Sweet, moist, and dense Molasses Bran Muffins are a copycat for the delicious pastry served at Mimi's Cafe. These muffins will give the word Bran a brand new reputation after you taste just how mouthwatering they are.
My family loves these molasses bran muffins! And to be honest, they're one of my favorite sweet breads to bake. I think after you try them out you will totally agree!
If you enjoy this bran muffin recipe, you might also enjoy these strawberry bran muffins.
Why You Will Love This Recipe
- Healthy, yet heavenly. A healthy muffin that doesn't taste it!
- A hit with kids and adults!
- An easy recipe. Don't be frightened by the long ingredient list, these bran muffins with molasses are simple enough for any level cook!
What Is A Molasses Bran Muffin?
Some people turn their noses up when they hear the word "bran", but I promise that you will LOVE these muffins. They are sweet, tasty, moist, and full of fiber for your belly.
These muffins are made with bran in the batter. This particular recipe calls for brown sugar and molasses giving it a rich and deep flavor.
This recipe also has a delicious glaze that you put inside the bottom of your muffin tin, giving them a "pineapple-upside-down-cake-quality." So forget that dry bran texture and dig into these tasty muffins!
Ingredients
I know the ingredient list is long, but trust me - they're easy to make and this combo makes one killer muffin!
For the bran muffin batter you'll need:
- Molasses: The signature ingredient that adds a dark, rich sweetness to these moist and delicious muffins.
- Other sweeteners: In addition to the molasses, this recipe uses honey and dark brown sugar.
- Raisins: Pureed to add to the batter in order to keep the muffins moist and delicious.
- Flavors: Vanilla and orange zest.
- Liquids and binders: Buttermilk and eggs give rich flavor, some tang, and contribute to the texture of the muffins.
- Wheat flour and wheat bran: This combination gives these muffins their hearty, dense texture.
- Leaveners: This recipe uses a combination of baking powder and baking soda.
- Glaze: You're also going to need butter, white and dark brown sugar, and dark corn syrup.
For the full list of ingredients and exact quantities, check the recipe card further down on the page.
What is Bran?
Bran is the hard outer layer of whole cereal grains such as oats, wheat, rice, and corn. Bran is a wonderful ingredient to add to your diet.
It contains protein, iron, fiber, carbohydrates, fatty acids, and other nutrients, including B-vitamins, and selenium. Selenium combats the effects of free radicals, lowering the risks of heart disease and cancer.
How to Make Bran Muffins
Let's look at how simple these bran muffins with molasses are to make. To get started, gather all your ingredients.
Step 1: Make the Molasses Glaze
- In a medium bowl combine all ingredients.
- Whisk until smooth.
- Evenly divide the glaze into the bottom of your muffin tin. You'll use about one-third tablespoon in each cup.
Step 2: Mix the Bran Muffin Batter
After your glaze is mixed, you're ready to mix up the muffin batter.
- Combine water and raisins in a blender.
- Blend until smooth.
- Transfer the puree to a large mixing bowl.
- Add brown sugar, molasses, vanilla, eggs, buttermilk, vegetable oil, and orange zest.
- Mix until well combined.
- Add wheat flour, bran, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
- Mix until just combined.
- Fill your muffin cups with batter, topping them all the way to the top of the cup. Bake at 350 degrees for 17-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Step 3: Flip and Cool
- When the muffins are done cooking, Immediately invert the muffins on a baking sheet.
- Transfer to a cooling rack.
- Serve warm.
Variations and Substitutions
Raisins: Swap with dates or prunes. These are all similar types of dried fruit and will work to add moisture and a hint of sweetness.
Mini size: For small muffins, you can eat in one or two bites, use a small muffin tin and follow the same instructions for filling it. Bake in the oven for ten minutes. Then check for doneness and extend the cooking time as needed.
What to Serve With Bran Muffins
These easy molasses bran muffins are perfect for an everyday breakfast or snack but they can also be served up for an elegant outdoor party or family brunch.
- Add a topping: They're great with a smear of butter or add some apple pear butter, jam, or your favorite nut butter.
- With a hot beverage: Serve up your favorite but you might want to try a Russian Tea or a Caramel Apple Spice Coffee Drink.
- Brunch side dish: They make a delicious side for all types of egg dishes, such as Egg Souffle, Farmer's Casserole, and Scrambled Eggs.
- Fresh fruit: Keep it simple with some berries or consider this Mojito Fruit Salad, Grilled Stone Fruit Salad, or Tropical Fruit Salad for something a little more special.
Expert Tips and FAQs
- Don't forget to spray the muffin tin! It definitely makes cleanup a whole lot easier and also your muffins will easily come out of the pan.
- Invert the muffins as soon as you remove them from the oven.
- For best flavor and texture, serve up these muffins while warm.
Bran is readily available at most grocery stores. It can be found in the baking aisle near the flour. Sometimes it can be found in the health food section. It is also available on amazon.
There are two common types of bran; wheat bran and oat bran. Wheat bran has a higher quantity of fiber and contains about twice as much fiber as oat bran.
Wheat bran has fewer side effects associated with high fiber diets - like bloating. For these reasons, I have chosen wheat bran for this recipe. Rather than turning your nose up at bran - embrace it! You'll be so glad you did.
More Muffin Recipes
Are you looking for more muffin recipes? Be sure to check out our:
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Mimi’s Copycat Molasses Bran Muffins
Ingredients
Glaze
- 3 tablespoon sugar
- 3 tablespoon brown sugar
- 3 tablespoon dark corn syrup Like Karo brand
- 3 tablespoon melted salted butter
- ½ tablespoon water
Muffins
- 1 cup raisins
- 1 cup water
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- ¼ cup honey
- 1 tablespoon molasses
- 1 egg
- ⅓ cup buttermilk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ½ teaspoon orange zest
- ⅓ cup brown sugar
- 1 cup wheat bran
- 1 cup wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
Glaze
- In a small bowl prepare glaze by combining 3 tablespoon sugar, 3 tablespoon brown sugar, 3 tablespoon dark Karo syrup, 3 tablespoon melted butter, and ½ tablespoon water. Stir until well combined.
Muffins
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Prepare muffin pan by liberally spraying each cup.
- Evenly distribute glaze between each muffin cup (about ⅓ tablespoon in each).
- In your blender combine raisins and 1 cup water. Blend for 20-30 seconds until smooth.
- Transfer mixture to a large mixing bowl.
- Add ¼ cup vegetable oil, ¼ cup honey, 1 tablespoon molasses, 1 egg, ⅓ cup buttermilk, 1 teaspoon vanilla, ½ teaspoon orange zest, and ⅓ cup brown sugar to the bowl and mix until well combined.
- Add bran, flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt to the bowl. Mix until just combined.
- Fill each muffin cup to the top.
- Bake for 15-18 minutes until toothpick inserted comes out clean and the tops bounce back.
- Immediately invert onto a baking sheet and transfer to a cooling rack.
- Serve warm.
Video
Notes
Where Can I Buy Bran
Bran is readily available at most grocery stores. It can be found in the baking aisle near the flour. Sometimes it can be found in the health food section. It is also available on amazon.Are there different kinds of Bran?
There are two common types of Bran:- Wheat Bran
- Oat Bran
Nutrition
Jennifer H says
So excited to try these, they're in the oven as I type. Super easy recipe. I loved how you included the measurements in step 1 of the glaze, and step 6 of the muffin receipe, would have loved that in step 7 to prevent having to scroll back up. Thanks for sharing this as I have always loved the Mimi's bran muffins and the bran muffins that Starbucks used to carry.
Ann says
Absolutely love these
Bethy says
Step 3 says to put one-third tablespoon of glaze in each muffin tin. Pfffft why not just say 1 teaspoon? Anyway, happy muffining everyone!
Kadee says
Because if we put 1 teaspoon we wouldn't get to enjoy comments like this ;)
Rana says
Thank you for posting this recipe! They are my all-time favorite. I hadn’t had one in about eight years. But my mom brought them with her on her last visit.
The last time I looked for a copycat recipe there wasn’t one available. Super excited to make these!
Dianna says
Loved the orange but WAY to sweet for my family.
I might try without the syrup in the bottom
Megan says
How do these freeze? Have you tried that? Thanks!!
Kadee says
These freeze great! You can put them in a freezer bag or airtight container and freeze up to 3 months.
Megan says
Thanks so much!
Tami says
I have the light colored corn syrup and live to far from the store just to run down and get the dark syrup. Is it OK to use the light syrup instead or is there something I can do to make it like the dark syrup. Thank you for your recipes. Love them.
Kadee says
You can use light, it’s not as deep of a flavor but will still work great!
Eleanor A Connolly says
Hello! Ok, my question is the glaze....it was rather thick? I still scooped it in each muffin cup, and they came out great, the glaze seemed to be somewhat thick on the muffins. Just wondered how thick it should or shouldn't be! BTW, these are sooooo good! i lived near a Mimi's in Fort Worth and these were my absolute favorite muffins. This recipe is just like them! Thanks!!!
Kadee says
Yes the glaze should be thick.
Ivette says
Delicious recipe ! Everyone that tried , loved them. Thanks for sharing. Used dates instead of raisins and maple syrup instead of corn syrup.
HMB says
Absolutely spot on to the original. Wonderful! I’ve made this recipe several times now, using dates instead of raisins. Everywhere I take these people fight over the last one. Thank you for this recipe!
H says
Spot on. The original was amazing and this one is a perfect match!
Glenda says
Verry tasty. I wll make tnese again. 🥰🤩
Mar says
It’s Kari syrup. There’s a picture of the bottle on your site so you can cash in on that. How can you not spell it correctly? Duh-uh. Shows priorities.
Kadee says
It's actually Karo syrup, not Kari syrup. As always our priorities are to provide delicious recipes for free to readers.Typos are simply mistakes, and happy to correct. Thanks for the heads up.
Diane says
I just made these and they taste GREAT!! The only problem I had was that my batter was much more liquidy than yours. As a result, when I inverted the muffins onto a baking sheet, some of them kind of collapsed. Do I need to wait a bit before putting into my muffin pan so that the bran absorbs some of the liquid? I’ll definitely make them again, but maybe I need to cut down on the water.
Kadee says
You may need to bake your a bit longer. Every oven is different and different altitudes can effect baking times as well. You'll want a toothpick inserted to come out clean before you remove them from the oven.
MARY Stripling says
Can I use the glaze on other things like pork chops, hams, etc?
Kadee says
I don't see why not!
Chel says
Holy smokes, these came out AMAZING! I don't know if it was high altitude or what, but I had to bake them closer to 20 minutes. I also sprinkled some ground flax on top after baking and it added a really good flavor! I'm very happy with these!
Ruth says
I would like to make these, but I'm wondering if it is okay to use Kellogg's Oat Bran cereal, crushed?
Kadee says
I've not tried that. If you do, please let me know if it works!
shaka khan says
This is crap. A commercial for BlendTec!!!
Kadee says
Dear Shaka Khan, I'm sorry you feel this way. I'm not quite sure how to respond, because I have never been paid by Blendtec. I purchased my own Blender and reached out to them to offer a discount to my readers. I develop, photograph, and post recipes online for free - I am in no way a salesperson for Blendtec. I'm sorry you feel frustrated about my reference to the blender I used to create this recipe in an entire post about how to make delicious bran muffins. We will continue to post our recipes for free and recommend products that we find beneficial.
Emily Kemp says
I'd love to start the day with these, honey muffins are my fav!
Lisa says
I love their bran muffins and their carrot bread. I need their carrot bread recipe also!