Cranberry Bran Muffins
When thinking about the cranberry recipes I wanted to share for the Flavor of the Month, I knew I wanted to have at least one that use cranberries in their true (in other words, not dried or as sauce) form. These delicious bran muffins fit the bill! The bran stands up to the tart berries in the best way!
Let’s get to it!
Start by preheating the oven. That done, the next order of business is soaking the bran flakes in the buttermilk for about 10 minutes. I’ll be honest, I hardly ever buy buttermilk anymore, you can make it yourself at home by mixing white vinegar or lemon juice with milk. Just put 1 tablespoon of the lemon juice or white vinegar in a 1 cup measuring cup or pitcher. Fill up to 1 cup with milk and let it sit about 5 minutes. Give it a little stir before using. While the bran is soaking you can get everything else together.
In a small bowl mix together the brown sugar, vegetable oil, egg, and vanilla until it’s completely combined.
Now give the soaking bran a final stir. Pour in the brown sugar mixture and fold it all together.
Now add your flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Then fold in your cranberries. I kept the cranberries whole for nice tart pop. If you don’t want so much of a “punch”, you can coarsely chop them.
Coat a muffin tin with cooking spray and evenly distribute your muffin batter among the cups.
Bake 16-20 minutes or until the tops spring back when you touch them. While the muffins are baking, you’ll make the honey butter glaze. In a small saucepan, add the butter and honey and cook over medium heat until the butter is melted and the mixture easily blends together. Let it sit until the muffins are done.
Once the muffins are out of the oven, brush the tops with the honey butter glaze. You want to do this while they’re hot so the glaze soaks into the muffins.
Let the muffin cool at least 10 minutes before taking them out of the tin.
These muffins are moist with a pop of tartness from the cranberries. The glue on top isn’t too sticky but adds just enough sweetness to round out these muffins.
Enjoy!
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Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups wheat bran
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 2/3 cups dark brown sugar (if this link it intentional it leads to light brown sugar not dark)
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup fresh cranberries
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons honey
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375.
- Soak bran flakes in buttermilk for 10 minutes.
- Mix brown sugar, vegetable oil, egg, and vanilla until combined.
- Stir bran a final time. Pour in brown sugar mixture and fold it all together.
- Mix in the remaining dry ingredients.
- Fold in cranberries.
- Coat a muffin tin with cooking spray and evenly distribute muffin batter among cups.
- Bake 16-20 minutes or until tops spring back when you touch them.
- Cook butter and honey over medium heat until butter is melted and mixture blends together.
- Brush muffin tops with honey butter glaze as soon as they’re done.
- Cool muffins at least 10 minutes before removing from pan.