Photo borrowed from AlmightyDad.com
Breakfast is the greatest meal on earth. You sit me down in front of a perfectly made 3 egg omelet stuffed with cheese and I will be a happy man. Toss in a side of hash browns and pancakes, and I’ll thank you after my nap.
Of course, those were special occasion breakfasts when I was a kid. Usually it was some Rice Krispies covered in sugar or some other delicious breakfast cereal that was about as good for you as rubbing sugar directly on to your teeth. Even now I cannot resist the allure of a box of Golden Grahams or Fruit Loops when I see a sale price on the supermarket shelf. The power of Post and Kelloggs is too, too strong.
One day a few weeks back, Katie asked me to make some healthier snacks, which resulted in these Oatmeal Bran Muffins. Sure, you can make them healthy like I did, but isn’t the allure of swapping out the bran and oatmeal with something like Golden Grahams and Cocoa Krispies calling out your name?
Breakfast Cereal Muffins
- 1 cup bran cereal
- 1 cup dry oatmeal
- 1 1/4 cup skim milk
- 1 cup bread flour
- 1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter
- 1 egg
- 1/2-3/4 cup Craisins (or chocolate chips if you want them slightly less healthy)
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Combine bran, oatmeal and milk. Let stand 5 minutes, or until nice and mushy. Mix the flour, brown sugar, baking powder and baking soda together, and set aside. Melt the butter. Add the melted butter and egg into bran mixture. Stir in the dry ingredients until blended. Fold the Craisins (or chocolate chips) into the batter.
Spoon into 12 lightly oiled 2 1/2 inch muffin pan cups. Bake for 18 minutes or until done.
Two Bites in Suburbia 
Hi. I have only ever used oil (canola) in muffins. My perception was that oil makes muffins moister than butter does. I am sure your muffins are terrific, though. Just wanted your opinion. Do you favor the butter for the flavor or other reason?
I think the butter adds a richness and texture that oil doesn’t normally add to a recipe.
And also, butter? Awesome.
I used butter in Mango blueberry muffins (with coconut streusel topping) -YUM! and butter in the Chocolate-banana Muffins. Yea. No substitute for butter for these beauties. BTW: I am glad you share your recipe for Pretzel rolls: I am going to make them when I get the courage to face possible “yeast” failure. A big step for me!
It’s impossible to substitute butter in baking. Margerine may give you the funny aftertaste, and honestly if you’re baking you definitely know it’s not good for you.
Don’t worry about yeast failure. If you use the store bought stuff you shouldn’t have a problem. Making your own yeast from the ground up is an entirely different beast that even I haven’t conquered yet.