Once old enough to understand the concept behind New Year’s Resolutions, I never really liked them. To me, “resolution” carries a negative connotation and sounds like something I have to do, instead of what the New Year really represents: an opportunity to reflect and improve certain areas of life.
So when the calendar flips to January 1, I prefer to set New Year’s Goals. That sounds a little more optimistic and achievable, don’t you think? They generally vary from year to year, depending on how the previous 365 days panned out. I’ve aimed to write in a journal every evening, finish cooking my way through the alphabet, and even gave up desserts (and successfully made it through the entire year!).
This year, my New Year’s Goal is…
To find balance. Particularly the work-life variety! As someone who’s self-employed and works from home, that line quickly turns gray and fuzzy, especially when my full-time job is running this blog, which means lots of time baking and doing things I love! But I inherited my dad’s workaholic tendencies, so I spend seven days a week—including nights and weekends—writing posts, editing photos, and responding to comments and emails.
It’s all incredibly rewarding, but at the same time, I still need to relearn how to take time off! I realized over the holidays that I don’t have many hobbies anymore, seeing as I turned my main hobby into my full-time job. As a result, I spent most of Christmas afternoon testing a new hobby by using crayons to carefully shade in sections of an adult coloring book my mom gave me with really intricate designs. (If you follow my @AmyBakesHealthy Snapchat, you saw the final result—and the one I colored two days later, too!)
In addition to taking time off to find better work-life balance, I also want to get more sleep. Ever since I was little, I’ve needed a full 8-10 hours per night to function at my best, but over the past few months, I’ve been going off of only 6 or 7 hours each day and subsidizing with extra caffeine.
As much as I love coffee… I value my sleep a little more!
And these Chocolate Chip Strawberry Bran Muffins are just the thing to help me sneak in a few extra minutes each day! Instead of spending time cooking eggs or oatmeal and washing the dishes, I can pop one or two of these in the microwave and start nibbling on my breakfast in mere seconds. And any morning that begins with chocolate-filled muffins as tender as cupcakes is bound to be a good day!
Let’s start with one of the most important ingredients: oat bran. Generally, bran muffins have a bad reputation for being dry or crumbly, but these are the exact opposite! They’re the moistest, most tender bran muffins you’ll ever eat, and it’s all thanks to my secret trick…
You’ll soak the oat bran in a combination of milk, Greek yogurt, and vanilla while mixing together the other ingredients. This gives the bran time to soften and absorb the moisture, similar to how overnight oat recipes work, and will make your muffins really tender.
And if you’ve been around my blog for a while, you know how much I adore Greek yogurt! It’s my favorite ingredient in healthier baking because it adds the same moisture as extra butter or oil for a fraction of the calories, and it gives your baked goodies a little protein boost, too.
These healthier muffins are sweetened with two main ingredients: maple syrup and molasses. When it comes to maple syrup, be sure to buy the good stuff! Avoid pancake syrups or faux sugar-free syrups. Both of those include corn syrup or artificial ingredients, which we’re trying to avoid. Pure maple syrup generally comes in a glass bottle or large squat jug, and the only ingredient on the label should be “maple syrup.”
Molasses is thick and dark brown, with a consistency similar to honey. It provides the iconic bran muffin flavor (as well as the familiar taste in gingerbread baked goodies!), so don’t try to substitute anything for it! Molasses is very inexpensive, and you can find it on the baking aisle near the other liquid sweeteners, as well as online.
And now for the best parts… The strawberries and chocolate chips! I turned to frozen unsweetened strawberries for this recipe so I could easily make it year-round without spending an arm and a leg on fresh berries at the grocery store during the winter. However, if you feel like baking this recipe during the summertime, fresh would easily work just as well!
You’ll use mini chocolate chips for these bran muffins. Their smaller size ensures that practically every bite contains a morsel of chocolate! I almost always buy Ghirardelli mini chips because they melt much better than the ones in the iconic yellow bags. (I think they taste better, too!) For the prettiest presentation, save a few to press into the tops of the muffins just before baking.
Don’t they look cute?
Happy New Year—and happy baking!
| Chocolate Chip Strawberry Bran Muffins | | Print |
- 1 ½ cups (180g) oat bran (measured like this and gluten-free if necessary)
- ½ cup (120g) plain nonfat Greek yogurt
- ½ cup (120mL) nonfat milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup (120g) whole wheat or gluten-free* flour (measured like this)
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ 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
- 1 cup (140g) frozen strawberries, barely thawed and diced
- 2 tbsp (28g) miniature 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, Greek yogurt, 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, 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 the strawberries and 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 20-23 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 because it will not produce the same taste or texture. Do not substitute anything for the molasses; it’s required to produce the iconic bran muffin flavor.
Fresh strawberries may be substituted for the frozen. The baking time may be slightly reduced.
{gluten-free, clean eating, low fat, low calorie}
How crucial is the egg white? I bake around my son’s egg allergy and usually use flax but I’m not sure how that works to sub for just a white?
My brother has an egg allergy too, and I use Ener-G in nearly all of my recipes if he’s going to try them! That egg replacer works wonderfully in this recipe. I don’t have much experience with flax “eggs,” but if you’ve been able to substitute that for an egg in other muffin recipes, it should work here as well. Treat the egg white as one full egg when doing your substitution. I’d love to hear how that works for you Helen!
We made it yesterday with my fave sub of 1 T ground flax + 2.5 T warm water. I mixed it in the bowl with the coconut oil to keep it warm/metled and then proceeded with the recipe. Very tasty! Thanks 🙂
I’m glad that worked Helen and you enjoyed the muffins — thank you so much for reporting back! I really appreciate it. 🙂
I really appreciate how you take the time to reply to comments, and I think it’s great that you’re taking some time for yourself this new year. Chocolate covered strawberries in muffin form would make the best breakfast.
Thank you for your kind words Elaine! That means a lot to me, and I really appreciate how you take the time to leave sweet comments on so many of my blog posts. 🙂 Happy New Year!
I just had to stop by and say how absolutely AMAZING these look and sound! I’ve been on a muffin kick myself lately 🙂
Thanks Lindsay!! I saw your cinnamon muffins on Snapchat — those looked incredible! 🙂
I think it is so important to find work/life balance! I think that is a great goal for you to have. I agree that goals are a better name for what we aim for each year. I have made 16 goals this year (smaller ones) and am excited about them!
I have a food blog too and I know how busy it can be!
I think that these muffins with the oat bran sound so yummy!
That’s wonderful about your 16 goals for 2016! (I’m assuming that was intentional? 16 for 2016? Because that’s really smart! 🙂 ) I think that smaller goals are a much better idea because they seem so much more achievable!
Mmmm…. you know these are my fave!! I love all your bran muffin that I’ve tried, and I LOVE anything with strawberry and chocolate! These look especially moist and incredible.
I love the New Years Goals idea! And I love your goal- it’s SO important! Maybe one way you could start achieving balance is by setting weekly “coffee” dates with a certain friend… 😉 In all seriousness, I can’t wait to hear how this goes for you and how you make time to enjoy your other hobbies… or a new hobby!
<3
Thank you so much lovely! ♥ You know that if we were still “neighbors,” you’d get every single bran muffin I ever baked… 🙂 And I’m definitely up for more coffee dates this year!!
Tried them….very delicious….well done once again. Can these be frozen pls?
I’m so glad you enjoyed the muffins Roberta! And yes, they can definitely be frozen!
If I do not want to make muffins and would prefer to bake the mixture in a loaf pan or a square baking dish, what size would you suggest and how would you adjust the cooking time/temperature?
You could definitely do that Nancy! I’d recommend a 9×5″ loaf pan or a 9″-square baking pan. Use the same oven temperature. The loaf or “cake” will most likely take longer to bake, but because I haven’t tried that myself, I can’t give you an exact time. It’ll be done when the center feels firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached. I can’t wait to hear what you think of the recipe! 🙂
Hi if i want to make this into a choclate flavpur bran muffins, may i know hoe much cocoa powder to add and how much adjustments i need to make? Thanks so much!!!
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Selena! I haven’t personally tried to do that, so I’m not entirely sure. I’m guessing you could replace ½ to ¾ cup of flour with an equal amount of cocoa powder (make sure you measure it carefully!). I just don’t know if that’ll make the muffins taste to dark and not sweet enough. I’d love to hear what you try and how it turns out! 🙂
Thank you so much!! I realised the amount of typing errors i had in my previous comment gosh. Baking and texting dont go very well together. Im such a huge fan of your bran muffin recipes. Gonna totally try the cocoa substitution and let you know how it goes (: thanks for the tip!!!!!
My pleasure Selena! I’m amazed that you managed to bake and text at the same time… I always have so much batter and dough covering my fingers that my phone would just be a big mess! 😉 I can’t wait to hear how your muffins turn out!
Hi there! Do you think I could substitute the frozen strawberries with frozen raspberries without it affecting the batter significantly? ?
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Claudia! Yes, that’s fine! The frozen raspberries may turn your batter a slight pinkish color, but the texture will remain the same. 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you think of these muffins!