The summer I turned 16, my family flew to the East Coast for a sightseeing vacation. We started in New York City, visiting art galleries and museums and Shea Stadium (so Dad and I could check that off of our MLB ballpark list!), before traveling to Boston a few days later.
My parents had gone to graduate school there, so we stopped by their old university and drove past the first apartment that they shared on one of our first days in the city. We also toured more art galleries, climbed the clock tower of the Old North Church (Mom and I had memorized the entire “Paul Revere’s Ride” poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow three years prior!), and ate our weight in chocolate chip cannoli from Little Italy.
Oh, and we saw the Big Green Monster at Fenway Park, too! (Yes, I’m obsessed with baseball…)
Before returning home from our whirlwind trip, Mom wanted to make sure my brother and I had enough things to do on the nearly 6-hour flight. I planned on reading Fast Food Nation, the required reading that my AP History teacher for that fall had assigned as our summer book report project, but Mom insisted that I should have something a little lighter and more fun as a break from the heavy topics and note-taking and purchased a Cooking Light magazine from one of the airport stands for me.
So after every few chapters, I set down the book and browsed through the glossy pages of recipes and photographs. I pored over the articles and dog-eared nearly half of the dishes, especially the breakfasts and sweet treats! By the time the airplane was taxiing to the gate in our home state, my mom had already decided to purchase a monthly subscription for me.
A few months later, in one of the winter issues, I found a recipe for gingerbread baked in a square pan and topped with a lemon glaze. It was the first time I had ever seen any sort of gingerbread treat besides the people-shaped cookies, so I set aside time over the following weekend to bake a batch.
I immediately fell in love with its tender texture and spicy flavor, and now when the weather turns cooler, I want to bake any and every gingerbread-flavored treat I can think of! This year, these Apple Gingerbread Bran Muffins were first on my list, and they were a huge hit with my family!
When it comes to bran muffins, many people envision something dry, flavorless, and not worth the calories. These healthier bran muffins are the exact opposite! They’re practically as tender as cupcakes and bursting with cozy, comforting flavors. And that’s all due to my one simple trick…
You’ll soak the oat bran first before measuring or mixing together any other ingredients! Combine the oat bran with Greek yogurt, milk, and vanilla, and let that sit for at least 10 minutes. Those other ingredients help soften the bran, similar to how overnight oat recipes work, so that the muffins turn out extremely moist and tender. Trust me—after you try these, you’ll never make bran muffins any other way!
Note: It’s extremely important to measure the oat bran correctly. Do not scoop it directly from the container! Instead, it should be measured like flour using either the spoon-and-level method or a kitchen scale. I highly recommend the latter! I own this inexpensive scale and use it to make every recipe I publish on this blog. A kitchen scale ensures that your baked goods turn out with the proper texture every time!
There are two important ingredients that give gingerbread treats their iconic flavor: ground ginger and molasses. The former is fairly predictable, and you’ll need 2 full tablespoons for these muffins. Molasses adds that deep, rich taste and gorgeous brown color. Do not substitute anything else for it! Molasses is fairly inexpensive and can be found on the baking aisle near the other liquid sweeteners. I use it in all of my bran muffin recipes and many of my granola recipes as well!
And finally, the apples! You’ll need one large apple for this recipe. Remember to dice it finely! Diced fruit is smaller in size than chopped fruit, and this smaller size helps the muffins hold their shape better. Aim for about half the size of your pinky fingernail for the best results.
Who’s ready for breakfast??
| Apple Gingerbread Bran Muffins | | Print |
- 1 ½ cups (180g) oat bran (measured correctly and gluten-free if necessary)
- ⅓ cup (80g) plain nonfat Greek yogurt
- ½ cup (120mL) nonfat milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup (120g) whole wheat or gluten-free* flour (measured correctly)
- 2 tbsp (10g) ground ginger
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tbsp (14g) coconut oil or unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- ¼ cup (60mL) pure maple syrup
- ¼ cup (60mL) molasses
- 1 ½ cups (190g) diced apple (about 1 large)
- 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, ginger, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt in a separate bowl. In a third bowl, whisk together the coconut oil and egg. Stir in the maple syrup and molasses. Thoroughly mix in the bran mixture. Add in the flour mixture, stirring until just incorporated. Fold in the diced apple.
- 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.
Any milk may be substituted for the nonfat milk. Honey or agave can be substituted for the maple syrup. Alternatively, ¼ cup (53g) of light brown sugar plus an additional 2 tablespoons (30mL) of milk may be substituted for the maple syrup, but the muffins would no longer be clean eating friendly.
Do not substitute anything for the molasses; it gives the muffins their characteristic gingerbread flavor.
{gluten-free, clean eating, low fat, low calorie}
Oh my goodness! These sounds yummy!! Definitely on my “to-do” list for the weekend! Thanks for sharing a great recipe =)
My pleasure! I hope you enjoy the muffins Jett! 🙂
I love the idea of soaking the bran. Have you tried soaking any other grains besides oats and bran? I am very intrigued! I have tried oats and buckwheat groats, but nothing else. I might have to experiment!
I haven’t tried soaking other grains, but that sounds like a fun experiment Melissa!
I really like the advice for soaking the oat bran to let it soften, and I refer to this technique when I talk about substituting oat bran for flour here (http://foodparsed.com/banana-bread-guide/).
I also like the advice for chopping apples into small pieces. I’ve often had hard apple chunks in my muffins, and I was very sad.
I’m glad you liked the tips Elaine! I hope you enjoy the muffins if you try them!
I was always that kid who would could a bran muffin over a chocolate chip one! Bran muffins are the best, and they sound even better when they’re gingerbread!
I wish I could say I did the same thing as a kid Bethany… But I DO pick the bran over the other muffins now! 😉
These look delicious. I will try them this weekend. I am glad you got to explore the Green Monster. She is a real treat even for those of us who are not quite as enthusiastic about baseball. Yawkey Way on game day is amazing.
I hope you enjoy the muffins Linda! Visiting Fenway Park was one of my favorite baseball memories. You’re right about Yawkey Way — there was such an incredible energy there! We were actually able to experience both that and the park two days in a row because our game was rained out, and the teams made it up the next day. 🙂
I’m going to make these but have wheat bran not oat bran. would it work the same? should I soak it also?
Yes, that substitution will work! Use your wheat bran and follow the recipe exactly as written. I can’t wait to hear what you think of the muffins Jamie!
These are tasty and moist but quite a bit too much ginger for me (and I do like ginger); unless you like extreme ginger, I’d suggest maybe just 1 T. 🙂
I appreciate your feedback Margaret, and I’m glad you enjoyed the muffins! 🙂
I think the ground ginger measurement should be 2 tsp not tbsp. I just made them with just over 1 tbsp and they still taste strongly of ginger. 10g also seems to convert to 2 tsp not tbsp. Just wanted to let you know! Even with the extra ginger, they’re still quite good. Thanks!
I’m glad you enjoyed these muffins Amanda! And thanks for letting me know! 🙂
I entered all the ingredients into MyFitnessPal using the same gram quantities and am getting like 155 calories per muffin not 117, does it matter what brand of oat bran I use?
Hmm, that’s weird! This is the nutrition calculator that I use, and I just used their generic “oat bran” to calculate. I’d love to hear what you think if you try these muffins, Kendall!
Hi!
Do you think I grating the apple instead of chopping it into pieces could also work? ?
Thank you!
Yes, grating the apple will work just fine! I can’t wait to hear what you think of these muffins Claudia! 🙂