6 Week Bran Muffins

Bran muffins that will make your tummy and your mouth happy.

January 18, 2019
Heather

This muffin batter can last in your fridge for 6 weeks! Fresh muffins every day? Yes, please!

Prep Time15 min
Cook Time20 min
Total Time35 min
Serves6 dozen muffins

Course
- Appetizer
- Breakfast
- Snack
Suitable for Diet
- Diabetic
- Low Salt
- Vegetarian

Ingredients

Bran Options

EITHER:
1 C All Bran Cereal Buds
2 C All Bran Cereal Original
OR:
3 Cups of Whole Bran - Sometimes found in the bulk section of some grocery stores.

The Rest

2 C Hot Water
2 1/2 C Sugar OR 1 1/2 C Sugar and 1/2 C Honey
3/4 C Olive Oil
4 Eggs
1 Quart Buttermilk
5 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Salt
2 C Whole Wheat Flour
2-3 C White Flour

Method

Prepare the bran cereal

In a bowl combine the bran cereal original and bran cereal buds with the hot water. Don’t worry about stirring, just do your best while you’re pouring to get all of the bran wet.

The Batter

In an electric mixing bowl combine the sugar (and honey if using), oil and eggs. Using the whisk attachment mix on high for 2 minutes. Turn off the mixer and scrape down the side and bottom, making sure no sugar or honey has stuck to the bowl. Whisk on high again for another 2 minutes.

Add in the buttermilk, baking soda, salt bran cereal mixture and combine.

Add in the wheat flour, then the white flour. Bring it to the consistency of a thick muffin batter.

At this point you can refrigerate the batter or bake as many muffins as you’d like. To bake, turn the oven to 375 degrees F and bake for 17-20 minutes.

You can store the batter in an airtight container for 6 weeks and bake fresh muffins when you want. If there is a dark color on the top of the batter, don’t panic. This is completely normal and will not hurt you or alter the flavor of the batter. Just stir up the batter again to mix it all together. Enjoy!

This is an easy and delicious way to add prebiotics to your food. Enjoy!

This muffin batter lasts in your fridge for 6 weeks!

Yep! You heard right, 6 weeks.That means you can have fresh muffins on command. Just leave the batter in the fridge in an airtight container and this batter will not go bad for 6 full weeks. You may see a dark layer on the top of your batter over time. Don’t throw your batter out, this is perfectly normal. Just give it a quick stir with a spoon or spatula and keep on baking. Keep calm and bake on!

This recipe is very near and dear to my heart. It has been in my family for years. My grandmother made it for my mother, and my mom for me, and now I make it for my kids. I remember eating them as a little girl, they just feel like home.

But them lasting 6 weeks isn’t even the coolest part about these muffins. The coolest part is that the buttermilk in this batter breaks down the phytic acid in the flours and makes this more digestible. To get this benefit, make the batter the night before and put it in the fridge before making your first batch.

But there’s even more cool stuff about why these muffins are amazing.

Did you know that bran is a prebiotic!

If you are unsure of what a prebiotic is, let me enlighten you. Many of us are familiar with probiotics. You know, that friendly bacteria in your intestines that makes it easier to eh, put delicately, eliminate… Of course probiotics do much more than this, including boosting your immune system and contributing to your overall well being.

Well, those probiotics are living organisms. And just like you and me, it needs food to grown, flourish and be healthy. That’s where prebiotics come into play. Insoluble fiber is their main source of food and that’s just what wheat bran happens to be. If you want to really give yourself a leg up, eat bran muffins with some yogurt. You’ll have both your probiotic and your prebiotic in your gut together at the same time! Not only that, but you’ll have some added protein to keep your meal well balanced nutritionally speaking. And isn’t that the goal, balance? Emphatically yes!

Eat your fiber and love it too!

I’ve had some pretty terrible bran muffins in my day, but these are delicious. They are nutty, soft, fluffy and perfectly sweet. My kids gobble these up and I know your family will too. In fact, as I was doing my photo shoot for these muffins (smile muffins!), my little Kal was standing right next to them, trying to have patience but definitely not succeeding. They are just so good! They are belly warming and filling. With a glass of milk, they start my day off right.

Let's get down to the nitty gritty

In order to make these muffins look like perky peaks instead of sunken sink holes the secret is in the flour. When you are adding your flour you’re going to be looking for a thick batter consistency. Think “waffles” not “pancakes”, you don’t want it to be too runny. Add as much flour as you need to make the batter thicker, even if it’s more than the suggested 5 cups that are in the recipe. 4-5 cups is usually how much flour is needed to make these amazing muffins, but depending on the day, you may need to add 6 or even 7 cups. Just don’t overdo it because too thick of batter and you’ll be making bread! Just think, “I’m looking for a thicker batter that doesn’t run off my spatula but slowly drips or even “rips” apart from the rest of the batter”.

Let’s talk about the bran that is used for this. If you can find straight up bran from your grocery store, that’s my first option of what to use. Usually you can find it in the bulk section of the store. I rarely find it on the shelves, but hey it’s worth the look. If you don’t have the option to have just bran, then go to the cereal isle of the store. You’ll find a cereal called “All Bran”. This is what my mother has always used and it is delicious..in muffins. I can’t speak to what it tastes like as a cereal because I’ve never been brave enough to try. I try to use the real stuff when possible to cut out unnecessary ingredients when I can, but we work with what we’ve got.

The “All Bran” cereals of choice that my mother uses are the All Bran – Bran Buds and the All Bran – Original. You don’t have to get both cereals if you want to spend less that day, just use 3 cups of either and you’ll be fine. I’ve never tried, but you could probably use Raisin Bran if you don’t mind raisins in your muffins.

Don't have time for muffins? How about pancakes??!

Yes, you heard right, you can even make pancakes out of these, and oh my gosh you guys, these make the best pancakes. What you do is pour out some of your already made batter into a bowl, about a cup or 2 depending on how much you want to make. Slowly add water, about 2-4 TBS at a time, until the batter is thin like pancake batter. It should pour off your spoon without “ripping”. Then take your pan, and on medium low heat add some cooking oil then a spoonful of your batter. You want to make sure to cook it on a low temperature, otherwise it will burn and be undercooked. Cover it with a lid and cook until it’s bubbly like a pancake. Flip it over in the pan and cook until it’s done. Top it with a slab of butter and devour. The sides get crunchy from the oil and that combined with the rich butter just make this a sinful breakfast. Soooo good.