These power bran muffins are not only delicious, but they are also the perfect nutritious on-the-go morning item to get your day started or mid-day snack to keep you going! As a bonus, they come together in no time at all and require no special equipment!
Ingredients you need to make this recipe:
Wheat Bran: I love to use wheat bran, especially to make these muffins because it is a great source of fiber. In addition, wheat bran keeps you satiated longer.
Buttermilk: Buttermilk adds moisture and this additional fluffiness and moisture to muffins. If you do not have buttermilk, you can easily make it at home! Once upon a chef has a very easy recipe you can follow.
Whole milk: For baking, I always recommend using whole milk as opposed to reduced fat because whole milk will keep your baked goods moist.
Eggs: If you need to add more fiber to your muffins, you can even use “flax eggs” instead of regular eggs. For each egg you want to replace, you will need to mix 1 Tablespoon of flaxseed meal with 3 Tablespoons of water.
HOW TO MAKE MORNING POWER BRAN MUFFINS
Preheat your oven to 425°F. In a mixing bowl, combine all-purpose flour, oat bran, baking soda, baking powder, ground cinnamon and pinch of salt. Mix well. Add dry raisins and mix to ensure they are coated with the flour mixture. PRO TIP: By coating your raisins with the flour mixture, it will prevent them from sinking at the bottom during baking.
In a second mixing bowl, add light brown sugar and orange zest. With your fingertips, work to combine the sugar and orange zest, which should feel like a wet sand texture. PRO TIP: The fragrant oil from the orange zest gets released into the sugar and will make your muffins tastes even better. They will also smell delicious! (Even after washing my fingers, they smell sooo good!!)
Whisk in vegetable oil, milk, buttermilk, orange juice, eggs, vanilla extract until well combined. Fold in the flour mixture into the wet sugar mixture until just combined. Add grated carrots and chopped pecans, fold them in until just combined. PRO TIP: You should stop folding and mixing the batter as soon as everything is combined to prevent dense muffins.
Divide the batter among the paper liners in the muffin baking pan without overfilling the liners. It should make 12 muffins. Bake for 7 minutes at 425°F and decrease oven temperature to 350°F to bake for an additional 10 minutes.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
How long can I store these muffins? You can refrigerate the muffins in an airtight bag or container up to 5 days, or in the freezer up to 2 months.
Why did my muffins come out with a flat top? Many reasons can explain why your muffins came out flat and not with a muffin top:
- Your oven was not hot enough. To get a nice muffin top, the muffins need to bake between 400°F and 425°F. I always recommend to preheat your oven for a good 20-30 minutes before inserting your pan. For this recipe, we start baking at a high temperature of 425°F to get that top and decrease it to 350°F. This will avoid the muffins from getting too dry because we are using oat bran.
- Your baking powder or baking soda was expired. Before using them in any recipe, make sure you check the expiration date of your leavening agents. I never use any leavening agent that is a month away from expiring as a precaution because it can affect my baked goods.
If you’ve tried this Morning Power Bran Muffins recipe, I’d love to hear from you! You can let me know how it went by commenting in the comments section below and don’t forget to leave a rating!
Equipment
- Muffin baking pan
- Mixing bowls
- Whisk and rubber spatula
- Muffin liners
Ingredients
- 1 ⅓ cup (160g) All-purpose flour
- 1 cup (52g) oat bran
- 1 tsp (5g) baking soda
- 1 tsp (4g) baking powder
- 2 tsp (6g) ground cinnamon
- Pinch of salt
- ⅔ cup dry raisins
- 1 cup (200g) light brown sugar
- Zest of one orange
- 2 eggs room temperature
- ⅓ cup (80ml) vegetable oil
- ¼ cup (60ml) whole milk room temperature
- 2 Tbsp (30ml) buttermilk room temperature
- ¼ cup (60ml) orange juice
- 2 tsp (10ml) vanilla extract
- 1 cup grated carrots (about 3 medium-sized carrots)
- ⅓ cup pecans chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F. In a mixing bowl, combine all-purpose flour, oat bran, baking soda, baking powder, ground cinnamon and pinch of salt. Mix well. Add dry raisins and mix to ensure they are coated with the flour mixture.
- In a second mixing bowl, add light brown sugar and orange zest. With your fingertips, work to combine the sugar and orange zest, which should feel like a wet sand texture.
- Whisk in vegetable oil, milk, buttermilk, orange juice, eggs, vanilla extract until well combined. Fold in the flour mixture into the wet sugar mixture until just combined. Add grated carrots and chopped pecans, fold them in until just combined.
- Divide the batter among the paper liners in the muffin baking pan. Bake for 7 minutes at 425°F and decrease oven temperature to 350°F to bake for an additional 10 minutes.
