Bran Muffins I

I modified this recipe to be compliant with Phase 2 of the South Beach Diet (low sugar and "good" carbs). I substituted 1 1/2 Cups unsweetened applesauce for the shortening, Splenda for the sugar, and used whole wheat flour in place of the all purpose flour. I added 3 Tbsps Smart Balance butter to enhance the taste since fat is a flavor transfer. In addition, I reduced the baking soda to 3 tsps and added 3 tsps of baking powder. Due to my preference, I used 3 Cups Raisin Bran and 3 Cups of All Bran. The muffins came out excellent! Next time, (and there will be a next time!) I will add 1 Cup of raisins as others have suggested. Enjoy!

These are good, but I'd like to suggest a couple changes. #1 - use All Bran cereal for all of it. It improves the texture. You can always add raisins too. #2 - I substitute 1/2 the sugar amount with molasses. It adds moisture, a touch of extra sweetness (these are not super sweet muffins), and we love the molasses flavor! You can also add a basic muffin topping to them for added appeal - just mix melted butter, flour and brown sugar until crumbly, and add to the muffin tops. Yum! : )

These bran muffins are absolutely wonderful and simple to make. I scaled the recipe down to make only 9 muffins and they still came out incredibly well. We'll surely make these regularly in the future for a quick breakfast on the go. Also, for a great variation, we added a spoonful of raspberry jam near the middle of the muffins as we were filling the cups with batter. The cooking time is the same, but you end up with a sweet surprise in every muffin.

BEST TIP: Put muffins under a glass cake saver on your kitchen counter. Family will see the "pretty muffins" and choose a visible, easy-to-grab, healthy snack over other junk foods. Also freeze well, so bake all, freeze extras, and put note on freezer door to remind family to microwave a muffin. Yum! I can't leave any recipe alone, so made the following changes: For a healthier version, skip the raisin bran (too much sugar) and just use all bran flakes. Substituted fresh-ground whole wheat flour for the white flour. (Can substitute up to 1/3 other flours, such as oat, soy, etc., for the wheat flour. Can also substitute a cup of slow-cook oats for the flour as well.) Substitute molasses for up to 1/3 of the sugar, and also just plain reduce sugar by 1/3, (They're still plenty sweet). Substitute applesauce or pureed beans for the shortening. Substitute 1/3 of the baking soda for baking powder. Reduce salt. VARIATIONS: Spices to add: pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, nutmeg. Fruits & vegetables to add: apples, blueberries, raspberries, cranberries, raisins, craisins, grated carrots or zucchini. Other fun add-ins: jelly in the middle, chocolate chips, nuts.

This recipe is at least 40 years old! At that time they were made with 2 cups 40% Bran Flakes and 4 cups All-Bran cereal. Fond memories of eating them buttered hot out of the oven before heading off to school. Thanks Mom! Checked my family recipe and like others said the sugar should be 2 cups. Mom always added tons of chopped dates, walnuts and raisins. (You can add these or not at baking time to please all family members) Thank you Tammy, I'm headed to the kitchen to make up a batch now!

This recipe makes moist, surprisingly light muffins. I cut the sugar back to two cups, they were still plenty sweet. I also used all Raisin Bran cereal, then added extra raisins. I also added 3 tsp. vanilla. These would be terrific with chopped nuts and other goodies, but then my kids wouldn't eat them!

Made this recipe and it is just fabulous. I used the extra large muffin tins and filled them half full. Then I put 4 frozen blueberries and 3 frozen raspberries in each one. I then fill the muffin cups up to 3/4 full and baked them for 30 min. at 375 deg. They are outstanding!!!

I just loved this recipe... I make it often. The muffins are delicious. I did change one thing, I instead of using the two different bran cereals, I just used plan bran cereal and added my own bakers rasins. Thanks so much.

I had lost my recipe for Bran Muffins that could be made ahead and kept in the fridge, so I went searching for a new one. I am so glad I lost my recipe....this new one is just fabulous. I added a few dates I had on hand. They were just delicious.

This recipe is great! I halfed the recipe and used all raising bran, and added 1/2 cup dry oatmeal, reduced the sugar as well. My daughter absolutely loved these! I will be making these REGULARLY.

Very yummy muffins! I have added a tablespoon of ground flax seed for added body and nutrition. The muffins are very moist and my child loves them!

Excellent! I too used plain bran cereal and added raisins to the mix. Easy and very good!

This is a great recipe! The muffins are good plain, or with blueberries added, or chocolate chips, and I've even added chopped apple, pecans and cinnamon. This one is a definite keeper! Many thanks Tammy.

My wife and I loved these easy to fix bran muffins. We made a big batch and kept them in the fridge for probably 4 weeks before they started going bad. If you want bran muffins to keep for a while these are the ones to make.

These are very good!! I made them to use up some stale raisin bran. I added raisins too though since the bran cereal I had thinned out the raisins to almost nothing. I used half white and half brown sugar. I also added 4 teasp of cinnamon and 1 teasp nutmeg. Then I made them in mini muffin tins topping each with some chopped walnuts. My kids love them and call them "raisin bran muffins." Thanks so much

This recipe was a hit with my family. I made it with just bran cereal. (no raisins at the request of my daughter) When I made the muffins I dropped in a few raisins or mini chocolte chips into the individual muffins and left some plain for my daughter. We had no left overs! Stored well in the refrigerator

Excellent when warm with butter and honey! I used all raisin bran cereal and half white sugar, half brown sugar as other reviewers suggested. Will definitely make again.

I substituted 2c shredded apples for the shortening and only used 2c sugar and 1c brown sugar and added some cinnamon and nutmeg. The recipe is great - very moist. For my 4c bran cereal, I used Uncle Sam flax cereal (inexpensive at WalMart and high in Omega 3 and 7g of fiber per serving).

Absolutely wonderful bran muffins! The only changes that i made were i added half a can of very well drained crushed pineapple and 1-tbsp of baking powder (in addition to the baking soda) as i like really high and light muffins ;) They turned out so beautiful! Just perfect with my coffee this morning!

I made these muffins and they turned out better then store bought. I did change it a bit though for 24 muffins, instead of all baking soda I did 2 tsp of baking powder and 2 tsp of baking soda. I also put in 1-1/3 cup Kellogg special k as I had no raisin bran. instead of shortening I used 1 cup olive oil. used 2% milk instead of butter milk. I think I will try using Apple sauce next time to make a healthy muffin. Thanks for this recipe it is the best I have every found.

These muffins are delicious and very moist. Excellent recipe. I did make a few changes as suggested by others. I used 6 cups of bran flakes cereal since that's what I had on hand and in place of the 3 cups of white sugar called for I used 1/2 cup molasses, 1 1/2 cups brown sugar and 1 cup white sugar. I also added 1 tablespoon of cinnamon and 1 teaspoon of nutmeg. Next time I think I'll add raisins and nuts. Thanks so much for this wonderful recipe!

I followed the reviewers advice, used 6 c All-Bran and 1 c raisins ... and the results were very good. I got 5 dozen muffins, though.

I love these muffins and appreciate the imput from other reviewers. I used Walmart's extra raisin Raisin Bran for all 6 cups. I only used 2 cups of sugar. I next time I will only use 1 1/2 and try the applesauce substitute that others suggested. I am also eager to try some shredded carrots, craisins, half whole wheat flags, and nuts.

My husband had a muffin in his hand every time he went to the kitchen. Great recipe

Delicious! I add raisins or dates and they are nice and plump after sitting in the batter! I also make it with no refined sugars by using stevia powder (24 little scoops)... I do add 1/2 cup molasses though!

These muffins turned out delicious!! I halved the recipe and still got 24 whole muffins out of it. I made a few changes based on other reviewer and what I had: I only used all bran since it was all I had, I used canola oil instead of shortening, which I halved with applesauce. I cut the sugar down and used a bit less than 1/2 cup of sugar and half a cup of honey (for the halved recipe) and I used milk with a bit of lemon juice in it to replace the buttermilk since I did not have buttermilk. The muffins were tender, moist and perfectly sweet. I plan to make this my new permanent recipe and keep them in the freezer for breakfasts and snacks.

I followed some of the other suggestions for this recipes, like halving the portions and using half brown sugar and half granulated sugar. I also tweaked it a bit myself and added about 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg (for just a hint of spice) and actually ended up using heavy cream instead of buttermilk simply because that's what I had on hand. They turned out great! Although I would point out if you use large muffin tins, the cooking time is more like 20 minutes and not 15 as the recipes calls for.

Very good recipe. I used 1/2 cup molasses and 1 and a half cups brown sugar instead of all white. I also used 1/2 cup applesauce for half of the shortening. Used 3 eggs, cause that was all I had, and they came out fine. Wish I had read the review that said use just All Bran for cereal...mine needed better texture. I added blueberries. Yum

This was pretty straight forward. I did make some changes, partially based on my own preferences and to make them healthier. Applesauce for the shortening. I used less sugar than what it said and it was still too sweet. I used all bran cereal instead of raising bran and threw in some cranberries as the fruit. It turned out well. I'll definitely be using this again.

I brought the servings down to 18, and it made 24 in regular cupcake pans. These are delicious. Only thing different I did was add 2 boxes of the individually packaged raisins to the mix since there wasn't a whole lot in only 1 cup of rasin bran. My boyfriend was happy when he got home and took a bunch to work with him today. Even the kids are eating them up!

I think I like the friendship bread muffins better...this was still "good" somehow, but I wouldn't say great.

Great recipe! Very moist and delicious. Taking a tip from another reviewer, I used 6 cups of All-Bran cereal and 1 cup of plumped raisins (SunMaid baking raisins) instead of the 2C raisin bran and 4C whole bran cereals. I also substituted SplendaBake for the white sugar to reduce the calories, and no one in my house could tell the difference. This recipe makes a lot of muffins, which freeze well.

These are great! I put a drop of pumpkin butter in the middle and they are fab!

Yummy, yummy muffins. I've made these several times over several years. I've scaled the recipe to make one batch, stored it in the fridge to make bit by bit, made it in large, regular and small muffin pans, added jam to the middle, you name it. Always works well; always tastes great.

Very good! This recipe is super easy to adapt, too. I use all bran cereal, and I added oatmeal, Red River cereal, raisins, chocolate chips, and walnuts. Instead of shortening, I blended peanut butter and bananas. It was a lot of random experimenting, but they turned out AMAZING! Have fun with these incredibly versatile muffins!

Good flavor, but the texture didn't turn out so good - a bit rubbery, and I was careful not to stir too much. Seems to be too much baking soda -- 5 tsp is an awful lot for this size recipe, and you can taste it in the final product. I would cut back to 4 tsp. I added shredded carrots for an additional tasty touch, and used part whole wheat flour for nutrition.

I made one change in thie ingredients. I used half brown sugar and half white sugar. This recipe is excellent.

We LOVE this recipe! I add chocolate chips and call them Chocolate Chip Muffins so my kids don't realize they are healthy!

Very good! they do not taste quite as wonderful as the Jane Brodey ones, but still, tumbs up from me! (what are the 2nd and 3rd recipes for?)

My husband LOVED this recipe & wants me to use it from now on. Batter lasts a while, too, which is great, since it makes so much!

A wonderful recipe. Next time I will probably use all bran cereal, but these were wonderful! Thanks so much for sharing!!

I apperciated the review by simmivet. I can't wait to try it.

I made the same adjustments with this recipe, use apple sauce vs. shorting, whole wheat flour vs. all purpose, and I added a cup of raisins. Baked a dozen and DID NOT care for them. Then added Pumpkin Pie Spice and OMG they were delicious and I received numerous compliments. I will definately make them again!

I modified this recipe to have less sugar by using 1 cup of splenda brown sugar blend, 1 cup of regular splenda, and 1 cup of white sugar. Deliciously rich. I also put a blackberry in the middle of each as a nice suprise!

Currently my new favorite thing to eat! I used all raisin bran and no bran cereal, because using up a close dated box of cereal was the inspiration to make these. Still don't notice the raisins, which is great, because I only like raisins in a carrot raisin salad. I substituted vanilla yogurt and milk for the buttermilk, because who has buttermilk in the fridge? Per KaryninPhilly, only used 4 teaspoons of baking powder. Perfect, thank you Karynin! Per MidwestMom, substituted 1 cup of molasses for 1 cup of white sugar and omitted the third cup of sugar altogether, so delicious! Added shredded carrots to the last batch, which required a longer baking time. And, side note, I used coconut oil as a shortening, so that may have contributed to the moistness and great taste.

I'm usually a very unsuccessful cook to start with, but i made these and they were good! I didn't have buttermilk so i thought, ok, sour cream, it worked!!! Was so surprised! I only made half the recipe , and only had self-rising flour but it worked!! So thrilled!

I throw in chocolate chips. Then I would call them chocolate chip muffins to get my kids to eat them. They would never eat anything with the word bran it it. But they would gobble these right up with chocolate in them!

I had this recipe in the 90s and lost it! So glad to have it back. I substituted coconut oil for the shortening (good fat) and cut the sugar in half and they are simply delicious!!

Of course I made changes--I often do! I used one cup white sugar and one cup molasses. I used four cups Raisin Bran cereal and one cup steel cut oats. I added some chopped dried Apple to the bran mixture. This makes a big batch of batter. For just a dozen or so, divide it in half. These were what I was looking for: moist but not too dense, tasty but not overly sweet. I am going to see how well the baked muffins freeze.

Very good! It's nice to make the batter on Sundays and have nice warm muffins for before school most of the week. A little less fluffy than I would expect, but this might be due to the batter sitting around