My dad’s birthday falls towards the middle of September, and this year, half of our immediate family was out of town. Mom had flown to her parents’ house a few days prior for a slight medical emergency, and my brother’s graduate school dorm move-in date was scheduled for the day before Dad’s birthday.
Although my brother returned home for part of the day, long enough to celebrate with a trip to the ice cream store across town, he packed his car full of kitchen supplies and clothes to drive back to his dorm and finish moving in during the early afternoon. After his taillights disappeared at the end of our street, I turned to Dad and asked what he wanted to do for the rest of his special day.
“How about a movie?” he suggested, and after rummaging around in our DVD cabinet, he pulled out one of the Harry Potter films. We turned on the TV and started watching, only pausing while I dashed across town to his favorite Mexican restaurant to grab the take-out birthday dinner he requested.
If you follow me on Snapchat (@AmyBakesHealthy), you’ll know how this story ends…
We turned the evening into a movie marathon, and we plowed through the first three Harry Potter movies that weekend!
Since Dad left for a week-long backpacking trip with his college buddies a few days later, I didn’t feel right watching the next five movies without him, so I dug out the books from a storage shelf in the garage instead. Starting at the very beginning with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, I read a few (okay, more like ten) chapters each day as breaks while working and to wind down before bed.
Two weeks later, I’m more than halfway through the fourth one, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. It’s taken all of my self-control not to finish each book cover-to-cover in a single day the way I did during my childhood… But trust me, it’s been tempting! There’s something so cozy about curling up on the couch with a novel and blanket, about being transported to another world, about absorbing words on the well-worn pages.
Many times when I opened the cover and began a new chapter, that feeling would wash over me, and I’d start craving something cozy to eat too! Eventually I caved and baked these Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bran Muffins, and between their warm fall flavors and lots of chocolate, they turned out to be the perfect reading snack.
Which probably resulted in me speeding through even more chapters… Whoops!
Many people are turned off from bran muffins because they think that those baked goods are bland and dry—but this recipe of mine is anything but! They’re incredibly tender, almost like a dense cupcake, and they’re full of warm spices. You can smell the cinnamon wafting around the kitchen while the muffins bake. It’s absolutely irresistible!
I have a secret trick to make these muffins so tender. You’ll soak the oat bran for at least 10 minutes before mixing it into the muffin batter. Stir it together with the pumpkin purée, milk, and vanilla, and let that rest while you measure and mix together the rest of the ingredients. Similar to my overnight oat recipes, this step allows the oat bran to soften by absorbing moisture, and this trick results in the most tender bran muffins you’ll ever eat!
Now the rest of the dry ingredients are fairly predictable: whole wheat flour (or gluten-free!), baking powder, and a slew of pumpkin’s favorite spices. You’ll need cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. I prefer to blend my own spices instead of using pumpkin pie spice because it’s cheaper and I control the ratio (I always like extra cinnamon!).
As for the sweetener, you’ll use pure maple syrup and molasses. Remember, pancake syrup is NOT the same thing as maple syrup! Pancake syrup contains corn syrup and granulated sugar, whereas the only ingredient in pure maple syrup is—you guessed it!—maple syrup straight from the trees.
As for the molasses, I do not recommend substituting anything for it because molasses provides the iconic bran muffin flavor: that deep, rich, slightly earthy taste the muffins are known for. You’ll need it for all of my bran muffin recipes, as well as some of my granola recipes, so it’s worth buying a bottle at the store!
And of course… Don’t forget the chocolate chips! We’ll use minis because their smaller size ensures every bite contains at least one morsel of chocolate. Remember to save some to press into the tops of the muffin batter just before baking for a cute finishing touch!
Mmmmmm. Cozy books and cozy muffins—does life get any better than this??
| Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bran Muffins | | Print |
- 1 ½ cups (180g) oat bran (measured correctly and gluten-free if necessary)
- ¾ cup (183g) pumpkin purée
- ½ cup (120mL) nonfat milk
- 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup (120g) whole wheat or gluten-free* flour (measured correctly)
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- ¼ tsp ground ginger
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 tbsp (14g) coconut oil or unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
- 1 large egg white, room temperature
- ¼ cup (60mL) pure maple syrup
- ¼ cup (60mL) molasses
- 2 tbsp (28g) mini chocolate chips, divided
- Preheat the oven to 350°F, and lightly coat 12 muffin cups with nonstick spray.
- In a medium bowl, stir together the oat bran, pumpkin purée, milk, and vanilla. Let the mixture rest for at least 10 minutes while preparing the remaining ingredients.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and salt. In a third bowl, whisk together the coconut oil and egg white. Stir in the maple syrup and molasses. Add the oat bran mixture, stirring until fully incorporated. Add the flour mixture, stirring until just incorporated. Fold in 1 ½ tablespoons of chocolate chips.
- Evenly divide the batter between the prepared muffin cups, and gently press the remaining chocolate chips into the tops. Bake at 350°F for 17-20 minutes or until the tops feel firm to the touch. Cool in the muffin cups for 5 minutes before carefully transferring to a wire rack.
Any milk may be substituted for the nonfat milk.
Honey or agave may be substituted for the maple syrup. Do not substitute pancake syrup; it will not produce the same taste or texture.
{gluten-free, clean eating, low fat, low calorie}
I love how you added bran to these muffins, so delicious!
Thanks Lucie!
I love all of your bran muffins!
Thanks Shannon!
I love that these are nutrient dense and super moist, perfect for a fall breakfast on the go!
Thanks Bethany!
i have four children at home and we all bake!! Pure maple syrup is so expensive…is it possible to substitute brown sugar in your recipes??
That’s completely understandable Lisa! In most of my recipes, it is possible to substitute brown sugar instead of maple syrup. For every 1 cup of maple syrup, substitute 1 cup of lightly packed brown sugar plus ½ cup of milk (any type will work). If you have a Safeway or Target nearby, I’ve also found that they sell large 32-ounce jugs of pure maple syrup, which cost a lot less per ounce than the smaller glass bottles, if you’d like to have some around for special baking occasions. 🙂 I hope you enjoy the muffins!
Um, not sure how I missed this recipe but this sounds like the perfect marriage of flavors!!! <3
Amy, I see you are using oat bran in this recipe. It’s traditionally wheat bran, right? But oat bran is GF!! Where have you found that?
Never mind! TJ’s! I see! Blonde moment! 😉
Oopsies, I missed this comment… We’re two peas in a pod, aren’t we? 😉
I think most bran traditionally comes from oats Andrea! Not all oats are certified GF (i.e. they’re processed in a plant that also processes wheat). I buy mine at Trader Joe’s! 🙂 And these totally would’ve been up your alley — I wish I had frozen some for whenever you visit next! 😉
Hmm! Ok, so I read about it, and looks like bran can come from any grain… it’s just the pieces of grain husk separated out after milling! Cool! I think we used “wheat” bran at Arizmendi for our bran muffins, so I guess I thought that was the norm… pretty stoked that means I can make bran muffins on a GF diet though!!
Yup, that sounds right! It’d be so hard to give up muffins… 😉
These muffins are delicious!! I love the bran flavour and texture of the muffin. I also am a huge fan of molasses as a sweetener – fancy or baking is sweeter than blackstrap but I will use either. And blackstrap has the added benefit of being high in iron.
I have a pumpkin muffin recipe that I use regularly to make cute mini muffins http://doubletherecipe.com/2016/02/26/pumpkin-molasses-muffins/
Thanks for sharing a great recipe!
I’m so glad you enjoyed these muffins Valerie! 🙂
Is there an error in the amount of sweetener and also oil/butter? I made these using 1/2 cup molasses (I did not have maple syrup so I doubled up on molasses), & I used 1 TB. Butter. The pumpkin puree I used was unsweetened in the can, so maybe this was a factor? But, the muffins were not sweet, and a bit dry. 1 TB. Of butter or oil is actually a very scant amount for an entire batch of muffins (most recipes seem to call for 1/3-1/2 cups of oil). Bran and wheat flour are very dense so it becomes more noticeable when there is minimal oil/butter. I think this is a great, hearty muffin, but I would increase oil or butter to 1/4 at minimum, and add perhaps 1/4 cup brown sugar. I would also use the whole can of pumpkin puree, which increases this amount to 1 cup. I would also increase chocolate chips to 1/3 cup. I used regular size Ghirardelli semisweet chocolate chips, and with the 2 TB recommended, that meant maybe 4 pieces per muffin. I ended up putting 6 chips in each muffin, and still just a hint of chocolate.
Thanks for your feedback Debbie! There are no errors in the recipe. If the muffins were dry, then there was probably too much oat bran or flour — or both. Did you measure them as directed at the link in the Ingredients list? It’s incredibly important to measure both using that method, especially the bran, because the bran acts like a sponge and will soak up as much moisture from the batter as it can. Molasses isn’t as sweet as maple syrup, so that would cause the issue that you experienced. When using mini chocolate chips, each muffin ends up with at least 10 morsels, so that would also help disperse the chocolate more evenly. 🙂
As is, I have to rate this 3 stars because I think the sweetener and oil/butter amounts are off. See my previous post. With the changes I noted, I think these would rank as 4 or 5 stars.
These were wonderful! TgeyTwere perfectly moist anfathe perfect amount of Sweetness. I might try with applesauce instead of molasses. I have been looking for a recipe like this and you really nailed it. As this is s healthy muffin I appreciate the small amount of Sweetness and butter.
I’m so glad you enjoyed the muffins Sonja! Your glowing review means a lot to me! If you’re willing to try it, I’d actually suggest trying to substitute the applesauce (and possibly a little extra milk!) for the maple syrup rather than the molasses. The molasses is what gives bran muffins their iconic flavor, and since it’s less sweet than the maple syrup, it’d be a better ingredient to leave in if you’re trying to reduce the sweetness of the muffins. Just a thought! 🙂 Regardless of which option you choose, I’d love to hear how the applesauce substitution turns out for you!