Bran Muffins

Homemade bran muffin on the left, muffin from Fiber One mix on the right

Homemade bran muffin on the left, muffin from Fiber One mix on the right

Bran muffins have long been a breakfast favorite at our house.  There was a time during my pregnancy when I basically lived off of them and my 15 month old can now consume 2 of them for breakfast.  They are a quick, tasty, healthy breakfast alternative that can be ready in about 30 minutes and reheated for days afterward.  I have tried a few bran muffin recipes but finally settled on the recipe from one of my favorite cookbooks, The Better Homes and Gardens 75th Anniversary Cookbook. This recipe, made with applesauce and honey in place of sugar, is full of fiber, cholesterol free and low in sugar, but also not chewy or dry like other recipes I’ve tried. On a recent shopping trip, I went down the baking aisle to buy wheat bran and noticed a new line of bran muffin mixes by Fiber One.  Could these mixes live up to my favorite homemade recipe?
I added the apple cinnamon variety of Fiber One muffin mix to my cart and decided to experiment.  I added a little cinnamon to my usual bran muffin recipe, made it with wheat bran in place of oat bran, and here is the resulting recipe:

Apple Cinnamon Bran Muffins

Makes 12

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups wheat bran

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3/4 cup apple sauce

1/4 cup honey

1 large egg

1/2 cup fat free milk

1 Tablespoon canola oil

1.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Line 12 medium muffin cups with liners, or spray with cooking spray.  In a medium bowl, combine the wheat bran, flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon, mixing well.

2.  In a small bowl, whisk together the applesauce, honey, egg, milk and oil.  Pour the applesauce mixture into the flour and stir until just combined, batter will still be lumpy.

3.  Divide batter evenly among 12 muffin cups, filling them about 2/3 full.  Place in the preheated oven and bake for about 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

The boxed mix and homemade recipe were surprisingly close in the time they took to make.  The boxed mix took me almost exactly 30 minutes to make, including five minutes to cool in the pan, while the homemade recipe was closer to 35 minutes. The homemade recipe did win out on price, however.  It cost about half of the price of the mix once you add in the egg and oil that need to be added to the mix before baking.  After baking up two batches of muffins, three of us sat down with warm muffins, butter, and a fresh pot of tea and started tasting.  I was the only taster who knew which muffins were from a mix and which were homemade and the results surprised me.  We all three preferred the flavor of the boxed mix!  It was more moist, sweeter, and had a better cinnamon flavor than the homemade.  The only downside we noticed was the presence of  small half-hydrated pieces of apple in the mix that didn’t quite get soft enough.  When tasted next to the muffins from a mix, the homemade muffins tasted bland and a bit dry.  I was also surprised, when I later compared the nutrition facts from the recipe to those on the mix box, that the mix muffins had over twice the amount of fiber as homemade, although they also had significantly more sugar.  I will definitely be buying the Fiber One muffin mixes again;  I can’t wait to try the other varieties!

Bottom Line: If you want to avoid sugar completely and don’t mind a less sweet muffin, the homemade recipe above is a healthy, fast breakfast option.  However, if you need a little more sugar to help the bran muffin go down, the Fiber One muffin mixes are very moist and tasty, and have a lot of fiber,  but they are also more expensive.

Fiber One Apple Cinnamon Bran Muffin Mix Homemade Apple Cinnamon Bran Muffins
Cost: $3.77 Cost: $1.66
Time: 30 minutes Time: 35 minutes