Bran Muffins

What makes a great bran muffin recipe?

In my opinion a bran muffin should be delicious and not taste like tree bark. Secondly, they should not be dry. Finally, they should be easy to make. These muffins hit all three marks. It’s a vintage recipe that was handed down from a dear friend. She would make the full batch and add one to her husbands lunchbox daily. The full batch makes a lot of muffins though, we’re talking between forty to fifty muffins. For that reason I’ve added a scaled down version. It makes about ten or eleven good sized muffins.

Can I add other things?

Pretty much any muffin recipe is versatile and this one is no different. I’ve added everything from dried fruit to nuts, even chocolate chips. Just try and keep the quantities relative to the amount of batter. The smaller recipe uses half a cup of raisins. So if I’m adding chopped nuts and dried fruit, I’ll reduce the amount of raisins.

The Bran

I just want to touch on the bran for a minute. Earlier I mentioned the versatility of this recipe. Well that goes for the bran as well. There are two types of bran in the mix. The first one is natural bran. We use Rogers 100% natural wheat bran. There’s no endorsement here, it’s just the product we like. You can usually find it in the organic food aisle at the grocery store. The other is bran flakes. There’s been times where the only bran flakes we had were full of raisins. Well, long story short, I separated the raisins and crushed the bran flakes with a rolling pin. The leftover raisins went into the muffins. I made a batch of muffins yesterday and all we had was bran buds, guess what, the muffins turned out fine.

Can I freeze bran muffins?

Freezing a muffin is no different than freezing bread. Put them in an airtight container and they’ll keep for about three months. Let them thaw naturally or microwave for 30 seconds. They’re really good warmed with a skiff of butter.

What do I need to make the full batch of bran muffins?

• 1½ cups of vegetable oil
• 2 cups of white sugar
• 2 tsp. of salt
• 5½ cups of all purpose flour
• 8 tsp. of baking soda
• 4 eggs
• 1 quart of buttermilk
• 2 cups of raisins
• 2 cups of crushed bran flakes
• 2 cups of natural bran
• ½ tsp of vanilla
• ½ tsp of nutmeg (optional)

If you’re looking this over, I agree, that is a massive recipe for muffins you’ve never even tried before. I hope you have lots of neighbours because you’ll be giving them away. Let’s take a look at the smaller recipe that yields just shy of a dozen.

This is the more realistic scaled down bran muffin recipe

• 6 tbsp of vegetable oil
• ½ cup + 2 tbsp of white sugar
• ½ tsp of salt
• 1⅓ cups of all purpose flour
• 2 tsp of baking soda
• 1 egg
• 1 cup of buttermilk
• ½ cup of raisins
• ½ cup of crushed bran flakes
• ½ cup of natural bran
• ½ tsp of vanilla
• ½ tsp of nutmeg (optional)

The batter

To begin with, I prefer a stand mixer for this recipe. The batter is pretty straightforward. Mix the wet ingredients, mix the dry ingredients and combine. I use the stand mixer bowl to combine the dry ingredients and add the wet ingredients on top. Use setting number 2 for 3-5 minutes until everything is well combined. Next, prepare your muffin tin(s). Either spray them with non-stick spray. Better yet, do yourself a favour and use paper muffin liners in your muffin tin. They make clean up a snap. Fill the muffin liners or cups almost to the top for a full size muffin.

Baking the bran muffins

Bake the muffins in an oven preheated to 375℉. They’ll take approximately 20-25 minutes. Insert a toothpick in a muffin at the 20 minute mark. It should come out clean.

Here’s the smaller recipe.

Bran Muffins (Small Batch)

This is a smaller version of our delicious classic bran muffin recipe. It yields about ten muffins

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 20 minutes mins

Course Breakfast, Snack

Cuisine Canadian, English, European

Servings 10 Muffins

Calories 212 kcal

Equipment

• 1 Stand Mixer optional

Ingredients

  

• 6 tbsp vegetable oil
• ½ cup white sugar
• 2 tbsp white sugar optional (if you want them sweeter)
• ½ tsp salt
• 1⅓ cups all purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 egg beaten
• 1 cup buttermilk
• ½ cup raisins
• ½ tsp vanilla
• ½ tsp nutmeg optional

Instructions

 

• In a large bowl, combine the buttermilk with the baking soda.
• Add the vegetable oil and beaten egg
• In a separate bowl, combine all the dry ingredients
• Combine the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients and mix well.
• Prepare the muffin tin with paper liners (preferably). No stick spray can be used also.
• Add the batter to the muffin tin cups. Fill to about an ⅛ inch from the top.
• Bake the muffins in an oven preheated to 375℉ for 20 minutes. Insert a toothpick into a muffin, it should come out clean.

Keyword bran, buttermilk, muffin

…and this is the full recipe

Bran Muffin (large batch)

This delicious bran muffin recipe is large at approximately forty muffins.

5 from 1 vote

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 20 minutes mins

Total Time 40 minutes mins

Course Breakfast, Dessert, Snack

Cuisine Canadian, English, European

Servings 40 servings

Calories 212 kcal

Equipment

• Stand Mixer

Ingredients

  

• 1½ cups vegetable oil
• 2 cups white sugar
• 2 tsp salt
• 5½ cups all purpose flour
• 8 tsp baking soda
• 4 eggs
• 1 qt buttermilk
• 2 cups raisins
• 2 cups bran flakes
• 2 cups natural bran
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp nutmeg Optional

Instructions

 

• In a large bowl, combine buttermilk with the baking soda. Add oil and beaten eggs.
• In a separate bowl, combine all the dry ingredients. 
• Combine wet and dry ingredients together and mix well. 
• Bake muffins at 375 ℉ for 15 to 20 minutes. Insert a toothpick into a muffin and it should come out clean.

Keyword bran, muffin

In conclusion.

Bran muffins are easy to make, economical and delicious. I can go on and on, but after all they’re just muffins. That’s all I’ve got, we hope you enjoyed the read.

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