The Best Banana Bran Muffins

Healthy, delicious banana bran muffins! This recipe is great source of fiber for breakfast or even just a snack.

Healthy Benefits of Bran

Bran is an excellent source of fiber, iron, copper, magnesium and more! Just one cup of Organic Wheat Bran contains,

• Total Carbohydrate 27.4g (12% DV)
  • Dietary Fiber 24.8g (99% DV)
  • Total Sugars 0.2g
  • Includes 0g Added Sugars (0% DV)
• Protein 9g (18% DV)
• Iron 6.1mg (34% DV)
• Potassium 686mg (20% DV)
• Copper 0.59mg (64% DV)
• Magnesium 354.38 mg (84% DV)
• Manganese 6.670 mg (290% DV)
• Phosphorus 587.54 mg (47% DV)
• Selenium 45.01 mcg (82% DV)
• Zinc 4.22 mg (38% DV)

So adding a 1/2 cup or 1 cup to your favorite breads and baked treats is an easy way to add more nutrition to your diet.

Ingredients For Banana Bran Muffins

Banana

Because banana’s are sweet and moist the natural sugars from a banana are a great substitute for sugar. Refined sugars are “empty calories” calories that don’t produce any other nutritional value. Unlike sugar, 1 bananas has potassium (9% DV), copper (10% DV) (Manganese (14% DV), Vitamin B6 (25%), and Vitamin C (11% DV). Banana’s add moisture, creating a soft, moist muffin without the added fats from oils and butter.

Greek Yogurt

Yogurt is also a great way to add moisture and nutrients, along with some fat (unless you use fat free) to your recipe. Butter or oil is the typical way to add the moisture we need in a muffin recipe. Because butter is made from the fatty cream we get from milk it is not whole, so it will not contain all the beneficial nutrients that whole raw milk contains. Now, Yogurt is made from milk, whole or low fat will still have more vitamins and minerals than butter. Yogurt contains lots of vitamin B, selenium, phosphorus, and calcium where butter only contains trace amounts.

Oil or Applesauce

Melted coconut oil, olive oil, or avocado oil, any oil will work. You don’t need much and if you want to leave oil out completely you can either add more yogurt or, I recommend, applesauce. Applesauce is another great substitute for oil in baking.

Eggs

Eggs are a bonding ingredient, they are very important to the texture of baked goods. We want our muffins to be soft with a little springy but not crumbly. Eggs also help with the raise, keeping the muffins from becoming dense.

Flour

I use 1/2 all purpose and 1/2 whole wheat for this recipe. All purpose flour separates the germ and bran from the flour where whole wheat is the whole grain. This makes whole wheat flour full of great nutrition but it also keeps the gluten strands shorter where as all purpose flour has longer gluten strands. The difference in this gluten strands makes a difference in the rise and the texture of your breads and pastries.

Wheat Bran

Bran is a the outermost layer of wheat. This part of the wheat is typically left out of your flours. It has a nutty and slightly sweet flavor and is full of nutrients that your flour is now lacking. By adding it back in you are getting more nutrition such as magnesium, fiber, copper, iron, manganese and selenium.

Sugar or Honey

Sugar or honey is our sweetener! Yes, bananas are also sweetening these muffins helping us keep the refined sugars low. If you want to keep this recipe refined sugar free substitute the sugar with honey or maple syrup.

Baking Soda

Baking soda is a leavening agent for quick rises, you may remember your science experiments with vinegar (acidic) and your baking soda (alkaline) when mix together create carbon dioxide bubbling all about. Instead of vinegar in our muffins we us yogurt as our acidic ingredient. When the two are mixed the carbon dioxide is released and therefore imprints air pockets while baking.

Salt

Don’t forget salt, just a the right amount of salt makes everything better. It brings out the flavor in the blandest of ingredients and makes the simplest of foods feel rich.

Cinnamon

As well as adding some wonderful deep flavor, cinnamon has some great health benefits! From reducing blood sugar to protecting from heart disease, anti-inflammatory and a great source of antioxidants. This spice has power and is so delicious.

How to Make Banana Bran Muffins

Step One: Mix Wet Ingredients

• In a medium/large bowl mash banana’s with a fork or potato masher.
• Once mashed well, add yogurt, eggs, and oil
• Mix together.

Step Two: Mix Dry Ingredients

• In a separate bowl mix all the dry ingredients, Flour, bran, sugar, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.

Step Three: Mix Wet and Dry Together

• Mix all ingredients together. You don’t want the consistency to be too thick or too runny. When I make this recipe its a little more on the thick side. Its not pour-able but its not so thick that it holding form on a spoon. It still falls off the spoon easily.
• If its too thick when baked it will be dense muffin. You can add a little more oil or yogurt. If you feel like its still not enough add a little milk or water. Just a little at a time.
• If its too runny it will take longer to bake in the middle and you risk burning the outside of the muffin. If your muffin is runny, first let it set for 5-10 minutes. The bran and whole wheat take time to absorb moisture. After that time if it hasn’t changed add more flour 1/4 cup at a time.

Step Four: Spoon Into Muffin Tin or Cups

• I use silicone muffin cups, me and the kids love them. You can either place these cup in your muffin tin or just stand alone on a baking sheet.
• Spoon the batter into the cup 3/4 of the way full.
• Bake for 18-20 minutes. Because of the bran and whole wheat these muffins are darker and a little harder to tell when they are done. They may look done on the outside but still need a few minutes on the inside. With a tooth pick or small thin paring knife check to see if the inside is cooked through. When the muffin is done the tooth pick will come out clean.

Step Five: Let Cool and Enjoy!

• Let cool for 10 or so minutes and enjoy!
• You can store for about 3 days covered on countertop
  • 5-7 days in refrigerator in zip-lock or air tight container
  • 3-6 month in freezer in zip-lock or air tight container