All-Bran Muffins (Healthy Breakfast from the Renegade Kitchen)

I know, I know, long time no food Nic. Well, let me just remedy that with a post about muffins. All-Bran Muffins to be specific, and yes, I’m talking about All-Bran Cereal, which pretty much tastes like cardboard by itself. I’m all about healthy food that tastes good, which is a rare find lately, and so when I come across something this good I have to share it. Although, to be honest, I’ve known about All-Bran Muffins since I was very little.

These fabulous muffins are something my grandmother makes, and for awhile I thought they were some secret R family recipe. But nope, they are actually from a recipe my Grandmother found on the box one time and she adds raisins and nuts to the mix. These muffins are fantastic because they are very healthy and very filling; I always double the recipe so that we have extra muffins because they keep so well. So now I present to you, All-Bran Muffins. I apologize for the lousy pictures, but we still don’t have lights up in the kitchen.

 

Notice that you don’t use the flakes, but instead you use the actual twig looking cereal. You mix the rest of your dry ingredients in a separate bowl.

 

Ok, now this is the unpleasant part, which is soaking the cereal in milk; clearly you have to soften the cereal so that it eventually makes muffin batter. This takes at least five minutes, sometimes more, and you will know that they’ve soaked enough when there is no visible milk in the bowl.

  

The new microwave has a butter melting function, which is pretty awesome; all I have to do is tell it I want to melt a stick of butter, and bam, it melts it. You beat the eggs and the butter into the cereal until smooth, and it makes a thick batter. I do not recommend wooden spoons for the recipe. You will break them.

 

Next come the dry ingredients, which are combined with your cereal mixture until smooth. Don’t over mix the ingredients. Again, wooden spoons will break because this is very, very thick. I was extremely grateful for my electric stand mixer because otherwise this would’ve taken forever and probably bent the spoon.

 

The final touch isn’t in the original recipe, but something about plain bran muffins disturbs me. In go the raisins and pecans, and I always add more pecans than raisins because I’m not a huge raisin person. There’s no set amount to add, just do it to your specific taste. I’m sure you can substitute walnuts or dried fruit of your choice too, but around here we do things pretty simple. Once mixed up you are ready to bake.

 

You will have to spoon the batter into the cups because its not going to pour at all. Make sure you spray the tin liberally with non-stick, and because this makes more than a dozen normally, you’ll have to wipe out the crumbs between batches. Also, gratuitous shot of our magnificent oven because its been so long since I’ve had a good oven to bake in and I have missed it.

 

I really wish my shots of the baked muffins had come out nicer, and I swear when we have lights and things the pictures will improve. Anyway, as you can see, they are not at all smooth on top, and the nuts and raisins are peeking out. I still wish I could’ve gotten a picture of one broken open, but I was in a hurry to get going and the light wasn’t cooperating.

Recipe for All-Bran Muffins

1 1/4 C all purpose flour
1/2 C sugar
1 T baking powder
1/4 t salt
2 C All-Bran Cereal (original, not flakes)
1 1/4 C milk
1 egg
1/4 C vegetable oil or butter

• Stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt
• Combine cereal and milk, let stand for five minutes or until soft
• Add egg and oil to cereal, beat well
• Add dry ingredients, stirring only until combined
• Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes