Blueberry and Bran Muffins

This is the perfect fruit muffin to bake at home. Loaded with fibre and laced with blueberries or even raspberries, these muffins are delicious and yet healthy enough to suit your children's or your work lunchboxes, your breakfast menu, or essential morning and afternoon teas. Dressed up in a pretty paper wrapper, and dusted with icing sugar over a layer of scented cinnamon, these muffins will impress. 

Baking muffins can either be complicated or simple, and I've taken the easy route here. It's a one bowl muffin without the need for any electrical appliances, except your oven. I think everyone needs a recipe like this in their baking repertoire, to satisfy the desperate need for a mid-week baked treat to enjoy with that morning cup of tea or coffee. However, this isn't at the expense of deliciousness. I would also be happy to enjoy these for breakfast, as the fibre and the fruit and small amounts of sugar tick all the boxes for a healthy breakfast.

This recipe originates from South African food blogger, Sarah Graham's recipe book, called Simple Suppers. I first saw it on the lovely Tandy's food blog, Lavender and Lime, and was excited at the thought of such an easy to follow recipe, and one which looked healthy and delicious. I was really thrilled with the result, and so was Mr. HRK. 

Let's bake and enjoy!

 Ingredients:

260 g self-raising flour

135 g oat bran

70 g coconut sugar

2.5 mls fine salt

250 mls full cream milk

60 mls (1/4 cup) canola oil

135 g frozen blueberries

Cinnamon or Cinnamon sugar for sprinkling on the surface

Icing sugar for that little extra 

Method:

Turn on your oven and preheat to 190 deg. Celsius

Using your large mixing bowl, add the flour, bran, sugar and salt and whisk to combine, removing any lumps if they are contained within.

To the flour mixture, add the milk and the oil, and stir until just combined. The golden rule for making muffins is not to overmix or they will toughen up.

Add the blueberries to the mixture, and gently fold them in to distribute as evenly as you can. (I used frozen blueberries as I have them in my freezer, and frozen raspberries would also be a good option.)

Line a 12 hole muffin tray with  paper liners, and distribute the batter evenly between each wrapper.

Sprinkle with cinnamon or cinnamon sugar to your liking (this is optional).

Slide your tray into your preheated oven, and bake for 25 minutes.

When cooked, remove the muffins from the tray, and place onto a wire rack to cool.

Just before serving, lightly sift some icing sugar over the muffins if you like that look, I do. The muffins aren't too sweet, so a little icing sugar brings a small touch of extra sweetness and a lot of visual appeal. 

To serve:

Enjoy warm out of the oven, or keep stored in an airtight container. They can also be frozen and reheated when required. 

Cooking notes:

1. I like to use the specific high sided paper muffin wrappers, as they remove very easily from the muffin. The smaller fluted cases can sometimes stick to the muffin needing to be peeled away taking some of the muffin with the wrapper.
2. When filling the cases, the amount within may look minimal, however this can be gauged by the edge of the actual muffin tin hole. If filled evenly there will be ample batter in each case. I very much prefer the size of these muffins to the huge ones that are often sold in coffee shops, and they can often be very sweet. We can always eat two of them if desired.
3. These muffins are almost rustic in appearance which I love,  and a light dusting of icing sugar really takes them to the party. Some baked goods don't tolerate an extra layer of sweetness, these can.
4. I added cinnamon to the surface of these for a little extra flavour profile and visual appeal. This is purely optional. As this is the first batch I've made, I was careful not to add cinnamon sugar in case it would be make the muffins too sweet. Next time I will, as I think it would be a lovely addition, however you might prefer to use icing sugar over cinnamon sugar, or if you are really a sweet tooth, you might like both.
5. This is a stiff batter, however the result is a muffin that is crisp on the outside, and soft and cakey within. 
6. Coconut sugar can be quite a bit more expensive than raw sugar, so I'll leave it up to you as to whether or not you want to invest in a small packet of coconut sugar, or use raw sugar. Coconut sugar has a slightly caramel like flavour, while raw sugar provides sweetness. Coconut sugar also boasts a slightly lower glycaemic index than raw sugar.

Delicious with Greek yoghurt

You might also like these other versatile and delicious Blueberry muffins.

Blueberry and Polenta muffins.

Blueberry Oats and Banana Muffins  (Beware, these are super healthy)

Warm wishes and hoping you enjoy something special this weekend.

Pauline