Moist and healthy bran muffins made without bran cereal and sweetened with honey. Going whole grain never tasted so good. Overripe pears are the secret!
November 2012 update: Click here to read rave reviews about these muffins from Farmgirl Fare readers, along with some great sounding recipe variations. And you'll find the original version of my wildly popular 100% Whole Grain Bran Muffins here (recipe includes four different flavors, plus all sorts of other ideas in the comments section).
"I'm getting tired of trying take pictures of bran muffins," I complained to my mother. "I love them, but they're just not photogenic." "Why don't you take a picture of a perfect—oh wait, we don't have any perfect pears. I know! You can take a picture of that last overripe pear sitting next to a muffin!" I pulled the pear in question out of the crisper drawer of the fridge and examined it. "I can't put a picture of a bruised and battered piece of fruit on my blog. Nobody wants to see that." "Why not? It's the secret to the muffins." But it felt as if I'd been eventually giving in a lot more than she had, so I decided not to use her pear picture idea. Instead, I tossed the lone pear back into the crisper drawer and promptly forgot about it.
When my foodie mom was visiting for ten days last November, we experimented with all sorts of new recipes I'd been wanting to try. Because neither of us could yet lay personal claim to these recipes, we both held fast to our usually opposing opinions while we were making them.
Three days later I pulled it out, noting that it had become a lot browner and significantly mushier. I realized it was now or never for the photo shoot, so I secretly snapped a few pictures while my mother was in the other room.
"I'm putting these last few muffins in the freezer," I called out once I'd cleaned up all the evidence. "I got the photos I needed."
You should always listen to your mother, but you don't always have to let her know you were actually paying attention.
Over the past ten months, I think my mother has made the
super popular (and very adaptable*) bran muffin recipe I shared last year even more times than I have.She bakes them for everyone from out-of-town houseguests to the staff at her dentist's office and says they're the best muffins she's ever eaten. Not just the best bran muffins, but the best muffins, which I consider quite a feat since there are plenty of so-called muffins out there that look and taste just like cake.
She usually adds frozen mixed berries to
the basic recipe but has declared these to be her new favorite.When I told her I hadn't gotten around to sharing the carrot zucchini raisin version I'd fallen in love with and promised to write about last summer she said, "Don't bother. These are way better."
The secret to this recipe really is to use very ripe pears. Like bananas, pears become much more flavorful as they ripen. The ones I used were so soft I simply mashed them up with a fork after peeling them with a vegetable peeler. (I am so head over peels in love with my new OXO Good Grips Y Peeler that I've actually cast aside the beloved ancient peeler I've been using for more than 20 years. How can I have lived this long without a Y peeler?)
As we were mixing up our first batch of this muffin batter, my mother wondered aloud if it would be possible to use canned pears instead of fresh ones. I said I thought they would work fine, but you'd probably have to purée them in a food processor. "Or you might be able to just smash them up with a potato masher," I added.
A week after my mother had returned home, I received an e-mail announcing that she'd made the muffins with canned pears. They were good, she said, but next time she would use two cans of pears. I wrote back and asked how she'd smashed them up.
With a potato masher like you told me to! was her reply. I guess mothers always listen to their daughters, too.
These muffins are so moist and flavorful I just eat them plain.
Ginger Pear Bran Muffin Recipe
Makes about 12 large muffins
**Click here to print this recipe**
Did you and your loved ones resolve to eat healthier and add more whole grains and fiber to your diet this year? Then this recipe is just what you need. Nobody will ever guess that these moist and flavorful muffins are so good for them.
They contain no processed sugar (although there is some in the candied ginger) and are made with 100% whole grains, including hefty portions of both soluble fiber (oat bran) and insoluble fiber (wheat bran). Whip up a batch before you go to bed because they taste even better the next day.
Last year I discovered small bags of something called uncrystallized candied ginger in the dried fruit aisle at Trader Joe's. It was love at first bite. The little chunks have a smoother texture than crystallized candied ginger, and they taste like ginger rather than sugar.
I've included the weights of each of the ingredients, so if you have a digital kitchen scale
you can simply place your bowl on the scale and pour stuff in without having to mess with measuring cups. Just be sure to zero out the scale after adding each ingredient.Over the past few years I've noticed that the texture and weight of wheat brans can vary considerably, and some are much heavier than others. This can also happen with oat bran. If you're weighing your brans, you might want to also portion them out in measuring cups the first time (which is how I measured them when I created the recipe), and if you've weighed out significantly more or less bran than the recipe calls for, consider altering the amounts.
Liquid ingredients are listed by weight—not fluid ounces—so you can pour them straight into the bowl on the scale, too. When adding the baking soda, baking powder, and salt, I recommend weighing in grams or using measuring spoons, as most home kitchen scales are not precise enough to accurately weigh such tiny amounts in ounces.
As always, I urge you to seek out
local and organic ingredients; they really do make a difference. Look for organic wheat bran, oat bran, and whole wheat flour in the bulk bins at natural food stores and supermarkets. 2 cups (5¾oz/164g) organic wheat bran
1 cup (5oz/141g) organic oat bran
1 cup (6oz/170g) organic whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons (12g) baking soda
1 teaspoon (6g) baking powder (make sure it's fresh!)
1/2 teaspoon (4g) salt
2 large eggs
2/3 cup (5½oz/156g) yogurt
1/3 cup (2¼oz/65g) safflower oil (or other neutral oil)
2/3 cup (7½ oz/216g) honey
1 teaspoon (6g) pure vanilla extract (optional)
2 cups peeled & mashed very ripe pears (about 3 pears or 17 oz) or 2 15-oz cans of pears, drained and mashed + 1/3 cup of the pear syrup
1/2 cup finely chopped candied ginger, preferably uncrystallized
Place oven rack in middle of oven and heat oven to 375°. Grease or spray a standard size muffin panor use unbleached baking cups.
Combine wheat bran, oat bran, whole wheat flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl and set aside. Combine eggs, yogurt, safflower oil, honey, and vanilla in a small bowl and mix well. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix with a rubber spatula just until combined.
Gently stir in the pears and candied ginger.
Generously fill the muffin cups with batter. I use stainless steel scoops, which are also great for portioning out cookie dough.
Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 25 to 30 minutes. Cool muffins in pan for 10 to 15 minutes, then carefully remove from pan and serve warm, or let cool on a wire rack.
Store muffins in an airtight container for up to 3 days or freeze. Defrost muffins at room temperature, or in the microwave if you're really in a hurry.
Still hungry? You'll find links to all my sweet and savory Less Fuss, More Flavor recipes in the Farmgirl Fare Recipe Index. Enjoy!
* Many thanks to all of you who took the time to write and let me know that you made and enjoyed my original bran muffin recipe. I've loved hearing about the yummy variations you came up with! If you wrote about making them on your own blog and haven't already, I invite you to leave the permalink to your post in the comments section either here or on the original post
