By Request

By Betty Shimabukuro

Wednesday, April 25, 2001

KEN IGE / STAR-BULLETIN
Fred Lee of Yuppie Cafe offers up one of his
blueberry bran muffins.

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Substantially great
bran muffins quite
simple to make

A bad bran muffin is a scary thing. Dry, heavy, hard. A potential weapon.

A great bran muffin, though, is moist and substantial. A bit sweet, but not dessert food. It makes fiber fun.

Nicole Seu found herself a good bran muffin, at Yuppie Cafe on Fort Street Mall. "I was wondering about the fat content of those muffins, and a recipe if you had that as well."

Recipes are a bit of a foreign concept at Yuppie Cafe, where owner Fred Lee practices a free-form style of cooking, even with his baked items.

"Basically we have recipes," Lee says. "But we just don't look at them."

Obsessiveness in the kitchen is what scares people away from cooking, he says. His mantra for the home cook: "You need salt, pepper, shoyu, sugar. That's enough. Then people aren't scared. You make it simple, then you want to go into the kitchen. You want to make it complicated -- you go out to eat."

That said, he agreed to write down the ingredients the next time he made up a batch of muffins. And these are seriously fabulous muffins. Crunchy on top, moist and cake-like in the center, very flavorful and not too sweet.

Baked up at home (at least at my house), they weren't quite as perfect, but still very good. The basic recipe follows, but you can stir in blueberries, chopped apples and cinnamon, shredded carrots or bananas and walnuts. Or whatever.

Lee's guideline: 10 blueberries per muffin, or the equivalent in other stir-ins.

Don't worry about how much, he says. "You just put some inside, that's all."

Lee moved here from Hong Kong 20 years ago with an economics background. He worked for a time as an area supervisor for service stations, but always wanted to open his own business. He chose a restaurant in this downtown location because the opportunity was right.

The name, Yuppies, he picked, "because I'm a crazy guy, that's why."

The term was already out of fashion when he opened the café, but he thought it would be simple, catchy and memorable. It seems to work. "Sometimes people come in and say, 'I'm a yuppie, what can I have?' "

As for Seu's question about the fat content of the muffins, they have 400 calories and 17 grams of fat, which goes to show that although bran is basically a healthy thing, the sugars and fats often added to make them palatable can make them fattening, so beware.

Also included here is another variation on a bran muffin. It won the Quaker Oats "It's the Right Thing to Do" recipe contest. The winning cook was Martha Davis of South Carolina.

Oat Bran Muffins

3 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup oat bran
2 cups wheat bran
1 tablespoon baking powder
2/3 cups nonfat powdered milk
1-1/2 cups sugar
1/2 pound margarine, softened
1 egg
1 cup water
1/8 cup molasses

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a standard muffin pan with paper baking cups.

Combine flour, brans, baking powder and powdered milk. Set aside.

Cream sugar and margarine, then add egg, water and molasses. Mix well. Mixture will be thick. Spoon into muffin cups, dividing evenly into 12 portions. Dough will mound above the tops of the cups.

Bake 30 to 40 minutes, or until brown on top and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Makes 12 large muffins.

For variety, stir in 3/4 cup of frozen blueberries or a similar amount of other fruits, nuts or shredded carrots.

Baking note: These muffins don't rise much, but the tops may spread out. If desired use two standard muffin pans and fill every other cup, allowing room for the tops to spread out.

Approximate nutritional information, per muffin: 400 calories, 17 g total fat, 3.5 g saturated fat, 20 mg cholesterol, 300 mg sodium, 63 g carbohydrate, 9 g protein.*

Warm Praline 'n' Cream Muffins

"The Cooking Contest Cookbook," by Joyce and Don Campagna (Fireside, 2000)

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/3 cup margarine or butter, softened
1 3-ounce package cream cheese, softened
2/3 cup milk
1 egg
1 teaspoon maple or vanilla extract
1 cup uncooked oats (quick or old-fashioned)
1/2 cup flour
1/3 cup whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)
3/4 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Oil the bottoms of 12 standard muffin cups or line with paper baking cups.

Beat sugar, margarine and cream cheese until creamy. Add milk, egg and extract; mix well.

Combine dry ingredients and 1/2 cup of the pecans. Add to wet mixture and stir just until moistened. Fill muffin cups three-quarters full. Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup pecans. Bake 20-22 minutes or until golden brown. Cool slightly, but serve warm. Makes 12 muffins.

Muffins may be frozen, securely wrapped. To eat, microwave unwrapped muffins on high 45 seconds per muffin.

Approximate nutritional information, per muffin: 230 calories, 15 g total fat, 3.5 g saturated fat, 30 mg cholesterol, 390 mg sodium, 23 g carbohydrate, 4 g protein*

Food Stuffs: Morsels

Send queries along with name and phone number to:
"By Request," Honolulu Star-Bulletin,
500 Ala Moana, No. 7-210, Honolulu 96813.
Or send e-mail to bshimabukuro@starbulletin.com

Asterisk (*) after nutritional analyses in the Body & Soul section indicates calculations by Joannie Dobbs of Exploring New Concepts, a nutritional consulting firm.