Perfect for snacking and/or a breakfast on-the-go, these moist pumpkin bran muffins are full of fiber and have a nice, warm spice to them. They’re not a particularly sweet muffin because the only sugar comes from honey and molasses – so no white sugar! To make these even healthier, in place of all-purpose flour, I used white whole wheat flour. A sprinkling of bran atop the muffins prior to baking makes them look healthy, too. I won’t deny that I’d much rather have a streusel topping, though. The goal here, however, was to make a hearty, nutritious muffin for quick breakfasts…and that was accomplished with these fiber-rich treats.
As with quick breads, muffin batter should never be overmixed – or else you’ll have tough, heavy mounds to throw at your enemies.
Pumpkin Bran Muffins
(adapted from GreenLiteBites)
- 1 ½ cups white whole wheat flour (180g)
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground ginger
- ½ tsp ground cloves
- ½ tsp all spice
- 1 tsp nutmeg
- 1 15oz can of pumpkin
- ¼ cup molasses (84 g)
- 2 tbsp honey (42g)
- 1 egg
- 2 egg whites
- ¼ cup unsweetened applesauce
- ½ cup non-fat unflavored yogurt (I used Greek)
- ¾ cup Oat Bran (45g)
- Non-stick cooking spray
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Double-sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, allspice and nutmeg. Set aside.
In a large bowl, add the pumpkin, molasses, honey, egg, egg whites, applesauce and yogurt. Beat until all ingredients are mixed well.
Pour the flour mixture and oat bran into the pumpkin mixture. Combine until just moistened. Do NOT overmix!
Line muffin tins with papers. Evenly distribute the batter into the muffin cups. Sprinkle with bran and bake for about 20 minutes. (Yield: approx. 18)
Tomorrow is my 26th birthday, and I will be serving my family a homemade dessert of honey-lavender profiteroles and plain cream puffs filled with vanilla pastry cream. I’m using Julia Child’s recipe for Pate a Choux with a lusciously floral ice cream that I made last night using our new KitchenAid ice cream maker bowl; I also prepared the pastry cream to pipe into the shells. I’m very much looking forward to my first attempt at Pate a Choux and will report the results soon.
Rants, Raves, and Rations 