These healthyish muffins are made with so many good for you ingredients that you can almost have them guilt-free.  Yes, that’s right, these muffins are healthy enough that they will have you wanting more than one.

About the recipe

The best part of this recipe is not only are they healthy, the recipe is easy to make too. You don’t even need a mixer! Just whisk the wet ingredients, then sift the dry ingredients, combine the two and bake. In Chef Ina Garten’s own words “How easy is that?” Blueberry bran muffins on Barefootcontessa.com

Deliciously good muffins with good for you Ingredients

I must admit most of Ina’s recipes don’t come under healthy, but these muffins on the other hand are healthy AND delicious.  What I loved about this recipe are the wholesome ingredients in it – made with honey, cinnamon, berries, Greek yogurt, and predominantly whole grains such as bran, oats and even super seeds like chia seeds, flax seeds and pumpkin seeds (the seeds are my additions), these are awesome muffins.

What is bran?

Let me start off by mentioning that as much as I wanted to make this recipe just the way it was presented I had to improvise. For one I didn’t have bran – and this recipe requires over 2 cups of wheat bran.  So I looked up what bran is, it’s the brown outer layer of a cereal such as oats, wheat, rice, millet and rye.  What makes bran so healthy is that it is very rich in dietary fiber and a good source of essential fatty acids, minerals, and vitamins.  Basically bran is good for you.

How to substitute bran in these muffins

When I looked up what I could substitute bran for, I discovered that one can easily substitute bran with oats, oat bran, and even seeds such as flax seeds, chia seeds and pumpkin seeds, because all these have the same texture and health benefits as bran. 

As I mentioned there are over 2 cups of bran in these muffins so you have a lot of leeway to experiment.  So go ahead and improvise and play around with alternatives to bran if you need to. 

For my muffins I substituted with 1 1/2 cups old fashioned oats plus 1 cup mixture of flax seeds, chia seeds, hemp seeds and coconut.  Here is a photo of the superseed blend that I keep in my pantry all ready to go.

Awesome muffins to start your day

For a wonderfully healthy and delicious treat to have with your morning coffee give these muffins a try.  Or serve them with jam and butter and a warm cup of tea for a wonderful afternoon treat.

Blueberry Raspberry Bran Muffins
Blueberry Raspberry Bran Muffins on Barefootcontessa.com

Ingredients:

• ½ cup vegetable oil, plus extra for greasing the pan
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 7 ounces Greek yogurt
• ½ cup sugar
• ½ cup honey
• 2 extra-large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2½ cups wheat bran  – don’t have wheat bran?  Try this blend – 1 1/2 cups old fashioned oats plus 1 cup mixture of flax seeds, chia seeds, and pumpkin seeds.
• 1½ cups fresh blueberries (8 ounces) – I used a combination of blueberries and raspberries.

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Brush the top of a muffin pan with vegetable oil and line it with 12 paper liners.

Stir together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon in a medium bowl.

In a large bowl, whisk together the yogurt, sugar, ½ cup vegetable oil, honey, eggs, and vanilla until combined.

Add the dry ingredients, stirring just until combined. Gently stir in the wheat bran and blueberries until combined.

Scoop the batter into the muffin cups with a rounded 2¼-inch ice cream scoop. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the tops are golden brown and a cake tester comes out clean.

Allow to cool for 5 minutes and serve warm or at room temperature.