Branana Chocolate Nut Muffins

These high-fibre muffins are wholesome without being gritty. If you don’t like or are allergic to nuts and/or chocolate, let your imagination run wild! You can leave your muffins plain, or add raisins, fresh blueberries, coconut… the list goes on…

Author: Vincci Tsui, RD

Recipe type: Baking, Vegetarian

Makes: 20 muffins

Ingredients

• 1 cup (250 mL) bran cereal

• 1 cup (250 mL) milk

• 3 very ripe bananas, mashed if you don’t have a potato masher

• ½ cup (125 mL) sugar

• ¼ cup (60 mL) vegetable oil

• 1 large egg

• 1 tsp (5 mL) vanilla

• 1½ cups (375 mL) whole wheat flour

• 1 tsp (5 mL) baking soda

• ¼ cup (60 mL) chopped walnuts

• ¼ cup (60 mL) chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350˚F. Pour bran cereal into a large mixing bowl, and add milk on top. Set aside for about 20 minutes, or until liquid is absorbed into cereal. Add bananas, sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla, and mash everything with potato masher. (If you don’t have one, make sure you’ve mashed the bananas with a fork first, and then stir everything until blended.)

2. Add flour and baking soda, and stir until almost combined. Fold in walnuts and chocolate chips and mix until the batter is just blended.

3. Divide into paper-lined muffin tins and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until tops are golden and springy to the touch, and a toothpick inserted into the centre of a muffin comes out clean.

Notes

If you’d like to make branana bread instead, spread batter into a greased 8″ × 4″ loaf pan and bake for 50 minutes, or until tops are golden and springy to the touch, and a cake tester inserted into the centre of the loaf comes out clean.