I love this recipe. I have made the following modifications. I used whole wheat flour instead, 1.5 cup of applesauce, 2 tablespoons of oil, 1/2 cup of chocolate chips, and 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract.
We LOVE this recipe. We use a doubled version of this recipe and make it at least once a week, and freeze them, leaving out 4-6 to eat immediately :) Then each day, we take a few out. They defrost on their own in probably 1/2 hour or so, but 20 second in the microwave makes it even faster. In any case, they taste fresh baked. We also like to add 1 cup of chopped walnuts (not too finely chopped) and recently my wife has taken to adding 1 1/2 cups of raisins. Another variation is that we have taken to greasing a cookie sheet and putting a tablespoon glob and making big "cookies" out of them, and they actually are more convenient to eat. I can't say enough good things about this recipe. It's just the best. Well worth the effort, especially if you're like me, and just like the idea of having a good tasting source of roughage in your diet. And they are so easy to eat on the go.
The first time I made these muffins I thought they were too salty and a bit dry. The second time I made them I reduced the baking soda and baking powder to 1 teaspoon each, increased the oil to 1/3 of a cup and added a cup of blueberries. Turned out perfect. It is VERY important to let the ingredients sit for at least 10 minutes to allow the oat bran to soften.
I've made these several times and they always come out good. I usually substitute wheat flour for at least half of the all-purpose flour. To enhance the flavor I add 1 tsp cinnamon and vanilla. I've also substituted yogurt for the applesauce with good results.
These muffins were tasty, but I change a few things to get them the way I wanted. I increased this recipe by 50% but still made 12 muffins: just regular sized. I also used 1/4 tsp. cinammon to the mix, as well as only 1/3 the oil and 1 cup low fat vanilla yogurt with 1/4 cup applesauce for the liquid. This made them very moist. Finally, I added the raisins and also the cinammon sugar as the author suggested, and they were delicious. I might addd a little more brown sugar than the recipe calls for. They were not very time consuming and baked quickly.
These are good as far as the ingredients go. I prefer to use a more traditional quick bread/muffin method: Combine the oat bran and applesauce first, and let them sit together to soften the bran. Combine the eggs, sugar and oil in a small bowl. Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add the egg/sugar mixture to the hydrated oat mixture, then quickly combine with the dry ingredients. You'll get more tender muffins with better lift because you're not developing the gluten in the flour, and you get better lift from the baking powder if you don't let it sit after it gets wet. This recipe is almost exactly the same as the one on the Hodgson Mill website and I've been using it for years. It's a good basic recipe. My favorite add-ins are butterscotch chips and chopped walnuts, and a bit of vanilla (add with the egg/sugar mixture).
Very good recipe. However, I followed past reviewers advice to change it a bit. I used 1.5 cups whole wheat flour (no bleached flour), 1.5 cups applesauce, .5 cups splenda, reduced brown sugar to .25 cups, added 2 tsp cinammon, 1 tsp vanilla, 5 tablespoons veg oil and 1.5 cups of chopped granny smith apples. They came out moist, not too dense and very tasty. My family likes cinammon, so I think I may add another tsp next time.
I made only two changes; I used light brown sugar because that was all I had and I used melted butter instead of vegetable oil only because I'm low on oil right now. The applesauce I used was my own homemade applesauce that was seasoned with homemade apple pie spice. To add a little "something" I threw in a half cup of organic raisins that I soaked in hot unsweetened chai for 20 minutes (I drained and patted them dry a bit before doing so). My muffins turned out really moist perfectly sweet and with me using the spiced applesauce and raisins that added a really nice touch. The kids loved these. If you don't use a cinnamon-spiced applesauce I think you should. These muffins need a little oomph.
This is a great recipe! I did not have applesauce but did have a can of pumpkin pie mix. I used 1.5 cups of that added 1 T of honey 1 t of Vanilla and 1 cup of black currants. Wow! Moist and delicious! Following some other advice I cut the baking soda and powder down to 1 t each. These taste like a warm autumn afternoon!
I am not sure why these muffins tasted very very - I followed the recipe to the tee but added a bit of cinnamon. I think they tasted like they had too much baking powder or soda in them which I would reduce if I was to try this recipe again.
