sunday recipe :: rhubarb bran muffins

I love bran muffins. I bought a package of bran last year to make a not yet found bran muffin recipe, and lo and behold, there was a great recipe on the package. Love that. I added rhubarb to my first batch, so that's the only way I've known these muffins. Made some more today from my rhubarb purchase a the St. Paul Farmer's Market yesterday. Actually, I made this batch in a 9x13 pan because I wanted to go for a walk this evening, rather than scoop batter into muffin cups! Baked up just fine!

3 cups unprocessed wheat bran (I used a mix of wheat and oat today)
1 cup boiling water
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
2-1/2 cups white flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 eggs, beaten
2 cups buttermilk
Cinnamon sugar

Mix 1 cup bran with 1 cup boiling water; stir and let water absorb into bran. Blend sugar and butter in a separate bowl. Combine flour, baking soda and salt separately. Combine moist bran with eggs, remaining 2 cups of bran, buttermilk, blended sugar-butter mixture and flour mixture. Add about 2 cups of chopped rhubarb. I sprinkled mine with a little sugar. Stir well. [My note: there's a lot of separate mixing/bowls going on here. I do the sugar/butter/eggs/buttermilk in a big bowl and add the bran/flour mixture directly to it].

Refrigerate for future use, or bake at once. To bake, preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Spoon into prepared muffin cups. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Bake for 15 minutes. 
***For 9x13 pan, I lowered the temperature to 350 and baked for about 30 minutes.

You need to be a bran lover. . .and they're delicious!