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
Hi Amy,
I’ve just stumbled upon your blog. some nice recipes you’ve got here. I’ll definitely be trying a lot of them!!
In this carrot cake bran muffin recipe though, could I use whole oats instead of oat bran (I cannot get hold of it where I live) or maybe use half whole oats – half whole-wheat flour?
What do you think?
If you can find instant (aka quick-cooking or minute) oats, I think those would be my top suggestion for a substitute! The muffins won’t quite be the same, but they’ll at least be closer in taste and texture with the instant oats than old-fashioned oats. I hope you enjoy them!
Thanks Amy, for answering so soon. Yes, I can get instant oats, I’ll let you know how they turn out.
Thanks, and I wish you the best of luck 🙂
My pleasure Dina! I’m excited to hear what you think of the muffins! 🙂
I made these muffins last night and they turned out very dense. Why do you think that is?
I’m sorry the muffins didn’t turn out like you expected Nicole; 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!
can you sub normal wheat bran for oat bran? if not, maybe a 1/2 and 1/2 wheat bran and oat flour mix? i have a huge thing of wheat bran i would love to use
I’m pretty sure wheat bran should work as a substitute! I hope you enjoy the muffins Kaleigh!
These are delicious! I added raisins & zucchini too, since muffins are the easiest way to get my toddlers to eat veggies. I didn’t have yogurt so I added a little apple cider vinegar to the milk, and they still turned out so good.
I’m so glad you and your toddlers enjoyed the muffins Michal! I love your additions — those sound absolutely lovely. I may be all grown up, but muffins are still the easiest way to get me to eat my veggies too! 😉
When I plug this recipe into “My Fitness Pal”, it calculates 160 calories each instead of 115. I double checked each entry . Thoughts?
This is the nutrition calculator that I use. It could be that My Fitness Pal uses different brands of ingredients with different nutrition information. 🙂 I’d love to hear what you think of the muffins if you try them Trine!
Hey there! I was just introduced to your blog and I am excited to try some recipes. What elevation are you at? We recently moved to a little town at about 6500 elevation and have had to make some changes to some recipes. So I thought I would ask before I dive in! 🙂 Thanks!
I’m fairly close to sea level, but many of my readers at high elevations (ie the Colorado Rockies!) have been able to make my recipes as written, without any changes. When they did try to modify my recipes as conventional wisdom says to at high elevations, they often turned out worse! 🙂 I’m excited to hear what you think of the recipes that you try Amber!
Hi, made these today , I love them. not quite as airy as yours in the picture. I used buttermilk, and added raisins.
I weighed the bran and flour, was way off compared to the volume measurements like 1 1/2 cups of bran was over 180 g, so I met 1/2 way.
Anyway thanks for the recipe. will be making again.
Mark
I’m glad you enjoyed the muffins Mark! It’s better to go by weight with dry ingredients, rather than by volume, if there’s a discrepancy. Just for the future! 🙂
Is there anything I can use instead of Greek yogurt?
Regular yogurt or non-dairy yogurt (if you have problems with dairy!) would be the best substitutes. 🙂 I’m excited to hear what you think of the muffins Crystal!
Thanks! I ended up buying some Greek yogurt. They’re in the oven now. .. I’m a bit nervous as the batter seemed really thick, almost like a dough. I made sure to measure everything correctly (thanks for posting the link) and not to over stir the flour mix and carrots. Should the batter be really thick? Pictures of process would be really helpful. They do smell really good 🙂
They didn’t turn out, very dense but they are moist. The molasses flavor is overpowering, so the taste isn’t as good as the smell.
That sounds disappointing Crystal. The molasses flavor shouldn’t be overpowering… Did you happen to substitute any ingredients, especially the honey? And did the insides of your muffins look like the insides of my muffins in the photos? The muffins should be fairly dense and moist, as many bran muffins are, rather than light and airy like cupcakes. We’ll figure out what happened so your next batch turns out much better! 🙂
Are these gluten free? If not, can we make them gluten free?
They can easily be made gluten-free! Use certified gluten-free oat bran and your favorite store-bought gluten-free flour blend in place of the whole wheat flour. I can’t wait to hear what you think of the muffins Christi!
I made these today, they are goooood!! My battery was quite thick and not very moist so they’ve cooked quite bumpy, would a bit of extra milk or Greek yoghurt help loosen them a tad so they bake a bit better? I’ve just seen the apple and banana versions of these too- they’re my next bake! Thanks 🙂
*batter not battery!!!(… autocorrect!) haha
I’m so glad you loved the muffins Laura! The batter should be thick, but it should also be moist. How did you measure the oat bran? Did you scoop it directly from the container with the measuring spoon? The oat bran acts like a sponge and soaks up lots of moisture from the batter, so too much would definitely cause the issue that you saw. In the future, you’re correct in thinking that extra milk will help. 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you think of the other bran muffins too!
I weighed everything as work in Grams (UK!) more than cups. Will try the others and let you know how I get on!! 🙂
That’s good to know Laura! I prefer to measure by weight as well. 🙂 I’m excited to hear what you think of the other two recipes!