Ali's Kitchen: Apricot Oat Bran Muffins

"Sunshine" muffins with a sweet crunchy top with a hint of orange citrus. These moist, delicious muffins are filled with apricots. You would never know the batter is made up of whole wheat pastry flour and oat bran.

Ingredients:

Dry ingredients, whisked together

1 1/2 cups of whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 cup of oat bran
1 1/4 teaspoon of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg, preferably freshly grated

2 eggs, room temperature
4 tablespoons of melted unsalted butter, cooled
1/2 cup of milk, room temperature
5.3 oz container of Dannon Vanilla yogurt
(approx. 6 big tbsp.)
3/4 cup of light brown sugar

1 cup of dried apricots, chopped fine

1/4 cup of raw sugar
1 teaspoon of orange zest

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375. If using convection bake, drop heat to 350.

Whisk together all dry ingredients, 1 1/2 cups or whole wheat pastry flour, 3/4 cup of oat bran, 1 1/4 teaspoon of baking powder, 1 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of grated nutmeg, in a medium bowl. Set aside.

Melt 4 tablespoons of unsalted butter, and let cool. In a large bowl add two eggs, melted butter, 1/2 cup of milk, 6 big tablespoons of vanilla yogurt and 3/4 cup of light brown sugar. Set aside.

Add 1 cup of dried apricots to a food processor. Pulse until finely chopped. If not available, just dice apricots with a chef's knife.

Add 1/4 cup of raw sugar with 1 teaspoon of grated orange zest in a food processor. Whirl for thirty seconds. Set aside for topping.

Prepare muffin tin with paper liners and/or cooking spray.

Whisk together all wet ingredients till blended. Next, add dry ingredients to wet ingredients. Mix well, just until blended. Don't over mix. Add diced apricots. With a 1/3 dry measure, scoop batter into prepared muffin tin. Top each muffin with raw orange sugar topping.

Bake at 375 for approximately 20 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.