I’ve made this recipe every week since finding it. This is a great recipe on its own, but I’ve found it a wonderful launch into my own creativity in healthful cooking. I’ve seldom used oil with this recipe. I substitute applesauce, pumpkin, cooked and pureed carrots, squash, and banana, in place of oil. I often add pumpkin pie spice with the squash, carrots, or pumpkin, or cinnamon with the applesauce. I always add flax seed, and use half whole wheat flour and half unbleached. I seldom use all the sugar. I’ve substituted molasses or honey for the sugar, or just cut it in half. I make this recipe so frequently; I now stock fat free buttermilk. I don’t like raisins, and find myself adding shredded carrots, dates, pecans, walnuts, carob chips, and coconut, whatever I have on hand. Thank you Janet, my family truly enjoys this versatile recipe.
I substitued 1 cup fat free plain yogurt for the buttermilk; 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce for the oil; 1/4 cup egg substitue for the egg; a mixture of 5 TBSP white Splenda and 2 1/2 TBSP Brown Splenda for the brown sugar; 1 cup of whole wheat flour for the all-purpose flour; increased the vanilla to 1 tsp; used dried cranberries for the raisins and added 4 TBSP BeneFiber (you could use any of the fiber supplements). This lowered the calories to 93 and increased the fiber to 6 grams. My family loves them! (I tried using frozen blackberries but it made the muffins almost too moist. My kids liked them though.)
Absolutely wonderful! I did make a few adjustments like other posters did: 1/3 c apple sauce for the oil, 2 egg whites for the 1 egg, 1 tbsp lemon juice with skim milk for the buttermilk, and cinnamon. I used post raisin bran for the bran (because it gets too soggy in milk; I was going to throw the box away) and picked out the raisins. These are very good and a great way to get a healthy dose of fiber.
Mmmm - these are good! I made 6 regular sized muffins and 12 mini muffins from a single batch of this batter, and was delighted to find that they tasted just like the bran muffins my mother used to make. Eat them warm with a slice of cheddar cheese - yummy!
NOTE: The second time I made these, I did some substitutions: I replaced the oil with 1/3 cup applesauce; I replaced half the all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour; and I replaced the buttermilk with 1 tablespoon of lemon juice + enough nonfat milk to make one cup. They were still just as yummy as the first time!
These were delicious. I changed the recipe to make them a little healthier, like others suggested. I substituted the oil with 1/3 applesauce. I also couldn't find wheat bran, so I first made a batch with a store brand of Fiber One (the ones that look like twigs). I made another batch with All Bran bran buds. Both came out delicious. I had better results just spraying the muffin tins with Pam. When I used paper liners the first time, they didn't come off easily because of the low fat content. I've added dried cranberries, chopped walnuts, chopped dates and about 1 tsp cinnamon. I gave some away to friends and they said they really enjoyed them (their kids too!) I'll make these frequently since they're a great snack...lots of fiber too.
I am pastry chef and I served this for a breakfast party this morning. These muffins are excellent! They were moist and very tasty! They weren't "typical" bran muffins because they were moist and delicious!
These were great bran muffins! I decided to experiment, so I made one regular batch and then one lowfat with egg whites for the egg, applesauce for the oil, and reduced fat buttermilk. I gave both versions to my husband and he picked the lowfat one as being the tastier version! I will be making these again for sure!
Yummy! I used 1/2 cup dried cherries but think it would have been even better with 3/4 cup. Can't wait to try these with dried strawberries blueberries or cranberries!
I substituted 1/3 cup applesauce for oil and made my own buttermilk using 1 tablespoon vinegar and enough milk to make 1 cup. I made 6 large muffins instead of 12 small ones and they turned out great!
these were not good.. very tasteless.. I threw them out after baking them.. wont make these again
