03 Dec Refrigerator Bran Muffins

As we are preparing for our own postpartum time, I was reminded of the story that Rochelle Matos, our Bradley Instructor at With Love, shared about her babymoon time. She told us that we should plan for our babymoon like you would plan for your honeymoon. Have some special things on hand to celebrate, make sure you are pampering yourself and each other, let this be a special time to fall in love with your baby and be in love with your partner, etc. One of the fun things that she and her husband did was have fresh, warm muffins every morning. Sounds like a lot of work, right? But no, it was actually quite simple!

Rochelle was not allowed to go downstairs to the kitchen during her time of rest, so it was all thanks to her lovely husband for making this possible! They made the recipe below and keep it in their refrigerator ahead of time. Once baby arrived, when they would wake up, he would go down and just make 2 muffins. Each morning, all he had to do was fill up two muffin cups and put them in the oven. It was a quick way to make a special treat, and while they were baking he could make a nice protein rich breakfast to accompany their warm muffins! Each morning, she got to enjoy breakfast in bed with her husband and baby. Sounds like a fabulous babymoon to me!

Refrigerator Bran Muffins

From The More-With-Less Cookbook

Makes 4-5 dozen.

Place in bowl:

• 2 cups ready-to-eat bran cereal

Pour over:

• 2 cups boiling water

Set aside to cool.

Cream together in large mixing bowl:

• 1 cup butter
• 1 and 1/2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs

Add and beat in:

• 1 quart buttermilk
• soaked bran mixture

Sift together:

• 5 cups flour 
• 5 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt

Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture and fold until flour is moistened.

Fold in:

• 4 cups additional dry bran cereal

Store batter in covered containers in refrigerator. Keeps 3-4 weeks. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 400 degrees and fill well-greased muffin tins 2/3 full. Bake 20 minutes.

Optional: Add raisins and/or nuts just before baking.