Soft and Moist Buttermilk Bran Flax Muffins

We’ve been in a bit of a breakfast rut lately. Oatmeal is great and healthy, but after two weeks straight, it can get kind of boring. The same with cold cereal. Eggs are awesome, but we don’t always have time to futz with a pan in the morning before we dash off to work. We were looking for something nutritious, portable and tasty to solve our breakfast dilemma.

The solution? Bran muffins! These healthful gems are loaded with whole wheat, flax seed and bran, but they aren’t as dense as you’d think they’d be for all the fiber packed in ‘em. These muffins are super soft and moist, even a day or two after baking them.  We like plain bran muffins, but you can add raisins, dried cranberries, chopped nuts or whatever you like. These muffins, drizzled with a bit of honey, make us feel like we’ve fallen in love with breakfast again.

Soft and Moist Buttermilk Bran Flax Muffins

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a muffin pan or spray it with nonstick cooking spray, and set aside. In a large bowl, whisk 1 cup of wheat bran, 2/3 cup of all-purpose white flour, 2/3 cup of whole-wheat flour, 1/4 cup of flax seeds, 1 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda and 1/8 teaspoon of salt. Set aside. In a medium bowl, stir together 1 1/4 cup of buttermilk, 1/2 cup of sugar, 4 ounces of apple sauce (we used one of those single-serving apple sauce cups), 1 large egg, 1 1/2 Tablespoons of vegetable oil and 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract until everything is combined. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, and stir until just combined. Spoon the batter into the muffin pan about 3/4 of the way full. Bake for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into a center muffin comes out clean.

Best Breakfast Bran Muffins EVER

July 30, 2009 | (1)

I read like one of those annoying advert sites that lure you in only to repeat the same tag line over and over again. Blah, blah, blah, breakfast is important, blah, blah, blah. I’m sure you get that by now. In this post, however, I want to show you that a quick and healthy breakfast can also be friggin’ delicious.

A few months ago I was on a muffin kick. Fayza joked that every time she called me to ask me what I was up to my response was “Making muffins”. I tweaked this recipe until I got it the way I like it, and I swear to you I’m so eager to eat these in the morning that I almost want to wake up early so I can get at them sooner.

I said almost.

They’re not pretty, but they sure do taste good

Best Breakfast Bran Muffins EVER

(it’s important that you capitalize EVER, should you pass this recipe around)

Hands on time: 15 min
Baking time: 20 min per batch
Makes 12 good sized muffins

1 cup wheat bran (find it at Whole Foods in the bulk section or at some larger grocery stores in the health food aisle)
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup whole wheat flour (I suppose you could use all purpose flour instead of wheat, but you lose the nutrition benefits of whole wheat)
1 ¼ teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 to 1/4 cup flaxseeds (optional, but I like the texture they give and they are full of good stuff)
1 ¼ cup buttermilk
1/3 cup sugar (original recipe uses 1/2 cup, but I don’t think it’s necessary)
1-4 ounce single serving cup of apple sauce
1 egg
1½ Tablespoon canola oil
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350° F. Spray no-stick spray into the cups of a muffin tin.
2. In a large bowl mix the wheat bran, white and wheat flours, baking soda, salt and flax seeds (if using). Set aside.
3. In a smaller bowl, mix the remaining ingredients. Stir them around for about 30 seconds to make sure the sugar is mostly dissolved.
4. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry, and stir until just combined. Spoon or pour batter into the prepared muffin tin. Bake the muffins for 20 minutes. Let cool in the pan, then pop them out.

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2010

09/26

CATEGORY

breads and baked goods

TAGS

baked goods
bran
breakfast
buttermilk
flax
muffins
recipe
whole wheat

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