This low-sugar blueberry bran muffins recipe is made with wheat bran and packed with blueberries! These blueberry muffins make a great healthy breakfast or snack.
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There are two main ways to make a bran muffin and to incorporate bran into baked goods:
- use bran cereal, like these date bran muffins, which are made with All Bran cereal that's in the aisle with the regular cereals. Date bran muffins are my favourite and my mom always made them with All bran, so that's what I still do today. And they are great!
- use wheat bran, like in the blueberry bran muffins below. You'll find wheat bran in the health food aisle of your grocery store, or at your local scoop shops and bulk bin stores.
You might ask what's the difference between bran cereal and wheat bran, and the difference is rather huge. Wheat bran is the outer layer of the wheat kernel and an excellent source of dietary fibre according to most producers. It's 100 % wheat with nothing added. This is the bran you would want to use if you are making low sugar bran muffins.
On the other hand, bran cereal contains wheat bran, yes, but it also contains a lot of other ingredients, like sugar, fats, preservatives, and more. I love bran cereal and there's nothing wrong with it. I use it to make muffins, I top yogurt breakfast bowls and smoothie bowls with it, and I eat it as a snack. Bran cereal is great, but it's not a suitable substitute for wheat bran without making other changes to your recipe.
If you want a muffin that is made from wheat bran, make this low-sugar blueberry muffin recipe shown below. If you want a muffin made from bran cereal, make these All Bran muffins. If you need a baking substitution for the wheat bran in this recipe, you can try another source of bran, like oat bran, but proceed with caution as I haven't tested any substitutions.
If you can't find crème fraîche, I recommend using full-fat sour cream, but this has more moisture than crème fraîche so you will undoubtedly have to bake the muffins longer and/or adjust with a little extra bran and flour since these muffins are already quite moist.
The key to these low-sugar bran muffins is baking them with lots of fruit which adds sweetness.
While baking a batch of these blueberry bran muffins or honey blueberry muffins, you might notice the blueberries turn green or change colour as they bake, don't panic. It's probably the pH of the batter that changed the colour of the berries, but that has zero impact on the flavour of the berries. The muffins are just as yummy and still safe to eat!
This recipe is from the book Baking with Less Sugar: Recipes for Desserts Using Natural Sweeteners and Little-to-No White Sugar by Joanne Chang, published by Raincoast Books (available on Amazon and Amazon Canada). Be sure to check out my review of Baking with Less Sugar to see the other recipes that I made.
If it's not blueberry season and you want to bake fruit muffins with another fruit, try these strawberry rhubarb muffins with streusel topping.
📖 Recipe
Blueberry bran muffins
Ingredients
- 250 grams (2 cups) bleached all-purpose flour
- 60 grams (1 cup) wheat bran
- 10 mL (2 teaspoon) baking powder
- 5 mL (1 teaspoon) ground cinnamon
- 2.5 mL (½ teaspoon) baking soda
- 2.5 mL (½ teaspoon) Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
- 2 large egg(s)
- 180 grams (¾ cup) crème fraîche, at room temperature
- 125 mL (½ cup) whole milk (3.25 % fat), at room temperature
- 70 grams (⅓ cup) granulated sugar
- 15 mL (1 tablespoon) pure vanilla extract
- 115 grams (½ cup) unsalted butter, melted and at room temperature
- 300 grams (⅔ lb) fresh blueberries, fresh or frozen (roughly 2 cups)
Instructions
- Place a rack in the centre of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a standard 12-cup muffin tin, coat with nonstick cooking spray, or line with paper liners.
- In a large bowl, stir together flour, wheat bran, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, crème fraîche, milk, sugar, and vanilla until well-combined. Slowly pour in the melted butter while whisking.
- Pour the wet ingredient mixture into the dry ingredients and fold gently, using a rubber spatula, just until the ingredients are combined. Gently fold in the blueberries until the fruit is well distributed. The batter may seem lumpy, but don’t try to smooth it out.
- Using an ice cream scoop or a spoon, scoop a heaping ⅔ cup batter into each prepared cup of the muffin tin, filling the cups to the brim (almost overflowing) and making sure the cups are evenly filled. You might think you have too much batter, but you can fill these to overflowing and then you will get nice tops on your muffins. (If you prefer smaller muffins, spoon about ½ cup batter into each cup and decrease the baking time to 25 to 35 minutes. You will get up to 18 smaller muffins.)
- Bake for 45 to 55 minutes, or until the muffins are entirely golden brown on top and they spring back lightly when you press them in the centre. There’s a lot of fruit in these muffins, so make sure you bake them enough so the insides of the muffins don’t get soggy. Let the muffins cool in the pan on a wire rack for 20 minutes, and then remove them from the pan.
Notes
Nutrition
Raincoast Books offered me one copy of this book, plus the opportunity to host a giveaway. As always, please know that I wouldn’t work with a sponsor nor recommend a product if it wasn’t worth it. I tested three recipes from the book before coming to the conclusion that this book is awesome.
June @ How to Philosophize with Cake says
I don't usually cut sugar in baking, but I do appreciate a good low-sugar recipe on occasion! Particularly for breakfast, like these muffins 🙂
Karen Gianni says
I use Splenda, both the white and brown sugar and the recipes are just fine. An even swap.
Chloé says
I usually try to replace sugar with anything fruity or good old maple syrup!
Steph says
I don't like overly sweet desserts so I usually choose less sweet recipes
Steph says
I tweeted!!
Adrienne says
When measuring sugar I measure out a little less than what the recipe calls for. I use honey in smoothies instead of sugar.
joy says
i often just use less sugar when baking without repercussions...it isn't even noticed if i put in less than indicated!
Lynn says
Depends what I'm making. In a cake recipe I'll usually leave the sugar as is because I don't want to mess things up. But in fruit pies I'll usually cut the sugar drastically and replace with honey. Peach bourbon pie sweetened with a bit of honey is the best.
Eva says
I normally replace it with honey (depending on what I'm making) or just cut down the sugar. But the outcomes totally depend on luck!
Amanda | The Cinnamon Scrolls says
I usually replace sugar with either honey or maple syrup. I actually love using a combination of maple syrup and raw cane sugar in baking recipes. I love the caramelly taste it gives baked goods!
C-Jay says
I always reduce the sugar a bit each time I make a recipe. I keep reducing and reducing until I feel the recipe cannot handle any more reductions. My family is becoming so used to low sweet, that regular recipes often seem "too" sweet now.
SB says
I have a friend who went to pastry school (I know, I'm a lucky girl) and she told me that they always cut the sugar and usually swap in brown sugar for white sugar. So with her blessing, I usually cut the sugar in a recipe by at least one-third and use brown sugar unless I think that will affect the texture or something. If I'm baking for friends, I reconsider my operating procedure, but often go ahead and use my usual formula - they almost never notice!
Natalie V says
Applesauce or Agave
Todd g says
We often cut the butter in recipes but haven't done much with sugar other than to substitute in some honey. Will try these muffins this week though. Thanks!
[email protected]'s Recipes says
I like to replace at least 1/3 of sugar with applesauce in baking. These muffins look heavenly!
Linda says
I've been cutting down the sugar in my baking for years. For example, no one has ever noticed that I halve the sugar in my banana bread, and there's never a smidge leftover! And these recipes all look just great, and I'm eager to try rhem right now!!
Emilye says
I usually cut sugar by at least one third, sometimes half, when i bake. doesn't seem to affect the results too much.
Megan says
I usually reduce the sugar when in baking, and I've dabbled with different sugar alternatives like Splenda, stevia, maple syrup, honey, agave, or just sweeten with fruit like dates and overripe bananas. I think this cookbook sounds really interesting!
Teresa says
This is a cookbook that's been on my list for a while. So many members of my family are trying to cut back on processed sugar, for various reasons. I've always been like you - ALL the sugar is necessary, you just have to share. But, I think I'd bake more often if I baked less sweetly, as I'd have more takers. So far, I've experimented with honey a bit, but my partner is vegan, so that's out for him. I really need to learn more.
Carolsue says
I have some cookbooks that have recipes where you can substitute honey or Splenda - there are many ways to cut down on sugar and still have good desserts!
Olivia @ livforcake says
Funny, I was JUST talking to my friend the other day about reducing sugar, etc, and that it would be really hard for me as a baker (mostly in buttercreams, which I LOVE). I didn't know this book existed but am now going to check it out!
ELAINE says
My go to is usually maple syrup. Sometimes I use coconut sugar, but I've learned it needs to be ground finer to use in baking recipes.
Erika says
I do cut the sugar occasionally but I'm also very excited to learn about using honey and otger sources as well!
Jessie says
I never cut sugar in recipes, but I do like recipes that use maple syrup or honey instead of sugar!
Joyce says
To be honest, I never look into reducing sugar in my baking, but as we get older and try to eat more responsible, this is something I'm interested in learning and experimenting. This cookbook will be a great starting point for me!
Alisha Duncan says
I love using maple syrup and honey in my baking - I try to use them more often now, but there are still times I use granulated sugar...
Eleanor Chen says
Hi Janice. Mine is a low sugar household. Any idea if I can add/use dried blueberries if I don't have enough fresh or frozen ones?