I try and make Matt some sort of muffin for breakfast about once a week. His favorite happen to be Bran muffins. Yes, you heard me right. Bran. I have had some bad bran muffins in my life, I won't lie. Dry, tasteless, crumbly...you get the point. (Heck, the recipe on the back of my oat bran box is one of those! It calls for all bran and no flour, and it tells you to bake it at 425 for 15-20 min!! WAY too long and too hot! The bottoms of the muffins burned, and the muffins were not that good.)
Well, I've tried a few recipes in the past couple of months, and this is one of my favorites. I like it because it's quite versatile and you can change them up a bit so you don't get too bored. For ideas of how to change it up, look to the asterisks. These were moist and delicious.
(Better than) Classic Bran Muffins--adapted from Classic Bran Muffins
Makes 12 good sized muffins
1 1/2 cups bran (oat, wheat, whatever)
1 cup buttermilk*
1/3 cup canola or EVOO**
2 large eggs***
2/3 cup brown sugar or molasses (or a combo of both)****
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup whole wheat flour***** (I like King Arthur brand; it seems smoother and less gritty to me)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt (I use Kosher)
Optional: 1/2 cup mix-ins such as raisins, craisins, walnuts, blueberries (fresh or frozen), dried cherries, etc. (you can also do cinnamon for a change in flavor, but I don't recommend a 1/2 cup!)
Directions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease or line muffin cups.
- In a bowl or large measuring cup, mix together bran, flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt.
- In a separate large bowl, mix together buttermilk, oil, egg, sugar and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients into the wet and incorporate well (though try to not over mix). Fold in the mix-ins if you are including any.
- Bake in muffin tins for 14-20 min. (really depends on your oven and elevation and stuff, so check at 14 min. by toothpick test.) 14 min. is perfect in my oven.
* you can substitute 1 cup regular milk + 1 Tbsp white vinegar or lemon juice
** OR applesauce OR banana mash OR pureed pumpkin OR a combination of the above (I'd keep in at least a Tbsp of oil because it helps lengthen the shelf life.) I used about 1/2 EVOO and 1/2 applesauce. I've actually used a mixture of oil and sweet potato puree successfully as well.
*** I did 1/3 cup of each. I like this amount. Matt thinks it could use a little more molasses.
**** Can use all purpose flour, oat flour, etc. or a combo of them all.
3 comments:
Have you tried the recipe my mom uses? That's the one she made for us growing up.
That was the first bran muffin recipe I tried because Matt liked them, but I wasn't a HUGE fan. They were okay, but I've found other recipes I like more.
but i have to say that Matt says I didn't do her muffins justice and that she makes them better. So maybe it was a user error (though I've tried making them more than once with the same results). Maybe she doesn't follow her recipe exactly 100%?
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