Petit Chat shares muffin recipe

A reader and friend sent a note with a request.

She’d eaten a Sticky Bran Muffin from Petit Chat bakery earlier that day. It was delicious, she said: “Do you know if they are secretive about their recipes?”

I called owner Harlow Morgan to ask. Turns out, she doesn’t mind sharing at all. She’d already given us a bunch of gluten-free recipes for a feature story on the bakery and the boom in demand for the gluten-free goodies she bakes.

Petit Chat also has plenty of gluten-full breads and treats. Morgan specializes in artisan breads that are baked in a stone hearth oven. It is a wholesale bakery at 9910 N. Waikiki Road, which means you can’t buy breads there. But there are plenty of places to find their wares.

The bread and goodies are sold each week at the Spokane Farmers’ Market downtown on Wednesdays and Saturdays, at the Millwood Farmers’ Market on Wednesdays, at the Liberty Lake Farmers’ Market on Saturday and at Huckleberry’s Natural Market, 926 S. Monroe St.

Petit Chat also provides baked goods to several area restaurants, including: Spencer’s For Steaks and Chops, Ambrosia Bistro, Cafe Neo, Madison Street Bistro, Maple Street Bistro and soon Isabella’s, Morgan said.

She cut their commercial recipe for the Sticky Bran Muffins down to a more manageable size for home cooks. She also converted the recipe to volume measurements (rather than weights, which are used by many chefs and professional bakers) and tested it in a home kitchen.

I also tested it at home using a standard muffin pan. Take care not to overfill the muffin cups or you’ll have a sticky oven, rather than sticky bran muffins.

Enjoy.

Sticky Bran Muffins

From Harlow Morgan, Petit Chat Bakery

For the pan smear:

1 1/3 cups brown sugar

1/2 cup canola oil

1/2 cup honey

2 tablespoons hot water

For the batter:

2 cups wheat bran

1 1/2 cups thick oats, partially ground in food processor

1 cup whole wheat flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

3/4 cup milk

3/4 cup plain yogurt

1/3 cup canola oil

1/2 cup honey

1/4 cup mild molasses

1 teaspoon vanilla

Cream together ingredients for the pan smear and spread about 1 heaping tablespoon into each muffin cup.

Combine dry ingredients in medium bowl. Add remaining ingredients and mix until thoroughly moistened. Divide batter between muffin cups.

Bake in a 375-degree oven until toothpick tests clean, about 18 minutes. Remove from pans while still hot. Cool and enjoy within a couple of days. Leftover muffins also freeze well.

Yield: 18 muffins

Approximate nutrition per muffin: 284 calories, 9.6 grams fat (less than 1 gram saturated, 29 percent fat calories), 5 grams protein, 48 grams carbohydrate, 24 milligrams cholesterol, 4 grams dietary fiber, 247 milligrams sodium.