If you're looking to use up a half cup of cottage cheese or just like good, soft, jumbo bran muffins, here's a recipe for Cottage Cheese Bran Muffins. I'm very happy with how these turned out and am adding the recipe to my always-growing collection of bran muffins.
Soften the Bran in Liquid
This recipe starts by softening the bran with a little liquid, which in this case is coffee. You could also use juice, tea or just plain water. Softening the bran hydrates it so that it won't pull as much moisture from the batter.This is supposed to create a muffin with a softer interior, and I believe it really does. The cottage cheese helps too, of course.
What Happens to the Curds?
As for the cottage cheese, it adds more bulk, moisture and a little protein. When you first stir it into the batter you will see all the little white dots of curd. But unlike in the Cottage Cheese Cookies, most or all of the curds disappear into the muffin.
Jumbo Muffin Tins
So these are jumbo muffins made in jumbo muffin tins. You can line them with paper liners or grease them. For this last batch I used my 2 x 1 ¾ inch glassine baking liners which I love because they fit into standard size muffin pans and jumbo pans. I ordered these glassine liners in bulk, paid the Webstaurant shipping and have been using them for years now. I haven't seen this exact size on Amazon, but if you spot it please let me know.
Recipe
Cottage Cheese Bran Muffins
Equipment
Ingredients
- ⅔ cup wheat bran (40 grams)
- 3 tablespoons hot coffee (42 grams)
- ½ cup cottage cheese (120 grams)
- ¼ cup neutral oil or olive oil
- ½ cup light brown sugar (105 grams)
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon molasses or honey (20 grams)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup all-purpose flour (140 grams)
- ⅓ cup oats (35 grams)
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ⅓ cup milk
Optional Add-Ins
- ½ cup raisins, dates, walnuts or a mixture of all three
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F Line 6 jumbo muffin cups with paper liners or grease the pan.
- Pour coffee or water over the bran to soften. Set aside.
- In a mixing bowl, using a heavy duty scraper or a wooden spoon, beat together the cottage cheese, oil, and brown sugar.
- Beat in the egg, vanilla and molasses. Scrape in the softened bran.
- Mix together the flour, oats, cinnamon, salt, baking soda and powder.
- Add the flour mixture, alternately with milk, to the bran mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. When about halfway mixed, stir in any additions you might be using such as raisins, dates or walnuts, then continue to stir until fully blended.
- Fill the muffin cups almost to the top. Bake for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool slightly before serving.
Anna says
Sue, I'm glad you liked them! The recipe also works well with "flax egg" if you want to save an egg next time. I think when I made the flax version I just used 1 tablespoon of flax meal and 3 extra tablespoons coffee or water.
Sue K says
These are really great muffins! I haven’t made bran muffins in years and I’m sure the last time I made them I used a recipe using breakfast cereal. I used golden raisins for the add in, opted for molasses, and used hot tea to moisten the bran.
At first I was concerned because the batter did not come close to the top of my jumbo muffin tin wells but they rose beautifully and had nice domes. I will add these to the make again list.
Sue K says
I would like one of those right now please!