blueberry bran muffins
January 6, 2011 § 7 Comments
After a full month of copious overeating, I’ve finally recovered enough to make it back into the kitchen. I never thought I would be tired of eating chocolate, but apparently that day has come. I arrived back home from holiday travels to an empty cupboard and went on a rampant grocery store trip, returning triumphantly with piles of brightly coloured vegetables and an assortment of whole grains. Which I bought in bulk. I feel very virtuous.
So my first steps back into baking were gentle: I made bran muffins. How unlike me! And they were delicious – moist, bran-ny, and didn’t leave me in a food coma. The original recipe says that they have no sugar, but since they have both honey and molasses in them I’m not quite prepared to make that claim. As baked goods go though, these are probably the healthiest things I’ve made (although that’s not a particularly high bar), and perfect for a winter breakfast.
I made my muffins fairly small so I ended up with leftover batter. Being way too impatient to wait for the first batch to bake, I dumped it in a loaf pan and made blueberry bran squares. These are not very sturdy, but just as tasty. I also made a few muffins without blueberries, so that I could compare the outcome – I’m such a scientist! My conclusion was that both were great, and this recipe is worth making. I know the bran ingredients might seem a bit obscure, but once you find them they’re incredibly cheap. I paid 54 cents! It’s a good way to start the new year. Especially if you eat two.
Blueberry Bran Muffins – Adapted from Farmgirl Fare
I strongly recommend weighing your dry ingredients for this, because the brans can pack dramatically different amounts into cups, and my volumes didn’t match up very closely with the recipe.
Yield: 12 gigantic muffins, or 12 small ones and 8 bars.
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2 cups (3oz / 86g) wheat bran
1 cup (5oz / 141g) oat bran
1 cup (6oz / 170g) whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
2/3 cup (5oz / 156g) milk
2/3 cup (5½ oz / 156g) yogurt
1/3 cup (2¼ oz / 65g) canola oil
1/3 cup (3¾ oz / 108g) sweet molasses or cane syrup
1/3 cup (3¾ oz / 108g) honey
1 teaspoon (6g) vanilla extract (optional, I didn’t use this)
1 1/2 cups blueberries (or substitute cranberries, or 1 cup raisins, or leave them out entirely)
Preheat oven to 375°. Grease a muffin tin or line with paper liners.
In a large bowl, combine wheat bran, oat bran, whole wheat flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
In a medium bowl, combine eggs, milk, yogurt, canola oil, molasses, and honey (and optional vanilla) and mix well.
Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix with a rubber spatula just until combined. Fold in blueberries with as few strokes as possible.
Generously fill muffin cups with batter. I had a lot of batter left over, so rather than make giant muffins I put it in a greased loaf pan.
Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 15 to 20 minutes for small muffins and thin loaf, or 20 to 25 minutes for large muffins. Cool muffins in pan for 5 to 10 minutes, then carefully remove from pan and serve warm, or let cool on a wire rack. Possible eating options: butter, honey, and peanut butter are all delicious. These are also reported to freeze well, though I haven’t tried it.
one cake two cake 
These look yummy, but the real star of this blog is your writing style. I just discovered you and giggled my way through your recipe. Thanks for sharing! 😀
I’ll have to head to whole foods, I think they have a fairly wide selection of bulk grains. These sound like they would keep you full for the whole morning!
Lisa – that’s so great to hear, thank you!
Vicki – that’s where I got my grains too, they weren’t actually too hard to find. Hope you like the muffins!
You should definitely feel virtuous…these look like such a great option instead of chocolate or heavy sweets. I love that this is a versatile recipe too (and a bonus that I love museli style slices)
Just tried these today… found you through foodgawker…so tasty and good for you! Thanks for a great recipe!
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