The year 2007 was an eventful year. It was the year I finished my fourth year thesis film in film school. It was the year I waited tables for the very last time. It was the time I saw a woman jump out of her moving car, leaving her baby in it, to chase George Clooney down the street.
And it was the year I tried a juice cleanse (The Master Cleanse, to be exact), which resulted in 2007 also being the year I almost fainted. To ward off said faint spell, I then proceeded to successfully eat two burritos from Chipotle back-to-back. It was a successful year!
That year taught me a lot of things, the main one being that I’m not a cleanse person. I don’t succeed at doing cleanses. They don’t make me feel “refreshed and energetic and happy.” They make me a crazy ANGRY person. And since I’m what you call an emotional cutter, I’ll turn on the Food Network and ooo and ahhh at all the food–it’s torture. And I like it. Sick.
Instead of going on crazy cleanses, I make bran muffins. That’s my move.
BRAN!
There’s nothing sexy about the word bran, is there? No.
But OMG do I love it. It has a really hearty, earthy and nutty flavor to it. The texture is dreamy.
Have you ever had a bad bran muffin before? When a bran muffin is bad, it’s usually dry and hard as a rock. Paper weight material!
This recipe is the opposite of dry (will not say the m-word!) and it’s as light as can be.
The banana helps oh so much with the hydrated levels in this muffin, and the tender crumb can be attributed to the use of cake flour.
The crunchy walnuts and nutty bran give this muffin some awesome texture.
I’m all about this healthy muffin right here. It’s so legit. It makes me feel all healthy and cute.
I made these, brewed a cup of coffee and then headed out the door to walk Amelia.
Please! Please…whatever you do, don’t try to walk a puppy while holding a cup of coffee. You will burn your hand. You will say bad words out loud. And you might even drop your baked treat in dewy green grass.
SADFACE!
Luckily, if you do this, you’ll have eleven muffins waiting for you when you return. Life is cool.
Ingredients
- 12 tablespoons 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
2/3 cup white granulated sugar
5 medium-size ripe bananas (to make 2 1/4 cups purée)
3 large eggs
2 cups cake flour
1 1/2 cups bran, plus a handful extra for topping
3/4 teaspoons table salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 cup chopped walnuts, plus a handful extra for topping
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Place liners inside the wells of a muffin pan.
Put the butter in large bowl and beat until creamy. Add the sugar and blend well. Stir in the banana purée and eggs, and beat until the batter is light and smooth.
In a medium bowl, add the flour, bran, salt and baking soda to a large bowl and mix until combined. All at once, add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until combined; being sure not to over mix. Next, gently fold in the walnuts. Spoon the batter into muffin pans, almost filling them. Bake 15 to 20 minutes. Serve warm.
!Recipe adapted from Marion Cunningham
will try this tomorrow, so excited but have one Q can i use oat instead of bran? or flour? ‘cuz i don’t have bran and it’s almost 12 a.m here and i want 2 make this for breakfast 🙁
Hmm…I would sub them with oats, but I’d recommend grinding up the oats a bit in a food processor, until it’s a coarse consistency. It should work just not sure how tasty they’ll be. Good luck!
thanx alot, just made it it’s yummy but i feel it needs more sugar maybe because of the bran!!
oops i meant the oats 🙂
Why don’t you have nutritional value?
I need to know what is in it?
Sorry I don’t provide nutritional value for my recipes.
These are big and beautiful muffins! A great recipe. One question about the recipe: my 5 med. bananas mashed up into 1 1/4 cups rather than 2 1/4 as the recipe says. But the batter was still great, didn’t need to add any more wet stuff.
Oh awesome. Hmm…that’s strange. Good to know that it works ok with 1 1/4 cups mashed banana but mine was definitely 2 1/4. :/
Not being able to do a cleanse makes me want to do one that much more. I haven’t heard good things about the Master Cleanse though. Maybe another one would work better?
Love a bran muffin. When I was younger, my mom would make raisin bran muffins semi-frequently.
I’m currently doing the Jason Vale 7 day plan. I’m on day three at the moment, and it’s not too bad. Yesterday was awful, I had so many cravings. I did end up making these muffins for my roommates today, they smelled yum, so it was torture!
I love this!
yum! love the summary of your year. seems like it was fantastic! hope you have another great year! xx. gigi. food and beauty blogger @ http://www.gigikkitchen.blogspot.com
Parece un postre delicioso. Estoy deseando probarlo. Sory but i don’t speak english.
I’m not much of a cleanse person at all (would probably faint within a day) but do digg bran, walnuts and muffins. Great recipe!
Would definitely try this recipe! Love you blog by the way!
Bahhh! I just ate a bran muffin for breakfast today and was seriously thinking “Why haven’t I made anything with bran before…ever?” Thanks for this great recipe. Sorry that sweet puppy caused you to burn your hand!!!
Woman, bran is a good word. 🙂 Anything with bran, bananas and walnuts are as healthy as cleanses. No fear.
I think clenses make everyone angry. Food = happy. 🙂 Bran is amazing. I love a good bran muffin and I also hate the “m word”.
Love these!!
I always loved reading your blog but somehow missed the part where you went to film school…I’m in film school right now, it’s nice to see someone who’s come out the other side alive haha!
Oh yea! I’m on the other side living well. Have fun! I loved that time of my life.