Red River Oat Bran Muffins a.k.a. the healthy muffins that actually taste good

Ahh, it's end of term time and I'm stressed out. I've had such a ridiculously unproductive day, and also I have not posted anything in ages, so I have decided to begin my productive night by telling you about these muffins! I got the recipe for these from my mom. Im' not sure where she got it, but she made them a few times, and I was always surprised by how tasty these guys were, despite their bland appearance (well, mine are rather festive looking, as they are sitting in christmas cupcake papers). No, I mean seriously guys, these muffins are good.

INGREDIENTS

1 &1/3 cups boiling water

3/4 cup Red River cereal

3/4 cup natural bran

2 &1/2 cups flour

2 &1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup shortening

1 &1/2 cups granulated sugar

2 eggs

2 cups buttermilk

2 cups oats

1 to 1 &1/2 cups raisins, chopped dates or dried cranberries

(Yes, there are a lot of ingredients. Yes, you need them all.)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375º F.
2. Pour boiling water over Red River cereal and bran, mix, and let stand.
3. In a smal-ish bowl, combine four, baking soda and salt, mix well.
4. In a big bowl, cream shortening, sugar, eggs and buttermilk together until well blended.
5. Gradually add the flour and cereal/bran mixtures into the big bowl until thoroughly mixed.
6. Spoon into a muffin tin (almost full), and bake for 18-23 minutes, or until the top springs back when lightly touched.

TIPS

- The recipe says the batter stays good for a month if you keep it in a sealed container in the fridge, so you can make the batter ahead of time, and make fresh muffins whenever you're hungry and have 20 minutes to spare (maybe while getting ready in the monrning?) If you use the batter directly from the fridge, extend baking time to 23-28 minutes.

- Add whatever you like! The recipe calls for dried cranberries or raisins, but you could easily add your own favorite dried fruit or nuts to it. Or even chocolate or peanut butter chips. When making these, I didnt know what to put, so I tried a little of everything I had lying around (mostly cranberries, with some raisins, sliced almonds and chocolate chips).

(by the way, I apologize for the ridiculousness going on with the way the words are split up, rather then doing the normal thing and keeping them together. I have no idea what's up, but the posting is being all weird today :( )