When I was growing up, my favorite breakfast was my Mama’s Bran Muffins. I could smell those puppies baking a mile away. Even to this day, my Mama knows that’s the way to my heart. I could eat an entire 12 muffin batch in two days – alone – by myself – without any help – get away from my muffin, you thief.
There’s a problem though – they don’t make the cereal that it calls for any more…100% Bran. At least it’s not sold around here and I’ve not been able to locate it using the Post website. I know, I know. “But Stacy, store cereals aren’t good for you.” Yeah – I know…but these muffins…man, they call to me. They’re worth that store cereal. Amen and amen.
So, I set out to recreate my favorite recipe without the cereal. The end result wasn’t the same…there will never been another muffin like that. But, I was pleased with it – and it was very tasty. Even my mom gave it her approval. These will be a regular around the Myers house…regular – bran. Get it? HAHAHAHA!
I chose this as my base for bran…Bob’s Red Mill Wheat Bran. You can find it at your local grocery store…I found mine in the organic section, but it might be in the cereal aisle or the baking aisle.
In a small bowl, mix your bran together with some buttermilk…I used kefir. Let it stand for about 5 minutes to soak up. Mix in an egg, vanilla, water, and some melted coconut oil. Add whole wheat pastry flour, sucanat, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir only until combined. Over-stirring makes tough muffins…and those are only good for hockey pucks.
This makes about 12 muffins. You can use liners if you want…I did for this batch because I was going to freeze them and I think they do better in liners that way. If you’re not using liners, make sure to grease your cups…I’d hate for all of those 12 muffins to stick so that you have to stand at the counter and eat them with a spoon directly from the pan. Been there, done that.
Sprinkle the top of each muffin with a mixture of sucanat and cinnamon. I wish I could tell you how to mix that up and what ratios to use, but I don’t have a clue. I just eyeballed it. Just don’t leave this part out…it makes muffin magic.
Pop the muffins into a 400 degree oven and bake for 13-15 minutes or until the top of a muffin springs back when you touch it.
Remove from tins to cool completely on wire rack…yeah right. Cool completely? Who does that anyway? I sure don’t. Eat one hot. You know you want to…and they’re even better with a smear of butter. *Slobber*
Better Bran Muffins
- 1 ¼ cups Bob’s Red Mill Wheat Bran
- 1 cup kefir or buttermilk
- 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
- ½ cup sucanat (or your sweetener of choice)
- 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1 egg
- ¼ cup melted coconut oil
- Cinnamon Sucanat mixture for sprinkling
- In a mixing bowl, combine wheat bran and buttermilk.
- Let stand for 5 minutes.
- Add vanilla, water, egg, and coconut oil. Stir until combined.
- Stir in flour, sucanat, baking powder, baking soda, and salt only until combined.
- Spoon into 12 muffin tins.
- Sprinkle with cinnamon-sucanat mixture.
- Bake at 400 degrees for 13-15 minutes or until muffin springs back when lightly pressed.
- Cool completely on wire rack.
Those were/are my favorite muffins, too! My momma’s recipe made a huge batch that you stuck in the frig and kept and then baked them fresh when you wanted some. (Drool….)
Now that you’ve given me an alternative to 100% Bran, I guess I will “force” myself to make a batch… Sigh… 😉
Yep – force yourself. Hey – fiber is good for ya.
100% Bran looks very similar to Fiber One. Maybe you could make the substitution! Either way, those muffins look quite tasty!
We tried Fiber One…we were disappointed. LOL 🙂 Nothing will ever be as good as that cereal – oh well…..these will have to do – I guess that’s why I ate so many. Ha!
Looks delicious! Any clue where I’d find some GF bran? Like oat bran?
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We still have All Bran here in North Carolina. Want me to send you some?
Thanks Willie! We still have All Bran here too. 🙂 I was talking about 100$ Bran – I put the link in the second paragraph if you want to know what I’m talking about.
I bought All-Bran about 2 weeks ago at Winco. They go in the recipe I use for bran muffins. My box says that they are made by Kelloggs, not Post.
Hi Carolyn! I’m looking for 100% Bran not All Bran. 🙂 (http://www.postfoods.com/cereals/post_100_percent_bran/) We tried it with All Bran but just didn’t like it compared to the other cereal. Bummer.
I had a similar moment, needing to recreate a bran muffin from scratch. Our recipes are very similar. The main difference is that I’ve found we love using a combination of molasses and honey for the sweetener. Yum…I may have to go make a batch now… 🙂 Thanks for sharing!
I have a love-hate relationship with molasses….I think I need to eat it more often.
Yum I love bran muffins too. I just bought some oat bran do think that would work?
I’d try it! 🙂
Oh, yes, these are wonderful! I wish I had known you were looking for a recipe because I have made an almost identical version from the bag of a locally available bran for years. All Bran has been so hard to find here for so long I stopped looking for it ages ago.
I sometimes add chopped dates or blueberries to mine. And the last few usually get split, popped in the toaster oven and topped with a slice of cheese (butter is a given).
Annie gets quite testy with me if I put blueberries in her muffins. LOL She likes them on the side. 🙂
Yum!!!! Your description was so good that I could just about smell them baking. This is a must try. Thank you.
I’m slobbering right now.
I am totally going to make these muffins. But without the egg. You rock 🙂
All Bran rocks….too bad it went the way of the dinosaur.
Would you say these have a good shelf life? That is my problem with bran muffins. They are delicious hot, but rubber after two days. Also, what’s your recipe plug-in?
They seemed to stay good for a day or two…I like to put them in the freezer and then just bring out how many I want the night before I go to bed. Then I warm them up in the toaster oven in the morning. (Be careful because you can set a fire in the oven with those papers. Cough.) If I leave them out of the freezer, I keep them in the fridge.
Here’s the plug-in we use for recipe print: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wordpress-print-this-section/
Hope that helps! 🙂
Just curious, what’s the magic cereal?
See above where it says “100% Bran” in the second paragraph? If you click on the link I put after that for Post, it will show you….man, it’s good stuff.