Moist and sweet with brown sugar, bran cereal, two kinds of raisins, craisins, apple juice and walnuts, these bran muffins are full of fun tidbits in every bite and one of our favorite breakfast treats. To make them extra-special, we top them with an oil-based nut and spice streusel topping. So delish! They are healthy and substantial, so you won’t go hungry after having these! If you are like us and would rather have your daily cereal in a muffin, you will love these! We started with the Fiber One bran muffin recipe from the cereal box and started adding ingredients from there!
We have always been huge bran muffin fans and there are of course so many ways to make them. This is how we love them best, chock full of fruit and nuts and who can argue with a spiced crumb topping? The key to making moist muffins is to soak the dried fruit in boiling water for at least 15 minutes to reconstitute them. Wring out any excess water before adding them to your batter. This really keeps the raisins and craisins, or even if you use currants, so much more plump and tasty. We also love to toast the nuts ahead of time, giving them just a little bit warmer and richer flavor. In fact, toasted nuts are always better in our opinion. We toast them for just about everything except our Nutty Granola, because they automatically get toasted while the granola is cooking in the oven. This granola is probably our favorite breakfast cereal in the whole world, with cinnamon and cardamom spices and a huge variety of nuts.
When you are making these bran muffins, keep in mind that you can add any dried fruit you like and although we haven’t tried it, we think that apricots would be wonderful in this recipe in place of the raisins or craisins.
Cranberry & Raisin Bran Muffins with Nut and Spice Streusel Topping
Equipment
- 1 Muffin Tin Makes 12 regular muffins
Ingredients
Muffins
- 1 1/4 cups Fiber One Cereal or your favorite bran cereal
- 2/3 cup milk
- 2/3 cup apple juice
- 1 cup raisins, golden raisins, craisins combo, reconstitute in boiling water for 15 minutes, and then squeeze dry
- 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil we use sunflower oil
- 1 large egg
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 3 tsp. baking powder
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp. cardamom
- 1/2 cup walnuts pieces
Crumb Topping
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar
- 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
- 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp. cardamom
- 1/8 tsp. all spice
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1/8 cup safflower oil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 F. Line a regular muffin tin with 12 paper liners.
- Place bran cereal in a sealable plastic bag and crush to fine bits with a rolling pin or pulsate in a food processor until broken into smaller bits.
- Soak dried fruit: craisins, golden raisins, and raisins in boiling water for about 15 minutes. Squeeze excess liquid out. Set fruit aside.
- Place bran cereal, milk, apple juice, raisins, craisins, and vanilla in bowl. Stir and allow to sit until cereal has softened. Stir in egg and oil and blend well with a fork or wooden spoon.
- Add brown sugar, baking powder, salt, spices and flour and mix well.
- Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tins. Sprinkle streusel topping over the top of each muffin. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until tops are golden-brown and the muffin springs back when you push in the center with your finger. Remove muffins onto a cooling rack.
- These freeze very well, so you can freeze some and eat some right away like we did!
Nut and Spice Streusel Topping
- Mix all dries, nuts and spices in a small mixing bowl. Stir in oil and mix until crumbly. Divide topping evenly over the top of the muffin batter in the muffin tins.
