Apple Cinnamon Bran Muffins Recipe

Back in my university days, I did a co-op term in Ottawa. It was my first time living away from home for an extended period. During this time, I learned how to cook simple meals for one. But making breakfast is not easy for me as I’d prefer to get sleep more instead. So my coworker shared with me this apple cinnamon bran muffins recipe for a grab-and-go breakfast. At first, I was a bit skeptical because I hated bran cereal. In my mind, I had imagined these would be dry and taste like cardboard. However, I ended up loving these muffins! They were moist, with chunks of apples and cinnamony flavours. Even the picky Mr. Chau likes them for breakfast or snack! This recipe is definitely a keeper so I hope you’d give it a try too.

Making Apple Cinnamon Bran Muffins

Chances are you already have most of the ingredients to make this muffin. The only one that you might not have is the natural bran. If you’ve never seen them before, they look like fine wood shavings. You might be able to find them in the cereal or baking aisle at your local supermarket. I get my wheat bran in the bulk section of my grocery store or at Bulk Barn.

I generally use whatever apples I can find for this recipe. Some of the more common ones are Gala and Fuji. My favourite kind is the Honeycrisp Apple but I’d rather eat that raw. 🙂

The original apple cinnamon bran muffins recipe does not have the crumble topping. However, I had some extra crumble topping one time and added it to my muffin. Ding ding! It worked and I quite enjoyed the crispy texture with the moist muffin. The crumble topping is optional. Skipping this would not affect the taste of the muffins.

Print Recipe

Apple Cinnamon Bran Muffins Recipe

These bran muffins are moist, with chunk apples and cinnamony flavours. Perfect for breakfast or afternoon snack!

Course: Breakfast, Snack

Keyword: apple, muffins

Servings: 12 muffins

Author: Jan Chan

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup natural bran
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1.5 cup all purpose flour
• 1.5 tsp baking powder
• 1.5 tsp cinnamon
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 1.5 cups apples, peeled & chopped
• 1/2 cups walnuts, chopped or dried cranberries/raisins optional

Ingredients for Crumble Topping (optional):

• 1.5 tsp flour
• 2 tsp rolled oats
• 2.5 tsp brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1.5 tsp butter, melted

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 425F. Line muffin tray with paper liners.
• In a large bowl, combine bran and milk; let rest for 5 minutes.
• In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, baking soda and nutmeg.
• Stir brown sugar, oil and egg into the bran mixture. Stir in the dry ingredients until just combined. Add in the chopped apples and mix until combined. Add in walnuts, cranberries or raisins if using and stir to combine.
• Spoon batter into paper-lined muffin tray. If you are using the topping, mix the everything together and sprinkle the crumble topping on top of the muffin batter.
• Put the filled muffin tray into the oven and immediately turn the temperature down to 400F. Bake for ~18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean or with only a little bit of dry crumbs.
• Let muffin rest in the tray for about 5 minutes then take it out and let cool completely on a wire rack. Best served warm.