People often ask me if I ever bake “healthy” stuff for my family. Of course I do! These Bran Muffins may not look sexy but they are packed with healthy ingredients, are sweetened with honey and are moist and fluffy! Perfect for breakfast or a snack and they keep you full for hours.
This recipe is really versatile. You can bake these muffins with white or whole grain flour, use plain yogurt in place of the buttermilk. Chopped dates, other dried fruits or blueberries (watch your baking time) can be used in place of the raisins. If you want these to have less fat, you can replace the oil with applesauce or mashed banana and/or replace the egg with two egg whites. If you don’t have any honey on hand, you can use sugar, brown sugar (1/2-2/3 cup) or agave syrup. Chopped nuts are great here and a teaspoon of cinnamon kicks up the flavor.
- 1 ½ cups (75 g) wheat bran
- 1 cup (240 ml) buttermilk
- ⅓ cup (80 ml) vegetable oil
- 1 egg
- ⅓ cup (80 ml or 112 g) honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup (70 g) all-purpose flour
- ½ cup (70 g) whole wheat or spelt flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (160 g) raisins
- Stir together wheat bran and buttermilk and set aside. Preheat oven to 350°F (170°C). Line muffin pan with paper liners.
- In a medium sized bowl, whisk together oil, egg, honey and vanilla. Add the bran-buttermilk mixture and stir to combine.
- In a large bowl, stir together both flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add the liquid mixture and stir together, just until there are no more flour clumps. Fold in raisins.
- Spoon batter muffin wells. Bake muffins for about 18 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove muffin pan to a wire rack and allow muffins to cool in pan for 10 minutes. Remove muffins from pan and cool completely on a wire rack. Tightly sealed at room temperature, muffins stay fresh for 2 days. They keep for one month in the freezer.
Can I use non dairy milk instead of buttermilk for this recipe?
I think that should be fine. Since the baking soda reacts with the acid in the buttermilk to make the muffins fluffy, I would increase the baking powder to 1 1/2 teaspoons and reduce the baking soda to 1/2 teaspoon to compensate.