kitchen katastrophe: bran muffins

when i got my new mixer for christmas, i was super excited. i kept dreaming of all these things i could make, but i was slightly afraid and didn't know where to start. then i read an article about how bran muffins are good for you and i was instantly taken back to my childhood when we would make homemade bran muffins. i think only my mom and i would eat them, but they were delicious! sometimes we would add blueberries to make them even better, but i didn't have any blueberries to add (being the dead of winter), so i settled for regular bran muffins. also, this recipe (which is from my mom's recipe box, although i doubt she invented it) is super huge and makes a TON of muffins, so feel free to cut in half like i did for these pictures (although the printed recipe is its original version).

Bran Muffins
Ingredients

• 1 heaping cup of crisco
• 3 cups of sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2 cups boiling water
• 2 cups 100% nabisco bran
• 4 cups kelloggs all bran
• 5 tsp soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 5 cups sifted flour
• 1 quart buttermilk

Directions

1. Pour hot water onto nabisco bran and set aside to cool.
2. Cream crisco and sugar.
3. Add eggs
4. Add buttermilk, cooled nabisco mixture, all bran, soda and salt.
5. Fold in sifted dry ingredients until all is moistened.
6. Pour into 1 gallon ice cream pail and keep refrigerated.
7. Pour into creased muffin tin and bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes.
8. Makes 1 gallon and can keep in fridge 6-7 weeks.

the mixing went well enough. i couldn't get my mixer to work properly and it smelt like the engine was on fire. i thought maybe i had a crappy mixer (i don't) and it couldnt handle all the ingredients i was putting in. then i realized that the spinny-things (actual mixers?) weren't pushed in all the way. once i figured that out, everything went pretty smoothly. here is the mixig (after the spinny-things were put in properly).
i was trying to figure out how to make the perfect-sized muffin, and i discovered two things. 1) use an ice cream scoop with the metal bar to push the mixture out to dole out the creamy batter into paper cups. 2) these dont rise a ton, so if you want your cupcake overflowing, you should fill it more than 3/4 full.
in the end, here are the fabulous bran muffins in all their fiber glory. note, these muffins will keep you good and regular.

as always, i have learned something from my cooking experience.

1. sifting flour is fun. just make sure you sift over another bowl and not onto the counter. if you prefer to sift over a counter, make sure the counter is clean.
2. make sure that your mixer is set up properly. when you are fixing the spinny-things, make sure that the mixer, along with being turned off, is actually unplugged.
3. keep bandaids nearby in case of violent mixers.
4. probably don't want to eat two dozen of these in one setting. but don't let that prevent you from making them - its fun!