Better Than Gramma’s Branana Muffins

Call me an old lady – but I love bran muffins. Seriously! And lets be honest – everyone should enjoy them every so often because made right, they’re packed with plenty of goodies. This recipe has plenty of:

• Wheat Bran which is actually a probiotic food, with antibacterial fighting properties, and daily bran intake actually helps to reduce cholesterol and combat heart disease.
• oats which help stabilize your blood sugar levels all the while helping you to reach your daily intakes for selenium, dietary fiber, manganese, and magnesium.
• flax which are packed with omega-3 fatty acids – the good fat! Like bran, this is proven to be heart healthy!
• bananas which are a great source of potassium and b6. Potassium helps to regulate blood pressure, helping to reduce the risks of high blood pressure and stroke. b6 deficiencies are known to cause weakness, irritability, and insomnia!
• peanut butter like bran helps combat high ldl (bad) cholesterol. it’s a good source for healthy fats and protein, too!

Lets get started, non?

I adapted this recipe to be a mish-mosh of Amanda’s recipes for bran muffins (whom she adapted from Tat) and her blissful banana bread. Her banana bread sure is blissful, and the bran recipe looks spectacular, too. How many times have you found a recipe that looks great – – until you see the recipe and discover it wants you to use bran flake cereal?! I wanted real wheat bran – the good stuff!!

Branana Bread

to yield 8 mini loaves/12 “regular” muffins

Firstly, combine:

• 1 c. wheat bran (if you don’t love wheat bran, you could likely use oat bran. just don’t tell me because i’ll be disappointed.)
• 1/2 c. almond milk
• 2 mashed bananas
• 2 T. vanilla chobani

Set this aside.

In a separate, large bowl, combine:

• 3/4 c. WW flour
• 1/2 c. quick oats
• 1 t. baking soda
• 1 t. cinnamon (heaping)
• 1/2 t. nutmeg

And in still another bowl, combine:

• 1/4 c. maple syrup
• 1/3 c. creamy peanut butter (microwaved for a few seconds to thin)
• 1 t. vanilla
• 1 “flax egg” (1 T. milled flax, stirred with 3 T. water, and allowed to thicken for a couple of minutes)

Add the liquid mixture to the bran mixture, and stir to combine. Pour this into your dry mixture, and fold until just combined.

Fold in:

• 1/4 c. chopped figs
• 1/4 c. chopped pecans

and then pour into muffin tins/mini loaf pans that have been lightly coated with non-stick spray.

Bake in a (preheated) 350* oven for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

These are wonderfully moist and branny.

I can only imagine the variations I will continue to concoct. For instance:

replace the bananas with canned pumpkin, and the figs with raisins

replace the bananas with applesauce and the figs with fresh chopped apples and raisins

How do you like your bran muffins?