Classic Bran Muffins

The original recipe comes from Janet Kalman Villada on allrecipes.com. I have tweaked it a bit to make it my own.

1 1/2 cups wheat bran (we really like oat bran)
1 c buttermilk (we use plain Greek yogurt)
1/3 c oil (or applesauce)
1 egg
2/3 c b. sugar (works well with less if you are cutting back on sweets)
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 c all purpose flour (we always use whole wheat)
1 tsp b. soda
1 tsp. b. powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c. raisins (opt.)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease muffin cups or line with paper muffin liners.
2. Mix together wheat bran and buttermilk; let stand for 10 minutes.
3. Beat together oil, egg, sugar, and vanilla and add to buttermilk/bran mixture. Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Stir flour mixture into buttermilk mixture, until just blended. Fold in raisins and spoon batter into prepared muffin tins.
4. Bake for 15-20 minutes until muffins are firm on top. Cool and enjoy!

Variation: One day my husband peeled and chopped half of one apple, mixed in 2T brown sugar (from the 2/3 c. brown sugar in the original recipe) and 1tsp pumpkin pie spice, and microwaved the apple mixture for 1-2 minutes until the apples were soft. He added these in place of the raisins. Deliciousness!