Mennonite Girls Can Cook is a collection of recipes which were posted daily for a period of ten years from 2008 to 2018. We have over 3,000 delicious recipes that we invite you to try. The recipes can be accessed in our recipe file by category or you can use the search engine.

Recipe Search

Refrigerator Bran Muffins

Put up your hand if you have never made these. The new cooks on the block may very well have their hands up now, but if you were baking in the early 80's you most likely have had a well-worn recipe card with a similar recipe to this one.

I've made a few changes to the muffin recipe.  I thought it was very healthy back then but my sense of healthy food has changed a bit. These muffins are perfect for school lunches.  My boys took many of these to school.

Bran Muffins

  • 2 cups boiling water mixed with. . .
  • 2 cups All Bran Cereal .. .and let stand
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 1 cup canola oil. . or other light oil
  • 4 beaten eggs
  • 3/4 cup molasses
  • 1 quart /1 litre buttermilk
  • 1 navel orange including peel 
  • 3 cups fresh raisins
  • 1 cup wheat germ
  • 2 1/2 cups of white flour
  • 2 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour
  • 4 cups natural bran
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 3 teaspoons baking soda
  • 3 teaspoons baking powder
  1. In a medium sized bowl, pour your boiling water over the All Bran and let cool. .. for a bit.
  2. Cream together the oil, sugar,  molasses and the eggs in a very large bowl.
  3. In a blender put your chopped orange, and half of the buttermilk, and puree well.
  4. Add the rest of the buttermilk and the orange mixture into the All Bran mixture.
  5. Mix together all the dry ingredients in another large bowl.
  6. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until just combined.
Now, you can put it into a more appropriate size or two smaller sized containers, cover and keep refrigerated.
This muffin mix keeps for 6 weeks. You only need to make what you can eat in a day.
Bake at 400 for 20 minutes.

30 comments:

  1. WE love these muffins and I really like your changes.

    It's been years since I've made them and we eat far less carbs now, so I don't think we could use all that batter. Other than giving half the batter to a friend (which isn't a bad idea!) do you think I could freeze it and get a way with that?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Those muffins look fantastic! Bran muffins are so yummy!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yep--my hand wasn't up! That was so cute.

    I used to make them with Raisin Bran cereal. I figured out a little trick with them. After you bake and devour the first batch and realize that you will gain 20 pounds from 4 pounds of batter, simply freeze the batter. I put muffin liners in my pans, fill with batter and put in the freezer for a couple of hours. Then pop the individual muffins out and put them in freezer bags. You can pull out and bake as many as you need. Bakes from frozen--be sure to put them back in the baking tins before baking or you'll have an oven to clean!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That is brilliant! How long do you bake them from frozen?

      Delete
  4. elizabeth .. thank you for that great tip. . you answered Kim's question.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I remember these!

    And I want to make them again - thanks for the recipe and the healthy update Lovella.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Replies
    1. I like the updates & the freezer tip--my grandkids love these.......

      Delete
  7. Lovella..I have this recipe too, 'everyone' used to make these. And a good recipe it is!
    About those 'old hard nuggets'(raisins..hehe)..if that is all I happen to have I soak them in hot water for a few min and they become nice and soft.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I remember them well...my recipe is on a gold card...tattered and stained. I haven't made them in years...but now you have me craving them! And what a good idea to pop some into the freezer for later...thanks Elizabeth.

    ReplyDelete
  9. My recipe is very similar. Instead of raisins I put in some chopped dates...Yummmm.
    A friend of mine used to spruce up her bran muffins if she knew someone was visiting by throwing in some blueberries or even chocolate chips (though she didn't have an orange in her recipe).

    elizabeth - great freezer tip!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I'm one of the "everyone has this one" and it IS good one! I like the changes you've made too! Mine doesn't have an orange, molasses nor the wheat germ. I've 1/4'd the recipe now to make just one batch, but years ago I took the whole recipe (in an ice cream pail) to go camping, and baked up storm there. (I have a funny story, but I have to remember,this IS a food blog)=)

    ReplyDelete
  11. i love the flavor of orange in the muffins, it just makes plan bran something special. i used to make these alot, time to revisit that recipe and odd the whole orange and not just the rind. thanks for all the other great freezing tips that is great to share all these little tidbits of kitchen wisdom=}

    ReplyDelete
  12. I have made these for years too. I sometimes substitute finely chopped dates (soaked in a wee bit of boiling water to make them slightly 'pasty'). You can easily add afew frozen blueberries just before you bake the desired amount of muffins for the day. I have never frozen the batter but will try that new tip. My daughter put a bucket of this batter in her fridge last week to have on hand for after the baby was born. Clever! Kathy

    ReplyDelete
  13. These are definitely going to show up at our house. I linked this blog over to mine. I enjoy this blog. Mennonite girls are my favorites. I have no choice - I am Mennonite and I have seven older sisters, three daughters, and my wife. I cherish them all.

    ReplyDelete
  14. What a beautiful and wonderful blog you've got.... very useful too! I can now come here whenever I need a recipe... THANK YOU!

    Cielo

    ReplyDelete
  15. Lovella...these are terrific. Yep...I have made these too....but not of late and I must freeze some up. Never had an orange in my batch so that looks like a good enough reason to make a batch this weekend to try it out. Yum

    ReplyDelete
  16. heading to the kitchen, thanks for the recipe. I will use 1/2c apple sauce, and 1/2 c oil to cut down on the fat. Happy Thanksgiving!
    Aonja

    ReplyDelete
  17. I know this is an old post but just wanted to say thank you for the recipe! I was just explaining to my Taiwanese coworker about the ice cream pail of bran muffin mix my mom used to keep in the fridge when we were kids. Given that I'm pretty suggestible with food, I had to come see if you had a recipe and you do! I'll be mixing up a batch tonight after work. Thanks!
    And the suggestion to freeze some batter in muffin tins is great!

    ReplyDelete
  18. I was just wondering at what point do I add the molasses?

    ReplyDelete
  19. Molasses usually is mixed in with sugar, oil and eggs.

    I was short about 1 cup of natural bran and added a cup of ground flax. Worked well, but some may find the flax adds a strong flavour.

    ReplyDelete
  20. I see that since I printed this recipe, you have indicated when to mix in the molasses, which was going to be one of my comments.... for those who did not take 'home ec' and may not be familiar with 'the muffin method' (drilled into us!), I think you could clarify by instructing to have all the 'wet ingredients' mixed together (i.e., mixing the orange-buttermilk-allbran together with the egg-sugar-molasses-oil mixture).
    I really love the recipe, made it again today but did not have an orange to add. The very first time I madee up a batch, I got 2 dozen into the oven, and then the power went out (for four days!) at about the 12-minute mark. I have discovered that, in my oven, this is the key... so now I go to turn off the oven and let the muffins finish baking! (((((Big hugs))))), Brenda

    ReplyDelete
  21. Prairie girl in OntarioApril 15, 2014 at 8:21 AM

    Another suggestion for all that batter is what I used to do for my kids as an after school snack. Just lightly butter a custard cup, fill it no more than half full of batter, and cook in the microwave for anywhere between 1 to 2 minutes, depending upon your oven. It is done when it begins to pull away from the side of the custard cup. It will be hot, so be very careful. As well, it will not be browned like a traditional muffin, but will be like a sponge cake texture, or what folks now refer to as "mug cakes.". If it is slightly wet on top, that is fine. Let it stand for a few minutes to cool and pop out onto a plate. My kids called it "bran cake" and my husband would make one and put it into a cereal bowl with milk to eat as a desert. The microwave method allows individual muffins, and you don't waste oven energy just to bake up a few muffins. Now, the next generation (grandkids) also love to eat this special treat and are none the wiser for having eaten something more healthy!

    ReplyDelete
  22. A year since the last comment on these muffins and I have to add my raving compliments on this recipe. My director and I have been sharing the batter for each batch we make for almost 4 months now and we can't go a work day without having our tea/coffee and muffin to start the day. We mix it up every time, sometimes using dates, sometimes raisins, sometimes pumpkin seeds, always pecans - we like them chunky. They work better in our ovens baking at 350F for about 25 minutes (we make them large!) Our office joke is who has buttermilk and an orange in the fridge. If one of us does, we start another batch. LOVE THEM!!

    ReplyDelete
  23. I can not find natural bran anywhere

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Teresa, by natural bran I mean wheat bran that is not part of a prepared cereal like All Bran. It is usually found by the oatmeal.

      Delete
    2. Some stores have it in the baking aisle. Quaker wheat bran comes in a box with a picture of a Bran muffin on it. It's natural bran for baking.

      Delete
  24. Has anyone tried this with gluten free flours - I know the bran isn't but I can tolerate some gluten/grain/wheat - but I thought about replacing just the flours and that might help- because my favorite muffin of all time are bran muffins! Yum! I'd love to try this!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If you mean the 5 cups white/brown flour .. you could substitute 4 cups of an all purpose gluten-free flour and 1 cup flaxseed meal. hope that helps ! julie (MGCC)

      Delete
  25. I halved the recipe, left out wheat germ substituting more bran, dropped the sugar a bit and pumped up the molasses.

    Superb. I think it's the Orange that makes it. And oh yes, I used one whole organge not 1/2, because I used yogurt, and expected the extra juice from 1/2 more orange in my halved recipe would add the liquid missing from no buttermilk.

    Schmecks!

    Even halving the recipe I still have more batter than one person ever would need, so guess what my knitting group is getting this week?

    Great recipe and gift idea Lovella.

    Sharon

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.