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}
Amy, this recipe is a home run!!! I tell everyone who will listen about your website and recipes. Thanks for the great smart-healthy posts!
I’m so glad you loved these muffins too Carol! You just made my entire day — that truly means the world to me that you share my website and recipes with so many people! Thank you so, so much!! ♡
What is oat bran and can I get it in Britain. By the way this recipe seemed soo good and yummy.
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe, Lily! Oat bran is the outer covering of the oat kernel, so it’s fairly high in fiber. Since I’m located in the US, I’m not sure whether British stores sell it, but I’m guessing at least some of them do! If you can’t located oat bran, then you can substitute quick-cooking oats in a pinch (aka one-minute or instant oats!). 🙂 I’d love to hear what you think of these muffins if you try making them!
Would I be able to use bran flakes instead of the oat bran? And if so how would I do it, thanks.
I’m honored that you’d like to try my recipe, Lily! I just want to make sure I understand the ingredient you’d wish to substitute so I can give you the best possible advice. 🙂 Do you mean bran flake cereal, like what’s used to make Raisin Bran?
Yes I do
Thanks for confirming, Lily! I haven’t tried that substitution, so I’m not entirely sure. My main concern is that oat bran is much more absorbent than bran flake cereal, so I’d be worried about the bran flake cereal turning soggy and the muffins not baking properly (or possibly collapsing!). You’re welcome to try, but I don’t want you to waste your time or ingredients!
Do you happen to have quick-cooking oats or regular old-fashioned rolled oats? You can substitute quick-cooking oats for the oat bran with no modifications needed! If you only have regular old-fashioned rolled oats, then you can pulse them in a food processor until they’re about ⅛ of their original size and then use them in place of the oat bran in this recipe. I’ve done both of these substitutions, so I’m much more confident recommending them than bran flake cereal! 😉
I’d love to hear what you think of these muffins if you decide to try making them! 🙂
Yes I have normal oats so would I just pretend that they are the oat bran?
Almost, but not quite! If you have normal old-fashioned rolled oats, then you’ll need to pulse them in a food processor (or blender — that would work too!) to make them smaller (so they soften better and give your muffins the best possible texture!), as I mentioned in my previous comment. But once you’ve done that, then yes — you can pretend they are the oat bran! Does that make a little more sense? 🙂
Hi Amy! I just want to check with you, for the bran muffins did you accidentally say 2Tbsp? When you may have meant to say 2 tsp? They seem to be overwhelming with the amount of ginger I added.
I’m honored that you tried making my recipe, Jodi! I really love a strong ginger flavor in my gingerbread baked goods, so that’s not a typo. However, I understand not everybody is the same way that I am, so you can easily use less if it’s too strong for you! 🙂 Perhaps half that amount would be better for your tastes?
I found these far too dry and crumbly and I love ginger but it was overpowering in this recipe. Perhaps I made an error using gluten free flour but I really thought I followed the recipe very carefully. I won’t make these again. Everyone who tasted them wouldn’t eat them.
It means a lot that you tried our recipe, Linda! That sounds disappointing and not like how these muffins are supposed to turn out, so we’d love to work with you to figure out what happened. In order to do so, we have some questions for you! 🙂
Did you make any substitutions or modifications to the recipe, including those listed in the Notes section? (Other than the gluten-free flour!)
Did you use a kitchen scale or measuring cups/spoons to measure everything — especially the oat bran, flour, molasses, and maple syrup?
If you used measuring cups, did you use our measuring method for measuring the oats and flour? (We linked to it in the ingredients list, but I know it can be easy to miss!)
If not, did you happen to dip your measuring cups directly into the containers of oat bran and/or flour, by any chance? Or possibly gently shake them back and forth to “level off” the top while filling them?
Did you use the gluten-free blend Amy provided in the Notes section? If not, what’s the exact gluten-free flour (brand + product name!) that you used?
Did you use regular unsulphured molasses or blackstrap molasses?
Can you describe the consistency of the batter at the end of Step 3, right before you transferred it to the muffin cups? For example, was it as stiff and dry as cookie dough, looser than that (thick but wet), as thin and runny as cake batter, etc?
How long did you bake your muffins at 350°F?
Did they rise at all while baking, or did they remain completely flat?
How was their sweetness level? Was that okay, and it was mainly that the ginger was overpowering?
I know I just asked a LOT of questions, but we’ll have a much better idea of what happened once we know your answers to all of them!
Also, Amy loves her gingerbread-flavored treats on the spicier side, but she knows not everyone is the same way! If you’d prefer, you can easily reduce the ginger to 1 tablespoon — or even just 2 teaspoons — for a less prominent taste. 🙂
Hi,
I appreciate your questions because I was really following the recipe. As for measuring I used and scale and was very careful to measure accurately. I doubled the recipe. I checked everything and the only thing I think that happened is with the flour. I used half gluten free flour and balk gluten free rice flour ( because I didn’t have whole wheat or enough gluten free. I love ginger and molasses and measured carefully. It did seem like a lot of ginger but I just went with what the recipe said. The muffins did rise a bit but not too much. I did notice the consistency of the batter seemed dry and added a bit more milk ( I used almond milk) I’m not really sure what happened but I do appreciate you reaching out.
It’s our pleasure, Linda! We’re happy to help, and I appreciate you sharing this information with us. I have some follow-up questions, based on your replies, to help us narrow down the potential culprits. 🙂
Did you use your kitchen scale for measuring the molasses, maple syrup, and milk? (I know it may seem odd, but this is actually really important!)
Approximately how much extra milk did you add?
What was the consistency of the batter like before and after adding the extra milk?
Did you use regular unsulphured molasses or blackstrap molasses? (I understand that you enjoy molasses, which we love to hear!)
Did you substitute brown rice flour or white rice flour?
What’s the exact gluten-free flour (brand and product name!) that you used? I understand you used half gluten-free rice flour, but it sounds like you used a gluten-free blend for the other half. What was that?
Did you happen to use wheat bran, by any chance? (It doesn’t sound like it, but since we’ve had readers do that before, we like to double check!)
How long did you bake your muffins at 350°F?
How was their sweetness level? Was that okay?
We really appreciate your patience and replies to these questions! We want your muffins to turn out beautifully soft and tender, so knowing your answers to everything above will be very helpful!
Would it be possible to find out the weight of the ingredients, specifically the weight of the bran measurement and the flour measurement? I find I get more consistent results, even following your directions on how to measure, if I do it by weight. It is also much faster. I make a lot of your muffins and this would help me enormously. Thanks!
We really appreciate your interest in our recipes, Connie! We’re honored to hear that you already have made a lot of our muffins! We actually have the weight measurement included in the ingredient list, so you’ll look for the grams in parenthesis right next to, for example, the cups. I know it can be easy to miss, though! So for this recipe, it says 1 ½ cups (180g) oat bran, so your weight measurement is 180 grams. I hope that helps! I prefer baking by weight also…so much quicker and more accurate in my opinion! 😉 We’d love to hear what you think of these bran muffins if you give them a try!
How wonderful! I don’t know how I missed that! Thanks!
I’m happy to help, Connie! 🙂