My best friend works in a bakery as her full-time job. Every day, she earns an income staying elbows-deep in flour and making muffins, scones, cookies, and cakes. How neat is that?? I must admit, I’m a tiny bit jealous… I’d love to open up my own bakery someday!
As much as she loves baking, there’s one major downside: the work hours. Her alarm rings just after 3 am, she arrives at the facility before 4:30 am, mixes and shapes and bakes until 2, and slides between the covers to go to sleep by 7 pm. With the days growing longer and the sun setting later, that early bedtime would really throw me off!
A few weeks ago, she visited me shortly after I posted these blueberry buttermilk bran muffins. She mentioned her morning driving routine—nibbling on a muffin and sipping her coffee as she cruised down the empty freeway to work—so I sent her home with the rest of my batch.
The very next day, she texted me, exclaiming that they were the best bran muffins she’s ever eaten. That’s high praise coming from a professional baker!
When she stopped by again last week, she explained that she tried switching to granola or protein bars when her muffin stash ran out, but those just weren’t the same. Nothing beats the texture and flavor of a soft, tender muffin! Since we both love our veggies as much as baked sweets, I immediately mixed up these Carrot Cake Bran Muffins for her to enjoy.
Many people think of bran muffins as bland or dry, but these are the exact opposite! They’re practically as tender as cupcakes and are bursting with warm, cozy flavors. So how do we do that?
Amy’s Nerdy Food Notes!
How we mix together the ingredients determines the texture of the muffins. Many recipes stir in the oat bran along with the dry ingredients, but this leads to dry muffins. Instead, soak the oat bran in milk, Greek yogurt, and vanilla before measuring anything else. Similar to soaking oatmeal to make overnight oats, soaking the oat bran softens it and creates that tender muffin texture we want.
Two ingredients create the characteristic cozy bran muffin flavor: molasses and cinnamon. Molasses has a warm, rich, earthy taste, and I always envision cool foggy mornings paired with a tall cup of coffee and fleecy blanket whenever I bake with it. In other words, it adds the ultimate cozy taste! You can find it on the baking aisle near the maple and corn syrups.
Cinnamon also provides a warmth and depth to bran muffins. Because I love adding it to my carrots cakes, I also sprinkled in a little nutmeg as well. When paired together, these two spices create a tantalizing aroma while the muffins bake and cool on the counter, which always tempts me to break into one while the steam still drifts off the top. The burnt fingers and tongue would be worth it!
The final important ingredient in these particular bran muffins is the shredded carrots. About 3 large carrots, peeled first, will yield the amount you need. To make quick work of shredding, use a food processor! Do not buy pre-shredded carrots; those are dry and would result in subpar muffins.
I handed these Carrot Cake Bran Muffins to my best friend as soon as she walked into my kitchen last week, and she sampled a small bite… Which lead to the entire muffin. She said that these were even better than the last ones—maybe even the best muffins she’s ever had!
That made my heart melt into a warm, cozy, cinnamony puddle. ♥
| Carrot Cake Bran Muffins | | Print |
- 1 ½ cups (180g) oat bran (measured like this and gluten-free if necessary)
- ⅓ cup (80g) plain nonfat Greek yogurt
- ⅓ cup (80mL) nonfat milk
- 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup (120g) whole wheat or gluten-free* flour (measured like this)
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 tbsp (14g) coconut oil or unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- ¼ cup (60mL) honey
- ¼ cup (60mL) molasses
- 1 ½ cups (160g) shredded carrots (about 3 large, peeled first)
- Preheat the oven to 350°F, and lightly coat 12 muffin cups with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a medium bowl, stir together the oat bran, yogurt, milk, and vanilla.
- Whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in a separate bowl. In a third bowl, whisk together the coconut oil or butter and egg. Stir in the honey and molasses. Mix in the bran mixture. Add in the flour mixture, stirring until just incorporated. Fold in the shredded carrots.
- Divide the batter into the prepared muffin cups. Bake at 350°F for 20-23 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes before carefully turning out onto a wire rack.
Other readers have had success substituting wheat bran for the oat bran. I have not tried that myself and cannot personally vouch for that substitution.
Any milk may be substituted for the nonfat milk.
Pure maple syrup or agave may be substituted for the honey. Do not substitute pancake syrup because it will not produce the same taste or texture. I don’t recommend substituting anything for the molasses; it’s required to produce the iconic bran muffin flavor. (And you'll use it in all of these recipes of mine, too!)
Do not buy pre-shredded carrots. They are not as moist and will result in subpar muffins.
{clean eating, low fat, low calorie}
More bran muffin recipes from other food bloggers…
♥ Mixed Fruit and Nut Buttermilk Bran Muffins by The View From Great Island
♥ Blueberry Peach Bran Muffins by Healthy. Delicious.
♥ Glazed Pumpkin Bran Muffins by Lauren’s Latest
♥ Maple Pecan Bran Muffins by Foxes Love Lemons
I truly have the best friend a girl could ask for!! What would I do without you?! <3 <3
It’s like you read my mind! I definitely couldn’t keep this blog going without you — and you KNOW that’s the truth! ♥ ♥
I tried the carrot cake bran muffins, and they were absolutely delicious. My mom has celiac disease (where you are allergic to gluten and wheat), so you can make them gluten free by substituting the whole wheat flour for a gluten free flour blend and 1 tsp of Xantham Gum, which is kind of like a gluten free gluten. Overall, though, these muffins were so good and even better with a little butter slathered on top. Thank you so much!
I’m so glad you and your mom enjoyed these muffins Molly! You’re so sweet to bake them for her. 🙂 I have a few friends with celiac disease, and I can understand how hard it can be to find delicious gluten-free baked goodies. I’ve started making most of my recipes gluten-free friendly — I just keep forgetting to update my old bran muffin recipes to include those swaps! 😉 Thanks for the reminder!!
Ouch, that is painfully early! You could start a new trend of the “good working hours” bakery – working from 8am to 4pm! These muffins looks amazing as always, I love adding bran to my baking; pinned!
Thanks for your kind words and pin Eve! I’d definitely have decent working hours at my bakery, but that’s probably because it would be mostly desserts… And people aren’t usually thinking about those at 8 am when they want their breakfasts! 😉
I could gobble all of these muffins! I adore bran muffins, even the dry ones! I do think fluffy cake like muffins are better, so your mixing tip was great. I would love to work at a bakery also, and am already used to the hours. I have a very similar schedule. HA.
You’d be the perfect person to work at a bakery, Brittany! I could definitely see that happening if you decide to move on from Starbucks. And I’d want to visit you every day to hang out and eat treats!
Thanks for the recipe – they just came out of the oven and were very yummy with a great texture. My daughter (13) loved hers with a bit of strawberry jam. My husband suggested adding a tiny bit more salt to bring out the flavors more, I might try that next time I make them. I enjoy getting your e-mails and reading your stories and recipes. Thanks again.
I’m so glad you enjoyed the cookies Anne, and I’m touched that you’ve signed up for my email updates. Thank you so much!
Y do my muffins taste a bit bitter despite flwg ur recipe closely (oat bran bran carrot muffin)
I’m sorry they taste bitter Jesmail; that must be disappointing. It could be due to a few reasons. If there isn’t enough sweetener or it wasn’t measured correctly, that would do it. If you left the skins on the carrots before grating them or used pre-shredded carrots, that could also contribute. If your milk or yogurt went back, that would do it too. Finally, if there was too much baking powder (i.e. 2 tablespoons instead of the 2 teaspoons called for in the recipe), that would definitely make the muffins taste bitter and almost metallic. Hopefully your next batch turns out perfectly!
Luv this receipe. Normally my breads or muffins come out dry. I made some minor adjustments. I used goat kefir instead of yogurt. I also have used zucchini instead of carrots. Amazing!
I’m so glad you’re enjoying the muffins Susan! I definitely need to try a zucchini version. That sounds amazing!
Hi there, I just finished baking your Carrot Cake Bran Muffins. Instead of using the Whole wheat flour, I used coconut flour instead. The smell was divine. I found that the tops of the muffins were a little dry but the muffins themselves were moist. I think I need to add about 80 ml more milk during the final mixing stage. Thanks for the recipe and I’ll certainly try your other bran recipes.
I’m glad you enjoyed the muffins Heather! Coconut flour is much more absorbent than regular flours, so you only need about ⅓ of the amount of regular flour called for in a recipe. That’s quick thinking on your part to add more milk, and I’m happy that worked out for you! 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you think of the next recipes that you try!
Has anyone frozen these? I would like to know how they hold up. They look amazing!
They freeze really well Shelby! I hope you enjoy the muffins!
I made these…they are not like cupcakes at all!!! They taste “healthy” and are super dense….what did I do wrong????
I’m sorry the muffins didn’t turn out like you expected Meagan; that must have been disappointing. If they were super dense, then there was probably too much oat bran in the batter. How did you measure it? It’s meant to be measured like flour with the spoon-and-level method (I describe that in detail here). If it’s scooped directly from the container, you can end up with 1.5 times as much, which would cause the issues you describe. Also, how do the insides of your muffins look compared to the insides of the muffins in my photos? That will also help us determine what could have happened when you baked your batch.
It says 180g of oat bran, did you mean 80g?
No, 180g of oat bran is correct! 🙂 I’m excited to hear what you think of these muffins Katy!