Banana Bran Muffins

I like to bake when I’m not too tired on Sunday nights.  It’s either bread, muffins, cookies, or pies.  This past Sunday evening it was muffins.  I had bought some “All Natural Unprocessed Wheat Bran” from the market and was ready to try some bran muffins.  However, the bran muffins from my memory were chewy and needed to be frosted with a pile of butter to taste good.  I looked at the recipe on the back of the Hodgson Mill Company’s box and decided to tweak it a bit.

Here’s the recipe I used:

2 ripe bananas
1 1/2 cup wheat bran (soften in 1 cup boiling water)
1/2 cup ground flax (if you have it, if not, just substitute with flour)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup molasses
3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1 cup vanilla yogurt (natural...no artificial sweeteners)
2 cups milk (I used fat free)
1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)
chopped walnuts for sprinkling on top (optional)

Measure 1 cup of boiling water and pour into a bowl.  Add the wheat bran to the water and set aside.  Meanwhile, put all the rest of the ingredients in your mixer.  Add the softened bran and mix.  Pour into muffin pans and bake at 325 for 25 minutes.  Makes 2 and a 1/2 dozen.  Enjoy!  Each muffin has 161 calories.

They turned out great.  My kids gobbled them up and asked when I would make more.  My husband said that this is a great recipe...a definite repeat.  I packaged up a few for my son’s teacher for Valentine’s Day tomorrow...she thought they were tasty!  Mrs. Jennings said, “Max, did your Mom MAKE these?!”  Max was so proud.