One of my most popular bran muffin recipes is the Claim Jumper copycat. It makes dark, sweet, molasses and raisin bran muffins which you serve upside down with a sticky glaze. The secret ingredient is raisin puree, which I recently learned was also the key ingredient in Nancy Silverton's bran muffins.
I've been meaning to try the Nancy Silverton recipe, but somehow got sidetracked by yet another bran muffin recipe -- Greg Atkinson's Molasses and Raisin Bran Muffins.
Greg Atkinson, a chef from Seattle, put his own spin on Nancy Silverton's bran muffin recipe. He made it to fill exactly 12 cup muffin cups, added a generous amount of molasses and cut the step of toasting the bran. But most importantly, he kept the raisin puree for moisture and flavor.
Molasses and Raisin Bran Muffins Notes
So I made the Greg Atkinson Molasses and Raisin Bran Muffins and like them very much, though they are on the sweet side. They're so sweet that I made them again just to make sure I didn't add the sugar twice. The second time I used a lighter hand with the sugar and the muffins were still sweet, but not overly so. The best part about them is that the tops are kind of crispy and they have a pretty strong molasses flavor.
If you like the flavor of molasses and prefer a sweeter muffin, this one's worth a try.
Recipe
Molasses and Raisin Bran Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 cup raisins (160 grams)
- 1 cup water
- ½ cup canola oil
- ½ cup molasses (use a scant ½ cup) 140 grams
- ½ cup sugar (use a scant ½ cup) 90 grams
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup all-purpose flour or bread flour (130 grams)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups wheat bran (140 grams)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.
- Combine the raisins and water in a small saucepan and bring water to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes to soften the raisins. Puree the raisins in a blender or a Nutribullet (I use my Nutribullet). Set aside.
- In a medium size bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and bran.
- In a mixing bowl, whisk together the oil, molasses, sugar, egg, and raisin mixture. Add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture until blended. It will be dark brown and thick.
- Scoop batter into the muffin cups. Bake for 20 minutes or until muffins spring back when lightly touched.
- Let the muffins cool for at least 10 minutes before serving.
Sue says
I wish my husband was a muffin man. I like them much better than he does.
Anna says
Also, I had a note in the bottom about coconut sugar. Just deleted it because I honestly didn't care for the coconut sugar either.
Anna says
Judy and Katie,
Thanks! Yes, I screwed up the directions. About the vanilla, I added it and didn't like it so I took it out. You can add 1/2 teaspoon if you want, but it really doesn't do anything for the muffin.
About the food processor, Greg's recipe calls for softening the raisins, pureeing them in the food processor and just mixing all of the liquids in the food processor. You can do that if you want. I just pureed the raisin mixture in my Nutribullet. It's easier to clean than the food processor. I then used the usual muffin mixing method of just mixing wet ingredients and adding to dry. Sorry for the confusion.
Judy says
Where is the vanilla amount in the recipe? In the directions it says to add vanilla. Thank you.
Katie Johnson says
I think you combined two sets of instructions for this recipe. There are two different methods for mixing the wet ingredients, one says to put them in the food processor with the raisin mixture, the other says to whisk in a medium bowl.