Let me start off by acknowledging that these superfood bran muffins don’t look pretty.
I always aim to make my food look as good as it tastes, but it just wasn’t happening with these muffins. I can however assure you that they taste good and they are really good for you! I’m not into dieting or cleansing for the new year because I think it’s better to make small adjustments and lifestyle changes than to do some crazy unsustainable diet. With that in mind, I do think it’s a good idea to be mindful of what you eat, especially after the holiday sugar rush.
These superfood bran muffins came from a recipe that I made all through college so I always had healthy options around the house to grab on the go. Over the years I’ve made some adjustments to create a superfood bran muffin that I’m really happy about.
Superfood Bran Muffins (makes 12 muffins)
- 1 honeycrisp apple
- 1 banana
- ½ cup shredded carrot (about 2 small to medium sized carrots)
- 2 packed cups of raw spinach
- ¼ cup raw honey
- ¼ cup packed brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/3 cup ground flax seeds
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¾ cup wheat bran (I use Bob’s red Mill brand)
- ¾ cup whole wheat pastry flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ cup shredded unsweetened coconut (optional)
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Note that I think that these superfood bran muffins are easiest to make in a food processor, but you can do it by hand and grate everything on a box grater. (I did this in college.) If you do this method, just note that you will see and taste bigger chunks of the apple, banana, spinach, and carrot in your muffins.
Start by chopping the apple (skin on) into 1-2 inch pieces. Add the apple, shredded carrot, banana, and spinach to the food processor and blend until combined and everything is completely broken down. Next add in the honey, brown sugar, egg, flax seeds, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt, and continue to blend until everything comes together.
In a separate bowl, combine the wheat bran, whole wheat pastry flour, baking soda, and baking powder and mix to combine. Add the wet ingredients to the bowl with the dry ingredients and mix until all of the dry ingredients are moistened and you get a thick batter. If you’re using it, mix in the shredded coconut at this point.
Line a muffin tin with paper liners, and using an ice cream scoop, scoop batter evenly across 12 muffin cups.
Bake the superfood bran muffins for 30 minutes at 350 degrees until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out almost clean. You may have some crumbs come out on the toothpick because these muffins are very moist from all of the fruits and veggies, but you want to make sure that the dough isn’t totally wet and raw in the center.
Let the muffins come to room temperature and store in the fridge in a ziplock bag or Tupperware. You can leave them at room temp for a day, but because of the moisture content in these muffins, you will want to keep them in the fridge if you don’t eat them after a day. They can also be frozen to keep longer and use as a quick and easy breakfast or snack.