Blender Bran Prune Muffins (Oat-based, Oil-free, High-fibre)

This easy to make blender bran and prune muffin is high-fiber, low-fat, made from oats, and tastes like sticky date cake!

Making this blender bran and prune muffin is as easy as measuring and blending everything together. It’s also easily adaptable to become gluten free.

I’ve been testing this blender bran and prune muffin recipe for a while now. The idea was to have a bran muffin recipe, and “blenderize” it. If you haven’t tried blender muffins, they are basically oat-based muffins that are made in a blender. Try my Healthy Blender Oatmeal Berry Muffin (No Sugar, Gluten-Free)

The result is a baby of my Bran & Prune Muffins (Vegan) and Healthy Blender Oatmeal Berry Muffin (No Sugar, Gluten-Free)

I was pleasantly surprised by the texture of these bran and prune blender muffins. Unlike other bran muffins, these blender bran and prune muffins had surprisingly good texture when eaten fresh. The texture was bouncy and moist, and reminded me of a date sponge cake.

While these bran and prune blender muffins are delicious fresh, as with other bran muffins, I did find that the flavor of the muffins improved with age. The caramel flavor was noticeably deeper the day after baking.

Why you’ll love this blender bran prune muffin recipe

• Low fat, with no added fats or oil
• Sweetened with only nutrient-rich molasses and prunes (no white or brown sugar).
• Made with heart-healthy oats
• Can be gluten free. Simply switch out wheat bran for oat bran.
• Even easier to make than my original prune bran muffin. Simply throw everything into a blender, divide, then bake.

Developing this recipe

I think my bran and prune muffin recipe is kind of slept on, so I wanted to bring it to the foreground with a blender variation. For this recipe, I also intended to reduce the sugar and increase the protein content. This meant removing the brown sugar and adding an egg to help with caramelization and texture.

At first, I tried my original recipe but simply blended. I soaked the prunes in hot water, then put everything else (spelt flour, bran, etc) with the prunes into the blender. As you might have guessed, it turned out not the best. It was not terrible per se but turned out too moist and spongey due to the extra egg.

The texture was significantly better after replacing the flour with oats and tweaking the hydration and fat content of the recipe.

I also tested what difference blending or not blending the wheat bran would make to muffin texture (see below).

What happens when you blend wheat bran?

Blending the bran with the muffin batter leads to:

• A muffin with a more uniform texture.
• A thicker batter that is harder to blend and scrape out of the blender.
• Less washing – only blender is used.

Not blending the bran with the muffin batter leads to:

• A muffin with more “bran” texture and a higher dome.
• A thinner batter that is easier to scrape out.
• More washing (by one bowl) – a separate bowl is needed to combine the bran with the batter.

Although not significantly different, the blended bran muffin had a more uniform texture and the non-blended bran muffin had a texture more reminiscent of the classic bran muffin. That being said, the textural difference between blended bran and non-blended bran was less than expected.

Does blending wheat bran or oat bran affect its nutritional value?

Blending wheat bran or oat bran does not affect its nutritional value or fiber content. However, it does potentially change the fiber’s functional (i.e. how much water it can absorb) and physiological properties (i.e. how it affects your digestion). When you reduce the fiber particle size in wheat bran, wheat bran fiber is capable of holding less water. On the other hand, grinding oat bran increases its water absorption. (Source)

As pertaining to baked goods, research shows that both blended wheat bran and oat bran will result in a denser loaf with lower volume. My own baking tests confirmed that blending wheat bran results in a muffin that is less risen than one which has unprocessed wheat bran.

In conclusion, blending wheat bran minimally affects the texture and taste of muffins. However, mixing in unprocessed wheat bran by hand rather than blending wheat bran with a blender results in muffins with higher domes and slightly bigger volume.

Nutritional info for blender bran and prune muffins

One bran and prune muffin has 152 calories, 4.8 grams of dietary fiber, and 5.5 grams of protein. For detailed nutritional info, see here.

Tips for making bran and prune blender oat muffins

• Make sure to line or grease the muffin tins.
  • Line the muffin tins for easier muffin removal.
  • Grease the muffin tins if you plan on eating these bran and prune blender muffins immediately after baking.
  • Due to the low fat content, the muffins may stick to paper liners if peeled when still fresh. However, this will no longer be an issue after the muffins have sat for a while and the fiber has absorbed and evened out the moisture. The day after baking, the liners will stick minimally to the muffins when peeled.
• If you want bits of visible fruit, you can add more chopped up prunes after blending, OR blend everything except for half the prunes until smooth, then add the remaining prunes into the blender and blend to chop up.

Storage

These blender bran prune muffins can keep for days at room temperature. Blender bran prune muffins will remain moist for days after they are baked when stored in an airtight container at room temperature.

If concerned about spoilage, these blender bran prune muffins can also be stored in the fridge and refreshed/warmed up in the microwave for 15-30 seconds.

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