sweetness.  Thatboy likes them really sticky, but I like mine more muffiny.

While bran seems to pair naturally with raisins, I think my favorite part of these muffins is the use of fig instead of raisins.  Figs are far superior than raisins when not in muffins, so it makes sense that the inclusion of figs in these muffins elevates them beyond the everyday.

Fig Bran Muffins (From Ellie Krieger's So Easy)

Cooking spray
1 cup chopped dried figs, plus 3 whole dried figs
1 1/2 cups bran cereal
1 cup milk
1 1/2 cups whole-wheat flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup honey
1/3 cup canola oil
2 tablespoons unsulfured molasses
1 large egg, beaten

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Coat a 12-capacity muffin pan with cooking spray. Thinly slice the whole figs.
2. In a large bowl, combine the cereal and milk. Let sit until softened, about 5 minutes. 
3. Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl.
4. Add the applesauce, honey, oil, molasses, and egg to the cereal mixture and stir until combined.
5. Add the flour mixture and stir until just combined.
6. Gently stir in the chopped figs. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and top each muffin with a fig slice. Tap the pan on the counter a few times to remove any air bubbles.
   Bake for about 20 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in center of 1 of the muffins comes out clean. Let cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes. If necessary, run a knife around the muffins to loosen. Unmold and cool completely on a rack.