Banana Chocolate Chip Bran Muffins
These Banana Chocolate Chip Bran Muffins not only taste great, but they're healthy too! They contain fiber and omega 3 fats for heart health.
I always have at least one kind of frozen muffins in the freezer. I'll pull one out and thaw it to eat for breakfast or a snack.
I like to make sure that my muffins are on the healthier side - high in fiber, maybe with from vegetables or fruits hidden in them. Of course, they have to taste great too.
These Banana Chocolate Chip Bran Muffins definitely fit the bill.
I'm not sure where this recipe originally came from, but I've had it for a long time. I forgot about it, but recently found it on a typed sheet of paper titled "Important Recipes" circa the early 2000's.
Seeing the recipe reminded me of how often I ate these muffins around the time I was in University, and decided to bring them back into my life.
I decided to follow the original recipe as it was written since I couldn't recall any major problems with the recipe. However, I did substitute All-Bran Buds for the wheat bran, which is something I do often in recipes that call for bran. In my experience, they're pretty much interchangeable.
When I made these, I had also recently read a tip about making muffins in which the author suggested letting muffin batter rest before baking to achieve better rising and texture. I decided to try it, and it was definitely a success!
These muffins had previously been very dense and heavy, but with even a short rest (about 15 minutes or so), they were much fluffier. I haven't tried it yet with other muffin recipes, but highly recommend letting the batter rest for this recipe.
How to make Banana Chocolate Chip Bran Muffins:
Making these muffins is really very similar to making any other muffins. The procedure follows the simple steps of whisking together the dry ingredients in a large bowl, then whisking together the wet ingredients in a smaller bowl.
Then fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, but don't over-mix! Now, just let the batter rest. I only rested for a short time (about 15 minutes) while the oven heated up.
This short time resulted in a huge improvement to the texture of my muffins. They were lighter and fluffier, instead of dense and heavy which can be the case with high fiber muffins.
Banana Chocolate Chip Bran Muffins Ingredients:
- Whole wheat flour: you could use all-purpose flour instead, but the muffins will be lower in fiber
- Wheat bran: Feel free to substitue an equal amount of All-Bran or All-Bran Buds cereal
- Ground flaxseed: Unless you use it very often, make sure to buy whole flaxseed and grind it yourself (a coffee grinder works great for this) when needed to prevent it from going rancid.
- Chocolate chips: Either regular or mini will work just fine.
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Ground cinnamon
- Kosher salt
- Mashed ripe banana: You will need 3-4 bananas worth. Pro-tip: put any over-ripe bananas that no one wants to eat in the freezer, so you'll always be ready to make muffins. You can either peel, and slice the bananas, then freeze, or do it the lazy way like I do. I throw the whole banana in, peel and all, then thaw at room temperature or in the microwave when needed. Then cut the end off, and squeeze the banana out like you're squeezing a tube of toothpaste.
- Granulated sugar: or use brown sugar if you want.
- Buttermilk: I never have buttermilk. There are lots of possible substitutions here. Powdered buttermilk is a convenient option. Follow the directions on the package to find out how much to use. You can use soured milk (1 Tablespoon of lemon juice, then add enough milk to make the amount needed, in this case ¾ cup). Or use plain or vanilla yogurt (regular, not Greek which will be too thick). Or use plain or vanilla kefir. Or dairy free yogurt or kefir.
- Large egg
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Banana Chocolate Chip Bran Muffins Nutrition Notes:
The nutrition information in the recipe below uses wheat bran and buttermilk for the calculations. If you use any of the mentioned substitutions, the nutrition information of your muffins may vary slightly.
To make these muffins dairy-free, use your favorite dairy-free yogurt or kefir instead of buttermilk.
Banana Chocolate Chip Bran Muffins
Ingredients
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together 1 cup whole wheat flour, ¾ cup wheat bran, ¾ cup ground flaxseed, ¼ cup chocolate chips, 1 Tablesooon baking powder, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, and ½ teaspoon kosher salt. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl or large measuring cup, stir together 1 ½ cups mashed banana, ½ cup granulated sugar, ¾ cup buttermilk, and 1 large egg. Gently fold the banana mixture into the flour mixture just until no pockets of flour remain. Let the batter rest for at least 15 minutes, or up to an hour.
- While you're waiting for the batter to rest, heat the oven to 400°F and prepare a muffin pan by greasing the cups.
- Use a large spoon or small ladle to fill the muffin cups with batter (fill to the top, or very close to the top). If desired, add a few more chocolate chips to the top of the batter. Bake muffins for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean.
- Cool for 5 minutes in the muffin cups, then carefully use a butter knife to help remove the muffins from the cups to finish cooling. Store in an airtight container for up to 2 days, or freeze in a zipper bag.
Nutrition
Notes
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Wonderful fibre rich muffins. These felt like a little treat, too, because of the mini chocolate chips. They stayed super moist and my kids loved them, too. Thanks for the recipe. This is going in the regular rotation.