These low sugar buttermilk bran muffins are light and mildly sweet with the goodness of bran.


Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes
Yield: 12 small muffins

Mildly Sweet Recipe

Ingredients:

1 cup buttermilk
1 cup natural bran
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 F. Grease 12 muffin cups or line with paper liners.


2. Pour the buttermilk into a medium bowl. Add the bran and stir to mix. Let stand 5 minutes.


3. In large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.


4. Add the vegetable oil, applesauce, egg and vanilla extract to the buttermilk mixture and stir until blended. Pour the wet ingredients into the flour mixture and stir just to moisten.


5. Pour the batter into the prepared muffin cups and bake for 20 - 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre of a muffin comes out clean.


6. Let muffins cool in pan for 5 minutes then remove and cool completely on wire rack.

Sweeter Option

For a sweeter muffin, replace the 1/2 cup of unsweetened applesauce in the Mildly Sweet recipe above with 1/4 cup brown sugar. Stir the sugar into the buttermilk mixture along with the oil, egg and vanilla in step 4. Omit the unsweetened applesauce.

If you would like to experiment with other sweeteners, see About Sweeteners for more information and nutrition facts on honey, maple syrup, stevia and other sweeteners.

Note:
Most of the recipes on Sweet Smart are adapted from my favourite cookbooks and websites. The Sweeter Option usually calls for about 1/4 to 1/2 of the sugar used in the original recipe.

Adapted from: Bran Muffins from Muffins and More (Company's Coming).