Bran muffins are one of those things I didn’t really appreciate as a child, but make a lot more sense as an adult. They’re full of fiber and nutrition, they’re filling without being overly rich or sweet, and they’re easily customizable with other flavors. The only hard part, I found, was actually finding the bran to make them!
Since the process is so easy, let’s talk about customizations you can make.
First, the bran itself. Bran is the outer “shell” of the wheat (or rice, or oats, or what have you) seeds, which is usually removed when it’s milled into something else like flour. It’s still edible, it just gets in the way of bread rising, it’s a little worse for texture in something like a bread, and it can go bad faster than flour without it.
The usual recipe calls for wheat bran, but you can also mix in some oat bran if you like. Oat bran has soluble fiber while wheat bran has insoluble fiber, if that’s a consideration for you. Oat bran is also potentially gluten-free, though you need to make sure you buy gluten-free certified bran if you’re doing so, because cross-contamination is common with bran.
The second customization is spices. For my bran muffins, I didn’t use any; it’s all just the flavor of brown sugar and wheat bran. But, you can easily add half a teaspoon or a teaspoon of cinnamon, some nutmeg or cloves, even a whole pumpkin pie spice mix. I bet a dash of cardamom would be tasty too.
Third is your mix-ins. Raisins are most traditional (hence the cereal) but I didn’t have any, so I used dried cherries for mine. You can also use things like cranberries or dried blueberries, if you like. I also recommend adding some orange zest for a bit of added brightness, it works really well.
With these customizations, one simple bran muffin recipe can become dozens of combinations of tasty treat, perfect for breakfast, a midday snack, or dinner. Try it out, and let me know what you think!
Customizable Bran Muffins
Equipment
- Mixing Bowls
- Rubber Spatula
- Muffin Tin
- Muffin Cups
- Cookie Scoop
- Flour Sifter
Ingredients
- 1½ Cups Bran Wheat, Oat, or a mixture of the two.
- 1 Cup Buttermilk
- ⅔ Cup Brown Sugar Dark brown if you want extra richness.
- ⅓ Cup Oil
- 1 Egg
- ½ Tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 Cup Flour
- 1 Tsp Baking Powder
- 1 Tsp Baking Soda
- ½ Tsp Salt
- ½ Cup Dried Fruit Or nuts, or both.
- Optional Mix-Ins Spices, fruit zest, etc. See post for ideas.
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375℉. Line your muffin tin with paper liners.
- Mix the bran and buttermilk together in a mixing bowl and let it rest for 10 minutes, to soak and soften the bran.1½ Cups Bran, 1 Cup Buttermilk
- In another bowl, beat together the brown sugar, oil, egg, and vanilla until it's all combined and fluffy. Pour the buttermilk-bran mix into this and stir to combine.⅔ Cup Brown Sugar, ⅓ Cup Oil, 1 Egg, ½ Tsp Vanilla Extract
- Sift in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into the rest of the mixture and stir until it's just combined, careful not to overmix so you don't end up with dense muffins.1 Cup Flour, 1 Tsp Baking Powder, 1 Tsp Baking Soda, ½ Tsp Salt
- Fold in any mix-ins like your dried fruit.½ Cup Dried Fruit, Optional Mix-Ins
- Spoon your muffin batter into your muffin cups, aiming for about ⅔ full. They will rise as they bake. My batch made 15 but if you under-fill them a little you might make more.
- Bake your muffins for 15 minutes, using the toothpick method to determine when they're done. When done, transfer them to a wire rack to cool before eating.