Bursting with juicy raisins, sunflower and pumpkin seeds, fresh apple chunks and a touch of spice. These wholemeal oat bran breakfast muffins are quick to whip up and make the perfect mid morning snack or afternoon pick me up.
Although these may take a little longer to make, the end result is completely worth it! This does require a few more steps than the average cake, but each part of the process is essential for the delicious end result. It’s still a super quick process and is in no way complicated.
These use a mixture of oat bran and wholemeal flour, making them the perfect mid morning grab and go snack. The addition of the apple, raisins and seeds help to add a boost of moisture of flavour, so these bites are anything but dry!
Oat Bran
To start, peel and chop an apple into small chunks and lay aside. Next add the oat bran and milk together in a small bowl, give it a light stir and again, place to the side. Add the eggs, vanilla extract and light muscovado sugar to a bowl and using a fork, gently whisk these together until they come together, set this aside. Combine the oat bran and milk with the egg mixture, stirring lightly. To a larger bowl add both flours, salt and baking powder. Once these have been slightly mixed add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until everything comes together. Here is where you add in the apple, raisins, seeds and mixed spice. Give everything a really good mix until everything is fully incorporated, and place in pre prepared cake cases.
As always, I recommend buying the best eggs that you can afford, I have found that this really makes a big difference in bakes. A better quality egg seems to make a better bake. I also recommend using vanilla paste over vanilla extract. Vanilla paste is a thicker texture and has a more authentic vanilla paste. I find that the runny vanilla extract not only has a more artificial flavour, but the texture can often ruin a recipe!
Oat Bran
For this recipe you can completely customise and swap out of the dried fruits and seeds and add in any that you prefer. I’ve chosen to use raisins and a combination of pumpkin and sunflower seeds, but any dried fruit or seed/nut will work well here as long as it is chopped small enough (if necessary, raisins can stay whole), and as long as the overall quantity stays the same.
Ingredients
- 40 g Butter, plus extra for greasing
- 150 ml Milk
- 65 g Oat Bran
- 1 Egg
- 40 g Light Muscovado Sugar
- 1/4 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 30 g Wholemeal Flour
- 65 g Self Raising Flour
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
- 1 Apple, peeled and chopped
- 25 g Raisins
- 12 g Seeds
- 1/4 tsp Mixed Spice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 190*c/375*f/Gas Mark 5/170*c Fan Oven.
- Grease a cupcake tin and set aside, or if you prefer then you can line these with cupcake cases instead.
- Place the oat bran and milk into a bowl stirring gently and set aside.
- In a separate bowl add the eggs, vanilla extract and sugar and using a fork, gently whisk these together until combined. Then set this bowl aside.
- To a separate larger bowl add both of the flours, salt and baking powder.
- Combine the oat bran and milk with the egg mixture, stirring lightly. Then add all of these wet ingredients to the dried ingredients bowl, stirring until everything is combined.
- Add the chopped apple, raisins, seeds and mixed spice. Stirring everything together on last last time.
- Again, you can add any dried fruit of choice here, I added raisins and a combination of pumpkin and sunflower seeds, but these can be replaced with any dried fruit or seed/nut combination. Just ensure that the over quantity remains the same.
- Once everything is thoroughly combined, place the mixture into the pre prepared tin.
- Cook for 25 to 30 minutes, until golden brown and light and fluffy.
- Once ready, remove from the oven.
- Allow them to cool in their tin for roughly 5 minutes before placing on a separate tray or wire rack and allowing them to fully cool down.
Notes
These delicious when still slightly warm from the oven, but any leftovers can be stored in a cool dry place for up to 3 days.
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