Sticky Bran Muffins

My favorite bran muffins are made at a local bakery shop that I used to pop in at when my sister-in-law worked there. This past spring I had a craving for them when I saw the same large, sticky muffins at a bakery bar in California. I thought it was time to figure out how to duplicate them and found out that adding a sticky sauce to my regular buttermilk bran muffins would work. While these did not turn out with the large overhang muffin top, they were still so good, I won't go back to plain.

Ingredients:

Muffins:

• 1 cup (loosely filled) chopped dates or raisins
• 1/2 cup boiling water 
• 1 tsp soda
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 cup All Bran Cereal (such as Kellogs)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup oil
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup wheat bran
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt

sticky syrup:

• 4 Tbsp butter
• 4 Tbsp brown sugar
• 2 Tbsp maple syrup
• 2 Tbsp honey
• 1/2 tsp vanilla

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 400 F. 
2. In a small bowl combine chopped dates or raisins with boiling water and soda. Set aside.
3. In a second small bowl, combine buttermilk with All Bran and set aside.
4. In mixing bowl, beat sugar and eggs and oil until smooth. 
5. Stir in date mixture and All Bran mixture (from steps 2 and 3) then stir in the rest of the dry ingredients (flour, wheat bran, baking powder and salt) 
6. In saucepan melt butter along with the rest of the sauce ingredients, stirring until sugar is melted. Divide into 12 regular muffin pans, about 1 Tbsp per pan. Spray tops of pans.
7. Divide muffin mix by large spoonfuls into syrup.
8. Bake for 20 minutes. Invert onto cooling racks. Yield: 12 regular sized muffins

Tip: to clean sticky pans, stick them in a larger oven proof container and fill pans with water. Sprinkle with soda and return to hot oven for about 15 minutes. The mess will easily wash off.