It’s really hard to believe these muffins contain no added sugar. They’re sweetness comes from chewy dates and mashed ripe bananas. Granted, this recipes requires a few extra steps but once you have all of the ingredients out, make an extra batch to freeze for later. If you need more encouragement to bake them, these muffins are my daughter’s favorite (and I make a lot of muffins).
Bran Muffins without Added Sugar
Ingredients
1 cup whole pitted dates
3/4 cup orange juice
1 ripe banana, peeled and cut into pieces
1 cup low- fat buttermilk
2 tablespoons butter, melted
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup white whole wheat flour or whole wheat pastry flour
1 3/4 cup wheat bran
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
Directions
- Preheat oven 350 degrees. Spray 12 muffin cups with cooking spray.
- Combine dates and orange juice in a saucepan. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside for 5 minutes to cool slightly.
- Place date mixture in a food process and process until smooth. Add banana, buttermilk, butter, canola oil and vanilla. Blend until smooth.
- In a separate bowl, combine flour, wheat bran, baking powder and soda, cinnamon and salt. Whisk until blended. Add date mixture to bran mixture, stir just until moistened. Add eggs, stirring until combined.
- Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups. Bake for 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of muffin comes out clean.
- Cool in muffins tin for 5 minutes then remove and cool on wire rack.
Nutrition Note: Store-bought muffins are typically loaded with fat and sugar. One Dunkin’ Donuts Honey Bran Muffin is over 400 calories with a quarter of your days worth of fat and almost 10 teaspoons of added sugar. This recipe skips the added sugar and uses ripe bananas and dates for sweetness. Each muffin is only 160 calories, with 4 grams of protein, 29 grams carbohydrate and the wheat bran adds a nice dose of 7 grams of fiber.
Recipe adapted from myrecipes.com
Judymatusky.com
Baked these today. Used my mini muffin pans whic made 2 1/2: dozen. They were easy and they are great! Thanks. These will be a staple in my freezer for breakfast or a nice sweet treat.
Thanks! I do the same. I bake a double batch and freeze them. They freeze really well.