Raisin Bran Muffins

These Raisin Bran Muffins are made with raisin bran cereal, and studded with blueberries (or cranberries).

Raisin Bran Muffins

Recipe by Make It Like a Man!Course: Breakfast
Makes

6

standard-size muffins

Note that this recipe produces six muffins, not twelve.

Ingredients

  • 90g (1½ cups) raisin bran cereal

  • 185g (3/4 cup) milk

  • 65g (1/2 cup) all-purpose flour

  • 72g (1/2 cup) whole-wheat flour

  • 2 tsp baking powder

  • 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

  • 1/4 tsp salt

  • 58g (1/4 cup) dark-brown sugar

  • 55g (1/4 cup) virgin coconut oil, melted but not hot

  • 51-56g (1 large) egg

  • 35g (2 Tbs) molasses (optional)

  • 1 cup blueberries (optional)

  • Butter, for service (optional)

Directions

  • Place a standard, 6-cup silicone muffin tin on a cookie sheet (for stability). Preheat oven to 400°F. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine cereal and milk; let stand until softened, about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, in small bowl, whisk together flours, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. In another small bowl, whisk together sugar, oil, egg, (and molasses).
  • Stir oil mixture into cereal mixture. Fold in flour mixture. (Fold in blueberries.) Divide batter among cups. Bake until a tester comes out clean, 20 to 26 minutes. Cool in tin until they no longer feel delicate, 5 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack; let cool completely, or serve warm (with butter).

Notes

  • Substitute vegetable oil for the coconut oil.
  • Substitute cranberries, or a peeled, cored, and diced Gala apple for the blueberries.
  • Instead of silicone, you can lightly oil a 6-cup standard muffin tin, or use paper liners.
"Raisin Bran Muffins," from Make It Like a Man!

These muffins are delicious, enjoyable, and satisfying. The bran is mild and makes a lovely backdrop for additions like cranberries. The taste of the coconut oil comes through as an aftertaste, and lingers a while. (Remember that only virgin coconut oil tastes like coconut.) They have a light texture with the most delicate crunch on the exterior giving, way to a very airy interior that becomes creamy as you eat it.

Social Learning

The muffins are delicious when they have just a trace of comfortable warmth to them. I recommend slathering them with butter in that case; they’re at their best that way.

Once you’ve stored the completely-cooled muffins in an airtight container, they’ll loose that delicate crunch; no big deal, though: they’ll still taste great and maintain a beautiful texture for at least two days. After that, you’ll encounter a more noticeable degradation in quality. They remain moist, but that “creamy” quality loses its gracefulness. It can be restored by splitting and toasting them.

Since it’s easy to fit a six-cup tin into a toaster oven, this muffin recipe is perfect for that. Because I like to use my toaster oven, especially in summer when I don’t want to heat up the kitchen, I replaced my twelve-cup tins with six-cup tins. When I need to make a dozen muffins in my standard oven, it’s just about as easy to use two six-cup tins as it is to use a single 12-cup tin. In addition to that, six muffins seems like a reasonable yeild for a small family like mine.

Six isn’t the only number for these muffins. As an option, you might stretch the batter out between nine muffin cups. You’ll get muffins that just barely crest over the tin. They’ll be just tall enough that if you slice them in half horizontally, they’ll fit in a wide-mouth toaster. I also have this weird – but mild – aversion to muffin tops. Yup, I’m that guy. In fact, I cannot believe just how much “that guy” I’ve become over the years. And now here I am, dissing muffin tops! What the hell? So much so, that I’m willing to stretch the batter further, to twelve. You’ll get muffins so short that they will not produce muffin tops at all – they’ll look like little pucks, in fact – but they’ll be completely delicious and incredibly easy to pack in a lunch or take on the go.

The Backstory

I have a bran muffin recipe that I love, but when I was doing research for it, I stumbled onto versions that use raisin bran cereal. I’ve been eager to try my hand at something like that. You can make about three batches of muffins from a regular-sized box of cereal, although cereal boxes seem to be getting thinner and thinner by the hour. Do they think we don’t notice?

Adult Lunchbox

If you want to take a muffin to work, search around for a cylindrical storage container that will accomodate a jumbo-sized muffin easily … maybe something around 3.5″ tall with a 4.5″ diameter. Then you’re prepared for every muffin scenario. If you feel a small muffin might get knocked about too much in the container, pad it with crumpled wax paper.

"Raisin Bran Muffins," from Make It Like a Man!
Raisin Bran Muffins

Credit for images on this page: Make It Like a Man! unless otherwise credited. This content was not solicited by anyone, nor was it written in exchange for anything. Thank you, Kesor. References: Martha Stewart, Pinch of Yum, Taste of Home, Whole Foods. Make It Like a Man! is ranked by Feedspot as #14 in the Top 30 Men’s Cooking Blogs.

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50 thoughts on “Raisin Bran Muffins

  1. I used to make bran muffins – and your post made me realize how much I miss them. I’m going to get some Raisin Bran and try these. I need a mid morning snack…

  2. These look delicious. And they brought to mind the Tastykake company’s oatmeal raisin bars. I ate hundreds of them earlier in my life. Tastykake no longer makes them.

    • Neither would I, but I stumbled onto recipes like this when researching how to make a good bran muffin.

  3. Bonjour .
    Des très jolie gâteaux aux raisin des petit gâteaux bine appétissant .
    Je te souhaite un bon mardi et une bonne semaine .

  4. This post reminds me of that kid’s book “If you give a moose a muffin”. It’s a great book, by the way! I wonder what would happen if you gave a moose one of these muffins? Should we find out? All jokes aside, I’ve always been intrigued by baking with cereal. This looks like a great way to start! (And yes cereal boxes keep getting smaller and smaller…AND more and more expensive.

    • I’ve never heard of that book. What happens when you give a moose a muffin? I feel like I need to know. Anyway, the cereal makes perfect sense, since it pretty much dissolves in milk (after a while) and contains everything from bran to raisins. I do like the result, but I also like the more from-scratchy-scratch version that I made earlier.

  5. Is there any other way to eat them other than slathered in butter. YUM! I love that these can fit and be made in the toaster oven.

  6. This was a blast from the past! I remember when bran muffins were the rage. I enjoy a good bran muffin, and with a good cup of coffee, even better. Your recipe is really good and it’s versatile.

    We definitely notice the cereal boxes getting thinner and thinner.

    Velva

    • Oh, thank you, Velva. I love bran muffins, too! I also have this recipe. It’s not fully traditional, but it’s quite good … better in many ways.

  7. These raisin bran muffins look delicious Jeff! I love that raisin bran cereal is an ingredient. I also love the idea to bake these in the toaster oven. What a great way to bake and keep the house cool during the summer!

  8. Delicious looking raisin bran muffins Jeff! I make Bran scones here in Scotland, but have never tried bran muffins before. Looking forward to giving them a go!

  9. Huh. Never thought to use cereal in muffins, but I like the idea! Adding Raisin Bran to my grocery list asap.

  10. What? You don’t like muffin tops? Who are you? Just kidding, of course. Coincidentally, I just spotted a muffin top pan! Go figure!
    I have been craving bran muffins for ages but have REFUSED to succumb because cereal is exorbitantly priced! Bran buds on my last price check was about $9 for a box! They can have it for that price. But I’ve never bought raisin bran cereal so I’ll check the price next time at the store. Fingers crossed we will have bran muffins again!

    • I agree with you: overpriced. Also, it’s hard to find a cereal that isn’t more-or-less a sugar bomb. So I avoid them for breakfast. But back in the day, when I used to eat a lot of boxed cereal, raisin bran was one of my favorites. But yeah, I don’t care for muffin tops! I can’t say why. I just prefer a muffin without one.

  11. raisin bran cereal? Mm i’m trying to think if we have that here. Probably do. Yes I’m sure we do. I like to make a bran loaf with All-Bran cereal. So good for your innards 🙂

  12. Oh yum, I love this recipe and I can’t wait to try it! Will be such a great make-ahead breakfast for us!! Yes, cereal boxes have been getting smaller, we’ve noticed!!

  13. I was hoping when I read the title that these actually included the cereal. Yay! I love the way bits of sugar cling to the crevices in the raisins in the cereal, and I imagine they’re amazing in the muffins, too.
    I’ll be making these very soon. 🙂 ~Valentina
    P.S. And what’s worse than the skinnier box, is that it’s only 1/2 to 3/4 full. Shrinkflation. 🙁

    • If you do make them, I’d love to know your thoughts. Thanks!

  14. We love muffins and I LOVE raisin bran. I’ll be buying a box in a jiffy for this recipe!

  15. Wow!!! Jeff,
    These are going to be my go-to Raisin Bran muffins!! They are delicious and I love that I could make substitution’s the Coconut Oil.I used Almond beverage & used half the amount of sugar!!

    Thanks again Jeff
    Heather

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