all bran muffins

there is something that is somewhat perplexing to me. my kids, who refuse to have anything to do with wheat bread in any form, absolutely love eating bran. i hardly believed it when my youngest bypassed the lucky charms in favor of wheaties the other morning. plus, i made 2 dozen (yes, 24) of these mini all-bran muffins yesterday and within 24 hours they were gone. GONE. i’m not pulling your leg – they. ate. them. all.

so aside from the fact that my kids adore these muffins (they could hardly wait to get them out of the oven), another great thing about them is that you can make a full batch and whatever batter you don’t end up using, you can store in the fridge for 6-8 weeks. seriously. i don’t think it’ll last that long, especially if your kids love them as much as mine do. and as a bonus, you’ll be the best mom ever because you’ll have freshly-baked muffins every morning! (even though you really made the batter for them 4 weeks ago….) just sayin.

are you ready to see just how easy they are to make?

keep in mind that i made mini muffins – only needed a heaping tablespoon of batter for each muffin. but they’re the perfect size for kids. also, i only made half a recipe in my pictures. but i wish i’d made a whole one.

first, you’ll need shortening, all-bran cereal, eggs, sugar, flour, baking soda, salt, raisins or blueberries (optional) and buttermilk.

in a bowl, mix together the shortening, all-bran cereal, and boiling water.

the boiling water melts the shortening and softens the bran so that you have something resembling this (i know it kinda looks like ground beef right now, but stick with me):

in a large bowl, beat the eggs and gradually beat in the sugar.

add in the all-bran mixture and mix well.

and look! it’s starting to look tasty already!

in a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt.

add half of the flour mixture to the batter.

add half of the buttermilk.

then the other half of the flour mixture. then the other half of the buttermilk.

mix it all up and you’ve got your muffin batter!

spoon the batter into muffin tins. i’ve never had need to grease my muffin tins with this recipe – i think the shortening in the batter does the trick. they’ve always been really easy to take out after they’ve baked and cooled.

if you’re using mini muffin tins, bake @ 400F for 10-12 minutes. If you’re doing full-sized muffins, you’ll need to bake them at 400F for 20-30 minutes.

don’t they look adorable?! hello, cuties!

and like i said above, my kids couldn’t wait to get their hands on them. and even though my oldest knew i was taking a picture of them, he decided he’d still try to grab one and thought it would be okay as long as he said, “cheese!” while his hand was in the picture.

hope you (and your kids!) love these muffins as much as we do! and thanks to my sis-in-law for getting us addicted to these!

all bran muffins

All Bran Muffins

 

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Prep time

20 mins

Cook time

25 mins

Total time

45 mins

 

Delicious all bran muffins - makes 1 gallon of batter.

Author: Kate Heap

Recipe type: Snack

Serves: 12

Ingredients

• 1 cup + 2 tablespoons shortening
• 4 cups all-bran cereal
• 2 cups boiling water
• 4 eggs
• 3 cup sugar
• 5 cups flour
• 5 teaspoons baking soda
• 5 teaspoons salt
• 4 cups buttermilk
• raisins or blueberries, optional

Instructions

1. in a medium bowl, combine shortening, all-bran, and boiling water. set aside to cool.
2. in a large bowl, beat eggs and gradually beat in sugar. beat well. add cooled all-bran mixture, mixing well.
3. in a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt. add raisins or blueberries, if using. add flour mixture to bran mixture alternately with buttermilk. spoon into un-greased muffin tins. bake at 400F for 20-30 minutes for regular-sized muffins, or for 10-12 minutes for mini muffins.
4. store unused batter in an airtight container in fridge for 6-8 weeks. when using, do not stir - just spoon carefully into muffin cups.
5. enjoy!

3.5.3208