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Favorite Bran Muffins

Adapted from Cook’s Illustrated September 1993, this recipe gives you dark, moist, flavorful bakery style muffins.
Course Breakfast
Cuisine American
Keyword Bran Muffins
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
Servings 20
Author Anna
Cost 5

Ingredients

  • 2 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour plus 2 tablespoons (350 grams)
  • 4 ½ teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • ⅛ teaspoon salt
  • ¾ cup vegetable oil
  • 2 tablespoons honey (40 grams)
  • ¼ cup molasses
  • 1 cup light brown sugar plus 2 tablespoons (230 grams)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ¾ teaspoon maple extract
  • 1 ½ teaspoons butter extract optional
  • 3 large eggs lightly beaten
  • 2 cups buttermilk
  • 1 cup wheat germ
  • 1 cup wheat bran, unprocessed type (not the cereal)
  • ½ cup whole dates, plumped in water, drained and chopped
  • 1 cup dark raisins plumped with scaling water (optional)

Instructions

  • Whisk first five ingredients together in a bowl; set aside.
  • In a large bowl, whisk next 7 ingredients together. Whisk in eggs, followed by the buttermilk, wheat germ, and bran. Let batter rest 10 minutes.
  • Whisk flour mixture into egg mixture with a heavy duty scraper or rubber spatula, making sure that ingredients at the bottom are incorporated into the batter. Fold in raisins and dates.
  • Cover bowl with plastic wrap and chill overnight (or for a minimum of 1 hour).
  • Preheat oven 400 degrees. Line 2 12-cup muffin tins with paper liners – you’ll probably only need 20 out of the full 24.
  • Spoon batter into muffin tins filling to the top. Put a little water in the 4 empty cups
  • Bake muffins for about 15 to 20 minutes at 400 degrees F. Stick a skewer in one muffin to see if it's cooked through, and if not, reduce oven heat to 350 and bake for another 10 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. In addition, make sure the tops aren't browning too quickly. If tops are browning, lay a piece of foil loosely over the top and reduce heat to 350 as directed.
  • Let muffins cool for about 5 minutes before removing from pans

Notes

This recipe makes 18 jumbo muffins. For jumbo muffins, bake at 400 for 5 minutes, then reduce heat to 375 and bake for about 15 minutes more.