The Best, Healthy All Bran Muffins with Chocolate Chips

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I know what may be going through your mind, healthy all-bran muffins…yay? However, even as a child I loved these all-bran muffins that my mom would make for us. They were filled with sweet mini chocolate chips, and I had no idea how healthy they were. Now with a toddler at home who basically only wants bread, these have been life savers. This wonderful recipe has no butter and is light on the sugar. But what is better than what it doesn’t have is what it does have: bran, oats, and whole wheat flour as good sources of fiber, almond butter for protein and chocolate chips to make your children fight over them. Adapted from an All Bran cereal box years ago, these healthy all bran muffins are a tried-and-true recipe and I’m sure your family will enjoy them as much as mine. 

What makes the muffins so good for you?

• Fiber: This recipe is so packed with dietary fiber. Between the All Bran cereal, the oats, and the whole wheat flour, this muffin is full of belly benefiting fiber! We all need more of that.
• Rolled Oats: Oats are high in antioxidants called avenanthramides, not found in other cereal grains. These antioxidants reduce inflammation and relax arteries, improving heart health. The soluble fiber in certain oats can keep blood sugar from rising after a meal. The best part about these muffins is that we are combining the unique benefits of two different whole grain ingredients that provide such great benefits.
• Almond Butter: Not only is almond butter a great source of protein, it also serves as the fat in our recipe. This means no need for butter of vegetable oil. 
• Dark Chocolate: Dark chocolate contains antioxidants and minerals that may help protect you from heart disease. But more importantly, it makes these muffins feel like a decadent snack rather than the healthy muffin that they are!

Tools to make baking easier

• A kitchen scale: This recipe has so many different ingredients and can use a lot of measuring cups. However, if you are someone who weighs their ingredients, it makes this recipe so easy, and much less messy. 

• Dutch Whisk: If you have heard of this, but didn’t know what it was for, this is it. It is the best way to mix baked goods when you are trying to minimize gluten development. Works great for pancakes, brownies, muffins and more!

• Thermopen: I will never not recommend the Thermapen. Every baked good has a proper internal temperature. No more guess work on your muffins, biscuits, bread or anything.

• Mini muffin pans: When you have kids, sometimes making “mini” versions of something is just a little more exciting. Here is a great mini muffin pan to add a little excitement to your child’s breakfast. Remember if you make your muffins mini muffins the bake time will be shorter. I would check your muffins at around 8 min. Luckily, if you have a Thermapen you just have to check the internal temperature to know:)
• Paper Liner Tulips: For a more sophisticated muffin that looks like it came from your local bakery, try using these tulip paper liners. They just elevate any cupcake or muffin.

​Alternative ingredients:

If you don’t have almond butter, which was actually the case the day I made these, you can substitute with peanut butter, or even crunchy peanut butter. Although we use white sugar in our recipe, light brown sugar could be used as well. 

I use whole wheat flour, but all-purpose flour would be fine too.

To make this recipe dairy free, you could substitute the milk with any milk alternative: almond milk, coconut milk, or oat milk. 

Baking Tips

Baking is a skill that anyone can master, but that doesn’t mean that all it takes is adding ingredients to a bowl and mixing. Each different bake requires a certain technique, from brownies, to cakes, to bread, to cookies and pastry. Once you learn the technique behind each of these items, the world of baking if full of possibilities for you. Understanding the science behind baking is not essential to baking something delicious. However, I think it just makes baking fun! Understanding gluten and its role in baking is the beginning of a solid foundation of baking knowledge.

• What is gluten? All flours that come from wheat–all-purpose flour, bread flour, cake flour–contain proteins which, when mixed with a liquid like water or milk, form what we know as gluten. Gluten then forms the network of elastic bands that create structure and allow bread to rise and things like focaccia and bagels to be chewy.
• When do we want to develop a lot of gluten? When we’re making baked goods like focaccia bread that we want to be nice and chewy, or when we are baking artisan breads like baguettes, and we want a lot of structure to allow for a good rise in the dough.
• How do we develop a lot of gluten? First, use a flour that contains more protein, like bread flour. More protein, more gluten potential. Second, gluten development is enhanced by manipulation like stirring, kneading, or mixing. That’s why we knead yeast breads until they are smooth and elastic. It’s that elasticity that gives us the structure we need to support a high rise in a loaf of bread.
• When do we NOT want to develop a lot of gluten? MUFFINS and other quick breads, like banana bread or zucchini bread, pie crust, and biscuits. No one wants chewy muffins or biscuits, or tough pie crusts; and too much gluten development will give you just that. Instead, we want our muffins, biscuits and pie crusts to be nice and tender, so this is when we want to minimize the development of gluten.
• How do we minimize gluten development? For quick breads, namely muffins, all-purpose flour or whole wheat flour for this particular recipe is better because protein content is lower than bread flour. Less protein, less gluten. In addition, you want to manipulate the batter as little as possible once you add your liquid. In this muffin recipe, you can accomplish this by folding in the dry ingredients just until you don’t see any dry flour and stop! Avoid overmixing! Mixing by hand, rather than using a mixer will help to prevent too much gluten development.

The Muffin Technique

For this muffin recipe, the bran and oats are presoaked in the milk to soften them a bit before baking. After they’re soaked for a couple minutes, you whisk in the almond butter, the egg, and the mashed banana. It’s important to mix these wet ingredients well before adding the dry ingredients because we want to minimize stirring once we add the flour. Remember, this is how we minimize gluten development and avoid tough heavy muffins.

Next, add the dry ingredients and stir until you still have some visible flour. At this point, add the chocolate chips and fold in just until incorporated.

Whisking in the almond butter, bananas, and eggs works to break up the almond butter for easier mixing later when we add the dry ingredients.

Storing your muffins

These muffins remain fresh up to 3 to 4 days in an airtight container on the counter. They stay nice and moist, but make sure you keep them covered. 

They also freeze very well. You can freeze them in an airtight, freezer-safe container and get your frozen muffins out the night before the morning you want to have your healthy muffins for breakfast.

The Best, Healthy All Bran Muffins with Chocolate Chips

Surprise your family and friends with some fresh muffins that they will never even guess are so healthy! With simple ingredients you get the best bran muffin that pairs great with some fresh fruit and a glass of orange juice. It is the best way to sneak in some fiber and score some points with those around you. Next time you are looking for a new breakfast option or go-to snack, make sure to try these amazing all bran muffins.