bran

Zucchini Raisin Bran Muffins

all-purpose flour

whole-wheat flour

miller's bran (available at natural foods stores, specialty foods shops, and some supermarkets)

baking powder

salt

cinnamon

cloves

(1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened

sugar

eggs

vanilla

milk

raisins

walnuts

zucchini

Epicurious

Preheat the oven to 375°F. In a bowl whisk together the flours, the bran, the baking powder, the salt, the cinnamon, and the cloves. In a large bowl with an electric mixer cream the butter with the sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy, add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition, and beat in the vanilla. Beat the flour mixture into the butter mixture, beat in the milk, and stir in the raisins, the walnuts, and the zucchini. Divide the batter among 12 well-buttered or paper-lined 1/2-cup muffin tins and bake the muffins in the middle of the oven for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. Turn the muffins out onto a rack and let them cool.

A very tasty banana bread with loads of fiber.

Bran Banana Bread

all-purpose flour (170 grams)

unprocessed bran (80 grams)

baking soda

large mashed bananas (280 grams)

sugar or coconut sugar (70 grams)

coconut oil (52 grams)

molasses (40 grams)

buttermilk (or a vegan milk) (80 grams)

walnuts or pecans (coarsely chopped)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8x4 inch loaf pan.  Line with a little strip of parchment, then grease again.

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, bran, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.

In a mixing bowl, stir together the mashed banana, sugar, coconut oil, molasses and buttermilk.

Add the flour mixture to the banana mixture and stir until blended.

Scrape into the pan, sprinkle nuts on top and bake for about 45 minutes.

Let cool completely.

These Healthy Banana muffins with Applesauce are healthy, hearty, and delicious.  The outside is slightly crisp, while the insides are soft and moist.  They are sweet, with a nutty flavour from the bran, and perfectly complimented by the wild blueberries.  These banana muffins are incredibly simple recipe to prepare, and I think it will become a favourite in your home too.

Healthy Banana Muffins with Applesauce

Granny Smith Apples (Peeled and roughly chopped)

Water

Wheat Bran

Flour

tsp Baking soda

Salt

tsp Baking powder

tsp Ground cinnamon

tsp Ground nutmeg

Dark brown sugar

Wild Blueberries

Applesauce (homemade if possible)

Large eggs

tbsp Vanilla extract

Overripe bananas (mashed)

Peel and chop the apples and place them in a pot with the water.

Cook for 20 minutes on medium until softened.

Blitz in a food processor until smooth.

Applesauce

Preheat your oven to 325 F.

Pour your applesauce, brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract into the bowl of your stand mixer.

On low speed, mix until the sugar has absorbed the liquids and has a creamy texture.

Mash your bananas and add them to the batter.

Add your wheat bran, flax meal, baking soda, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, and nutmeg to your liquids.

After your dry ingredients are incorporated into your wet, stop and scrape down the bottom and sides of your bowl.  This will ensure that you don’t have any blobs of flour or baking powder in your final batter.

Fold in your blueberries (bring batter from the bottom to the top).  This will incorporate your blueberries without crushing them.

Line your muffin or loaf pan with parchment paper.

Fill your muffin or loaf pan no more than 3/4 (the batter will rise)  and put it in your preheated oven on the middle rack.

Bake for 30 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.

Healthy Banana Muffins

These bran muffins bake up moist and chewy. They're so good that my in-laws, Reed and Nancy, make a batch every couple of days for snacking. This is another recipe that shows how buttermilk works to tenderize and lighten many baked goods. Bran retains much of its natural oil and can quickly turn rancid, so always store it in the refrigerator or freezer. I like to use unprocessed sugar crystals (don't confuse this with brown sugar) to complement the bran's whole grain taste. Each muffin has over 2 grams of fiber.

Buttermilk Bran Muffins

Nonstick canola oil spray

unprocessed (miller's) wheat bran

unbleached all-purpose flour

flour

buttermilk

sugar crystals (such sugar

applesauce

canola oil

vanilla extract

Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350°.

Lightly spray twelve 2 1/4 x 1 1/2-inch nonstick muffin cups with oil.

In a medium bowl, whisk the bran, flours, baking soda, and salt until well combined. Set aside.

In another medium bowl, using a handheld eletric mixer set at high speed, beat the buttermilk, sugar, applesauce, egg, oil and vanilla until frothy, about two minutes. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, and pour in the buttermilk mixture. Using a spoon, stir just until combined. Do not overmix.

Divide the batter equally among the prepared muffin cups. Bake unti the tops spring back when pressed gently in the center, about 20 minutes. Do not overbake. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes before removing from the cups. Serve warm or cool completely on the rack.

This is the Rolls-Royce of bran muffin recipes.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Sour Cream Bran Muffins

brown sugar

egg,

sour cream

dark molasses

This is the Rolls-Royce of bran muffin recipes.
Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

In a large bowl with an electric mixer cream together the butter and the brown sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy, beat in the egg, the sour cream, and the molasses, and stir in the raisins. In a bowl whisk together the flour, the baking soda, the salt, and the bran, add the mixture to the sour cream mixture, and stir the batter until it is just combined. (The batter will be lumpy.) Spoon the batter into 12 well-buttered 1/3-cup muffin tins and bake the muffins in the middle of a preheated 400°F. oven for 15 to 20 minutes, or until they are golden brown and springy to the touch. Turn the muffins out onto a rack and let them cool.

From Nancy Silverton’s Pastries from the La Brea Bakery

Notes: Because I don’t love the texture of raisins in baked goods, I puréed all of them in step 3 versus saving a half cup to fold in at the end. If you like the texture of raisins, however, by all means, save a 1/2 cup to be folded in at the end.

Nancy Silverton’s Bran Muffins

(125 grams) wheat bran

(190 grams total) dark raisins

(370 milliliters total) water

(120 grams) buttermilk

orange

(105 grams) packed light brown sugar

(125 milliliters) vegetable oil (I used canola)

(65 grams) flour

(35 grams) whole wheat flour

Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners or grease with butter or oil or use these free-standing paper liners, which are fun and pretty.

Spread the wheat bran on a baking sheet and toast in the oven for six to eight minutes, stirring a few times so it cooks evenly. Let cool.

While the bran is toasting, heat 1 cup of the raisins with 1/2 cup of the water. (Note: I simmered all of the raisins (1.5 cups) at once with 3/4 cups water, then added the remaining 3/4 cup water to the batter (step 4) afterwards.) Simmer for ten minutes, or until the water is all absorbed (I simmered for 10 minutes and all of the water was not absorbed, but I figured it was OK, and it was). Puree the raisins in a food processor or blender until smooth.

In a large bowl, mix together the toasted bran, buttermilk or yogurt, 1 cup water (or 3/4 cup water if you have simmered all of the raisins with 3/4 cup water), then mix in the raisin puree, orange zest, and brown sugar.

Mix together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, and sift (or not) directly into the wet ingredients. Stir until the ingredients are just combined, then mix in the remaining 1/2 cup raisins (if you haven’t puréed all of them already).

Spoon the batter into the muffin tins, making sure the batter is mounded slightly in each one. Because muffin tins can very in size, if your tins are larger, make fewer muffins.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the muffins feel set in the center.

I just made these and whoops I completely forgot to add the oil. But guess what? They’re moist and delicious without all those extra calories. I’m not sure what would have happened had I added the oil.

For a few of these I did do a honey glaze at the bottom of my muffin tin before adding the batter. (Ala Mimi’s bran muffins) 

These are so good!!! 

PS… I just did the calorie count. Without the addition of oil there are 173 cal. 

Adding a half a cup of oil adds 964 cal or 80 cal to each muffin. Honestly the raisins and the buttermilk was enough to make these very moist. Without the oil they may be hard as a brick tomorrow! we will see. 

Ali,
Every single recipe of yours that I have made has been fabulous - add this one to the growing list. I shared some of these muffins with our neighbours who both exclaimed they were the best ever bran muffins they had ever tasted - my husband and I agree.  Usually, I like whole raisins in my muffins but, accidentally, cooked them all in the water. Thought I'd be disappointed and would miss having the whole raisins but not all - these are, indeed, "the bran muffin to end all bran muffins."  Big time thanks, Ali. When I seek the best of the best recipe, you are my number one go-to.

As promised, the best, the very best bran muffin ever.
Used dates instead of raisins.

I've been looking for these muffins my whole life and am beyond thrilled to have found your recipe here.  Thanks so so much.

These were delicious. I used dates instead of raisins because that's what I had. And had to make up half a cup of the bran with ground flaxseed because not enough bran in the cupboard. Otherwise stuck to the recipe. I'm hoping to make them a little more dense, more like the type I've had in a local bakery. These were quite light and fluffy (which isn't a bad thing, just not the texture I'm going for). Next time will make sure I have enough bran and maybe reverse the white to wheat flour proportions? Also I may add a dash of molasses. Wonderful recipe which I'll definitely be making regularly, thank you!

I made them today. Pretty good but next time I would not add the orange zest, over powers the bran flavor. A little confused with directions because I do like raisins in my bran muffins, so I put 1 cup raisins in the 1/2 cup water to simmer and added the balance of the ingredients as written, water &amp; whole raisins. 

Made exactly as per Alexandra’s recipe instructions and the muffins were delicious.  Would make again.  Thank you for a wonderful bran muffin recipe!

I made these muffins using semi pureed dried apricots and another batch with slightly pureed pitted dried diced dates instead of raisins.  Following everything else as written, created deliciously moist bran muffins.  I'm not sure why raisins bother-I enjoy dried fruit…but in case anyone hesitates the bran muffin recipe, alternative fruits are just as tasty.

When I saw these bran Muffins I had to try them and they were great. Best Bran Muffin  I have had since I left NYC.  However I had to make a couple of changes using what I had on hand. Craisins instead of raisins, second I couldn't find wheat bran so I used wheat germ, third all purpose flour as I had no whole wheat flour. Simmered the cup of craisins in 1/2 cup of water and added one cup of water at the end to cool the mixture then pureed it with a stick blender.  Mixed everything else together and baked around thirty minutes until internal temp hit 205f.  Delicious.

So in Grass Valley, Ca, there was a bakery/cafe that had the most amazing bran muffins!  For over 30 yrs I have looked for a recipe or muffin that was moist, but didn’t have raisins or pineapple in them.  You have made me so happy!   I tried the raisins this time, but next I’ll try soaking dates as I like them! 

Best healthy muffins using wheat bread I’ve ever made. Have repeated the recipe now at least four times this will be my to go recipe.
No need even to add any brown sugar as the raisins sweetened the muffins enough.

Periodically been looking for the best bran muffin recipe for years . Thank you I’ve found it . My by far favourite muffins period . 

I’m goi g to make this right now, the use of puréed raisins is what got me! Brilliant!!  I love the flavor of raisins but the texture baked whole in a cookie or muffin is too much for my taste. Thank you!

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Top 6 bran recipes from across the web

The most viewed bran recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engineic_arrow_forward_48px

Top Tags

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The most viewed bran recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine