Bran and Raisin Muffins

Ingredients

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup wheat bran
½ cup wheat bran cereal
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon kosher salt
2 eggs
½ cup dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon honey
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ½ cups buttermilk
8 tablespoons butter (1 stick), melted
orange zest from 1 navel orange
¾ cup golden yellow raisins, plus more to top the muffins
For the glaze:
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1 teaspoon honey

Takes 30 Minutes, serves 12.

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°F.
Grease or spray a 12-cup muffin tin.
Stir the dry ingredients together in a medium-sized bowl. In a separate large bowl, stir the sugar, eggs, honey, vanilla extract, buttermilk, melted butter and orange zest together. Sprinkle the dry mixture onto the wet, then stir everything together. Add the raisins and combine.
Drop batter into muffin tin filling each cup ¾ full. Drop a few additional raisins onto each.
Transfer to oven and bake for 20-25 minutes or until tops are golden.
Make glaze: While muffins are baking, stir honey together with melted butter.
Glaze muffins: Brush top of muffins with glaze as soon as they come out of the oven. Cool for 5 minutes or to room temperature, then enjoy!

Who’s here for a tasty treat? Try our BRAN AND RAISIN MUFFINS!

Let’s cut right to the chase; these BRAN AND RAISIN MUFFINS are very, very tasty! So tasty in fact, yours truly devoured three, one after the other, soon after baking them. When a homemade muffin recipe is this perfect, we think others should enjoy the fruits of our baked good labour, so, SHARE, PIN and BOOKMARK with your friends and family; they’ll thank you for it!

Here’s why this recipe works:

QUICK – From start to finish, these bran muffins are ready in under 30 minutes.
EASY – Stir up a dry mix then combine it with the wet ingredients. It truly couldn’t be easier.
MOIST – The buttermilk, honey, butter and eggs all contribute to keeping these muffins moist and tender.
ALL THE TIME – Breakfast, lunch, dinner, a snack, during the weekday, on the weekends – serve them any time!

Let’s make BRAN AND RAISIN MUFFINS:

INGREDIENTS

This muffin recipes puts a bunch of wholesome ingredients to good use. Thankfully, you probably already have most of them in your pantry. The inclusion of brown sugar adds caramel and molasses notes while the honey gives the muffins a flowery fragrance. We used buttermilk because this acidic ingredient helps tenderize gluten, giving any baked good a softer texture.

PRO TIP! Can’t find buttermilk in your local grocery store? Make your own! Simply add a tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice to a cup of whole milk. Stir, refrigerate for one hour, then use it in the recipe.

Whole wheat flour, wheat bran and bran cereal — Whole wheat flour, bran and wheat bran cereal are a great source of fibre!

WHOLE WHEAT AND WHEAT BRAN

Using whole wheat flour in a baking recipe accomplishes two things. First, it adds a great nutty flavour to your baked goods. Second, it also adds more nutrition. Check this out, for 3.5 ounces (100 grams) of whole-grain wheat flour there are 13.2 grams of protein, 0.4 grams of sugar, 10.7 grams of fibre and 2.5 grams of fat.

Adding wheat bran flakes and bran cereal to this muffin recipe makes it even healthier. Wheat bran is a concentrated source of insoluble fibre. It helps you to digest your food and absorb your nutrients. It also increases the good bacteria in your digestive system, which means you’ll get the most out of what you eat.

The dry mix for the muffins — You can assemble the dry mix in make-ahead batches.

DRY MIXTURE

The first part of this bran muffin recipe has us taking the whole wheat flour, wheat bran and bran cereal and mixing it up with the classic essentials for a well-made baked good. Stirring up the dry mix is easy work.

The batter stirred up and ready for the muffin tin. — Don’t over-mix the batter.

MUFFIN BATTER

Here’s something interesting; whole wheat flour contains both the bran and germ of wheat, so it has a coarser texture and also tends to absorb more liquid. Our friends at KING ARTHUR FLOUR suggested adding an additional “two teaspoons of liquid per cup of whole wheat ﬂour”. Don’t worry about this recipe though, we’ve already adjusted the wet ingredients so these muffins have a soft texture and moist crumb.

Regarding the wet ingredients, we’ve seen other muffin recipes where they add plain yogurt, sour cream or unsweetened apple sauce. We went with buttermilk as the acid plays perfectly off the honey and brown sugar without adding too much sweetness. We also used butter instead of vegetable oil giving these muffins a lovely richness. Perfect!

The muffins ready for the oven topped with a sprinkle of golden yellow raisins — Adding a few extra raisins on top of each muffin is a nice touch.

MUFFIN TRAYS

If you’re feeling fancy, go ahead and line the muffin tray with attractive paper liners. We did this with our MORNING GLORY and SWEET POTATO muffin recipes. During the testing of the recipe, we did one round where we simply sprayed the muffin tray. We found the results way more enjoyable because the batter got crispier around the edges. Let us know which way you like your muffins, we’re all ears!

Freshly baked Bran and Raisin Muffins — Don’t forget to brush the muffins with our honey-butter glaze when they’re still warm.

A bunch of friends have now commented that these are the best raisin bran muffins ever. I think it’s because they’re so attractive. Make sure you don’t skip our suggestion to drop a few raisins onto each muffin before sending the tray to the oven to bake. Failing that, you can also sprinkle cinnamon on each. I think it’s also fun to just go with the flow too. So, if you have bananas, blueberries or another favourite fruit kicking around, try adding them.

LARGE AND SMALL MUFFINS

Let’s face it, when it comes to recipes, who doesn’t like having options? In this case, we’re happy to report that you can make our BRAN AND RAISIN MUFFINS using large or small muffin pans. I often make the large version for breakfast or brunch; perfect size to accompany these meals. Then, make small or mini-muffins if you need a great grab-and-go snack for a day trip or afternoon break. Just make sure you make enough for the number of guests on hand. Most people have at least two!

ENJOY THESE MUFFINS

Every time we post a muffin recipe, I’m reminded how wonderful these popular baked goods really are. Easy to make, lots of flavour, easy to enjoy anytime and they travel well. What’s not to love? For these beauties, I have one final suggestion; herbal tea. A cup of steaming, fragrant herbal tea is the best compliment to the flavours of these muffins. You’ll see when you enjoy!