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Oct 29, 2018

Pumpkin Raisin Bran Muffins

These Pumpkin Raisin Bran Muffins are light and moist, and the pumpkin flavor shines through.

Pumpkin Raisin Bran Muffins

These pumpkin raisin bran muffins get all of their moisture from pumpkin puree. Plus, they are fairly low in fat compared to most muffins.

I am old enough to remember when bran muffins were considered "health food." Prior to the days when "gluten free" was de rigueur, bran was considered almost a colon cancer preventative. I recently saw a 1982 article talking about how the bran grabs onto cancer causing agents and "sweeps" them out of your system (with little brooms?).

Those "healthy" muffins from yesteryear always seemed so heavy... almost leaden. They were supposed to be good for you, but they weren't necessarily enjoyable to eat.

Pumpkin Bran Muffins


These muffins are the most delicious and "non-health food-like" version of bran muffins I have ever tried. Even though they include lots of bran, these are just plain good on their own.

These bran muffins are nothing like the bran muffins from the old "health food" days. They are light, airy, and almost like cupcakes. You still get all of the benefits from the bran, but without the typically heavy traditional bran muffins.

These muffins stay moist and delicious for days. When I make muffins, I normally individually wrap them and freeze them. I had planned to do that with these, but it wasn't necessary. When kept in an airtight container, these actually lasted four days!

I used golden raisins in these muffins, but you could easily substitute dried cranberries.

Pumpkin Bran Muffins with golden raisins

I topped these muffins with demerara sugar, but you can use coarse sparkling sugar if you prefer. Either way, these muffins are fabulous.

For another great bran muffin, definitely try Raisin Bran muffins. They are made with the cereal!


Notes:

For the buttermilk, I used powdered buttermilk. If you choose to go this route, stir the appropriate amount of the powder into the dry ingredients, and put 3/4 cup of water into the dry ingredients. That's much easier than trying to reconstitute the powder into buttermilk. 

The original recipe from King Arthur Flour says that this recipe will yield 12 muffins, but I ended up with 15. I think it's because I overly worry about getting huge muffin tops that overflows on the muffin tin. 

It's the last Monday in October, so it must be Muffin Monday.

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all our of lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday, can be found on our home page.

Before the recipe, here's what everyone else made:

muffins, pumpkin, raisins, bran
Muffins, breakfast, quick bread
American
Yield: 12 to 15 muffins (I got 15)
Pumpkin Bran Muffins

Pumpkin Raisin Bran Muffins

ingredients


  • 1 can (15 ounces) pumpkin purée
  • 1 cup (2 1/8 ounces) bran flake cereal
  • 1/4 cup (2 ounces) melted unsalted butter
  • 1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces) granulated sugar
  • 2 tablespoons packed (7/8 ounces) brown sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 3/4 cup (6 ounces) buttermilk
  • 1 1/4 cups (5 3/8 ounces) unbleached all purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 cup (5 ounces) raisins
  • Demerara or sparkling sugar for sprinkling

instructions


  1. Combine the pumpkin, bran cereal, butter, and sugars in a large bowl. Add the eggs and buttermilk. 
  2. In another bowl, add the flour, salt, spices, baking soda, and baking powder. Whisk to combine. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until just combined. Add the raisins and stir. 
  3. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for two hours. You can also refrigerate the batter overnight to bake the muffins in the morning. 
  4. Heat the oven to 375 degrees F and grease or  line a muffin tin with paper liners (see note above regarding yield). Divide the batter among the muffin cups, placing a heaping 1/4 cup of batter in each. Sprinkle the tops with the sugar, and bake for 25 to 28 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. 
  5. Cool the muffins in the pan on a wire rack for five minutes, and then remove them from the pan to the rack to finish cooling. 
  6. Store leftovers in a paper towel lined air tight container for up to four days. Alternatively, they can be individually wrapped and frozen. 

This recipe was adapted from King Arthur Flour
Muffin Monday

Would you like to comment?

  1. Love raisin bran muffins. Great idea to add in the pumpkin. YUMMO

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow, a whole can of pumpkin for 12 (or 15) muffins! That's a selling point for me already, Karen. I have many recipes that call for half the can, and then what? I think we all know the drill. I decant it to a plastic container. It gets moved gradually to the back of the fridge. Weeks later it has grown legs but still can't manage to throw itself away alone. Ugh.
    I especially love the idea of a delicious bran muffin. Didn't know there could be such a thing.

    P.S. Tiny brooms! Second giggle of the day.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ha ha. Yes, I hate having that leftover pumpkin puree. I know that drill exactly....

      Delete
  3. Karen,
    Usually I never worry about leftover pumpkin puree because my garden grows so many volunteer pumpkins . . . but this year I've got nothing and will probably rely on a can.
    (Unless I can talk a neighbor, who decorated his retaining wall with about 50 pie pumpkins, to part with a few.)
    Great idea to combine ginger and allspice along with the usual cinnamon for a muffin. They look beautiful.
    All this talk about bran muffins . . . now I have a hankering for my friend Debbie's bran muffins. She brought some to me still warm, with a bit of melted butter in the center, on a morning when I really needed some external support. I'll never forget them. Or her for that matter.
    Thanks for bringing that into my mind!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Awwww. That's such a nice story! Thanks for sharing it with me =)

      Delete
  4. Replies
    1. You'd have to find an egg substitute of some sort. I've never tried it but I've heard ground flax seeds and water might work.

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  5. My toothpick came out perfectly clean after 25 minutes. After cooling in the pan for 5 minutes, I could not remove them because they were too mushy. I left them for another 20 minutes or so and still mushy. Any clue why or what to do if I try again.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't know exactly what happened. Are you using a scale and have you checked your oven temperature? Also, I used paper liners, which might make a difference.

      Delete
  6. Is the cereal used Raisin Bran or the one that looks like “little twigs” for lack of a better description. Thank for the clarification.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Your recipe shows on your website as Pumpkin Bran Cookies, but the browser search brings it up using muffins. Just a bit confusing but you may want to fix it.

    ReplyDelete

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