Katie's Fat Free Bran Muffins

The original recipe I think came from the back of a package of bran. I've tinkered with it for quite some time, and have totally cut out the fat, and greatly reduced the sugar. They're totally points friendly on Weightwatchers (either 2 or 3pts, depending on your variation), filling, and delish. They are very very branny though, you might need to work up to eating them every day.

1/2 cup apple sauce*
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup molasses
1 cup milk**
1 cup water**
3 cups bran
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tbsp baking powder (15ml)
1 tsp baking soda (5ml)
1 tsp salt
1/2 raisins or berries***
1 carrot, peeled and grated (optional)

Preheat oven to 400. Mix wet ingredients and sugar. Add bran. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add to wet ingredients. Add raisins and carrot. Spoon into greased muffin cups, and bake 20 min. Makes 12 large muffins.

* I make the apple sauce every couple of months, and freeze in 1/2 cup batches. My apple sauce has 2 ingredients: apples and water.

** The original recipe called for all milk, but in the interest of being thrifty, I started using half milk and half water and noticed no difference. Now, in the interest of being extra thrifty, I use all water and 3 tbsp of skim milk powder. I figured if it works in my bread recipes, it would probably work in my muffin recipes. It does. I now use water and powdered milk in almost all baking which calls for milk. Sooo much cheaper.

***This is where you will find a difference in points. Raisins are higher in points, berries, like blueberries, are lower. If you do use raisins, soak them in a bit of hot water and drain before adding to the recipe. This will prevent the raisins from drying out the muffins.