Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Simple Bran Muffin Recipe

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Silly as it may be, I think this Simple Bran Muffin Recipe may be my favorite of all the muffins.

And trust, me, there are a lot of muffins. I have over 40 muffin recipes here, and many of them include chocolate chips or a cheesecake topping! So to say that these Bran Muffins are a favorite is saying something.

I believe it stems back to my college days when the cafeteria sometimes featured a muffin like this one. I didn’t love many of the cafeteria foods, but those muffins were a favorite and I always got excited when they were serving them!

These stir together easily and you can use any brand of Bran Flakes cereal you like!

Simple Bran Muffin RecipeYum

Simple Bran Muffin Recipe
 
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Serves: 12
Ingredients
  • 1 ½ cups whole wheat flour
  • ½ cup brown sugar or rapadura
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 egg
  • 1 ½ cups milk
  • 2 tablespoons melted coconut oil
  • 3 cups Bran Flakes cereal
  • ? cup raisins (optional)
Instructions
  1. Mix together flour, brown sugar, soda, cinnamon, and salt.
  2. Add egg, milk, and oil.
  3. Stir in cereal until well combined (along with raisins if you like)
  4. Scoop mixture into 12 paper-lined muffin tins.
  5. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 20-22 minutes or until muffins are golden brown.

One of my kids favorite ways to eat a muffin is if I cut them in half, smear butter on them, then warm them in our big air fryer. (We use our air fryer as a toaster oven as it works great to fill it with bread, bagels, or muffins and warm/toast them slightly. YUM!)

These taste great for breakfast, and also as a side dish with soup.

Are you an “add raisins to your muffins” kind of person or a “raisins don’t belong in muffins or cookies” kind of person? (Raisins are a no-go for me, except for snacks for the kids, ha!)

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Breakfast Cookie Cups – Perfect for Grab-and-Go!

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I turned my breakfast cookie recipe into Breakfast Cookie Cups. This is genius.

Not that Breakfast Cookies aren’t already convenient as a quick grab-and-go breakfast or snack option. But somehow having them in cupcake wrappers and baked in a muffin tin makes them even easier. Maybe they’re less crumbly? I dunno, but I really like them this way!

My kids are loving them, however, for our littlest, I skipped the chocolate chips to avoid extra messes. (How do they end up with chocolate chips melted onto their bottoms every time, I don’t know. So chocolate chip-less Breakfast Cookie Cups for all who are two and under at our house.)

Breakfast Cookie CupsYum

Breakfast Cookie Cups - Perfect for Grab-and-Go!
 
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Serves: 18
Ingredients
  • 1 cup melted butter
  • ½ cup honey
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 cups whole wheat flour
  • 2 cups rolled oats
  • ½ cup raisins or chocolate chips
Instructions
  1. Mix butter, honey, eggs, salt, cinnamon, baking soda, and vanilla.
  2. Stir in flour and oats.
  3. Fold in raisins or chocolate chips.
  4. Scoop heaping tablespoons of dough into paper-lined muffin tins.
  5. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

I double this recipe every time I make it simply because these freeze well and they are great to have in the freezer to serve as needed.

TIP: Add 1 cup of peanut butter to these if you want to add some protein. No other adjustments necessary.

Here are a few more great ideas for grab-and-go breakfasts:

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Hot Cocoa Oatmeal

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Look at this fun idea for Hot Cocoa Oatmeal!

Yum

My 7-year-old daughter found this idea in a magazine and we decided to try it at home. Whoa, but let me just pause for one moment to say: I never knew I’d be able to use “my” and “daughter” in the same sentence. And now I have four beautiful daughters plus two daughters-in-law!! Pictures to come as soon as our little girls’ adoptions are final!

So back to my 7-year-old daughter. :) She found a Hot Cocoa Oatmeal recipe in a Highlights magazine and wanted to try it. I don’t usually keep mini marshmallows on hand, but for this, I picked some up to surprise her. You can certainly make this breakfast or snack without them. I let my kids have four each instead of letting them fill their mugs. :)

This recipe is fun because you can make it ahead of time, then make a mug full whenever you need it. Beyond the marshmallows, this really is a healthy breakfast or snack option. My kids LOVED the chocolate flavor of this!

Hot Cocoa Oatmeal

Hot Cocoa Oatmeal
 
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Ingredients
  • 10 cup whole oats (divided)
  • 2 cups brown sugar or sucanat
  • 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 2 teaspoons sea salt
  • Mini marshmallows (optional)
Instructions
  1. Measure 7 cups of oats into a large mixing bowl.
  2. Blend the remaining 3 cups (1/2 cup at a time) until powdery and stir into the mixing bowl.
  3. Add brown sugar, cocoa powder, and sea salt.
  4. Mix well.
  5. Store in a large, airtight container.
  6. When ready to serve the oatmeal, scoop ½ cup of mix into a mug.
  7. Add ¾ cup boiling water.
  8. Stir.
  9. Allow the oatmeal and water to sit for about 5 minutes.
  10. Stir, add marshmallows if you like, and eat.

 

As you can see, this is a big-batch recipe. I love making recipes like this for my family so I can use my time and energy well. Having a large container of this on hand means I can boil water in the morning, scoop oatmeal mixture into mugs, and have a very quick and fun breakfast ready in just a few minutes with very little effort.

 

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Easy Chocolate Waffles

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Check it out! Chocolate Waffles!

This recipe is as simple as whisking some cocoa powder into your waffle batter, but suddenly you’ve created a specialty breakfast. Better yet, make these for dinner sometime for a fun, unique evening meal.

What I especially love about this waffle batter is that you can put leftover batter into the fridge to store and use later. This makes prep even easier, as all you have to do is pull out the ready-to-use batter and make yourself some waffles!

Easy Chocolate WafflesYum

Easy Chocolate Waffles
 
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Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
  • 3 cups whole wheat flour (I use freshly ground soft white wheat for these)
  • 1 heaping teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 Tablespoon sucanat or brown sugar
  • 3 heaping Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 4 eggs
  • 2½ cups milk
  • ½ cup melted coconut oil
Instructions
  1. Whisk ingredients together until smooth.
  2. Cook ½-3/4 cup mixture in a waffle iron for 3-4 minutes or until golden brown.
  3. Serve with fresh fruit and whipped cream.
  4. Store leftover batter in a secure container in the fridge.

Serve these Chocolate Waffles with regular (real) maple syrup. Or make this awesome Chocolate Syrup.

Here are more options for toppings:

Have you ever tried Chocolate Waffles?

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Easy Make-Ahead Breakfast Sandwich Ideas

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These breakfast sandwich ideas are easy and you probably already know how to put these together. But here’s your encouragement to make a bunch of breakfast sandwiches ahead and freeze them for easy meals!

Dare I throw my teenage kid under the bus and tell you about the time I got up early to make him a hearty breakfast sandwich before he left at 6:50 am for a tennis tournament? And how he was so grateful but then he put his hot sandwich in his tennis bag and forgot to eat it on the way to the tournament?? I can’t decide if I should tell you about that or not…

Well. At least I didn’t tell you which kid it was.

But back to how you can make breakfast sandwiches ahead of time.

I like to make a dozen or so at once, then individually wrap them in foil and warm them up in the oven or air fryer as needed when we need a grab-and-go breakfast with protein.

The great thing about making breakfast sandwiches is that you can use any variety of meats, breads, and cheeses that you have on hand and that your family likes!

Easy Make-Ahead Breakfast Sandwich IdeasYum

Start with any bread options you have like:

  • Bagels
  • English Muffins
  • Loaf Bread
  • Croissants
  • Hamburger Buns
  • Tortillas

Make eggs:

  • Scrambled
  • Fried
  • Boiled and made into egg salad

Prepare meat:

  • Sliced Ham
  • Sausage Patties
  • Bacon Strips
  • Sliced Turkey
  • Sliced Canadian Bacon

Add cheese:

  • Sliced Colby Jack
  • Sliced Pepper Jack
  • Sliced Cheddar

Assemble your sandwiches:

  1. If you want to wrap your sandwiches individually, prepare foil wraps according to how many sandwiches you plan to make. Lay them out on the counter.
  2. Place bread on each piece of foil wrap.
  3. Cook eggs – one per sandwich.
  4. Distribute cooked eggs onto each bottom part of the bread.
  5. Top with meat.
  6. Top with cheese.
  7. Place the top sandwich bread over the cheese.
  8. Wrap the sandwich with foil.
  9. Place wrapped sandwiches in freezer bags to store in the freezer or fridge to warm up as needed.
  10. Warm a thawed sandwich in a 350-degree oven or in an air fryer for about 10 minutes.
  11. Eat on the run.

Do you like to make breakfast sandwiches for an on-the-go option?

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Easiest Bread Pudding

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Can I claim that this is the Easiest Bread Pudding recipe when, in fact, I’ve never made a different recipe in which to compare it??

Just like any recipe, I wouldn’t share it if it wasn’t easy to make. I’d actually never attempted Bread Pudding until recently when I:

  • Had a bag of leftover pancakes in my fridge and
  • Needed something special to feed a large group.

So I did a little research, then adapted and created this. It’s a huge hit!

Easiest Bread PuddingYum

Easiest Bread Pudding
 
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Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
  • 6 slices stale bread or leftover pancakes
  • 3 Tablespoons of melted butter
  • 4 eggs
  • 2 cups milk
  • ½ cup brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • Topping:
  • 3 tablespoon butter
  • 1 tablespoon brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
  1. Butter a 9x13 inch baking dish.
  2. Tear bread or pancakes into small pieces and put them into the dish.
  3. Whisk together remaining ingredients and pour mixture over the bread pieces.
  4. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 35-45 minutes or until the middle doesn't jiggle.
  5. Just before Bread Pudding has finished baking, whisk the topping ingredients over low heat in a saucepan until melted and mixed.
  6. After removing pudding from the oven, drizzle topping over it right away.

This is truly a great option to make with leftover pancakes. I find that re-warming pancakes isn’t as tasty as serving them fresh off a griddle. So to cut them up and douse them in this milk and egg mixture to make Bread Pudding? Such a perfect idea!

The soccer team enjoyed this treat, as did our family. Are you a Bread Pudding fan?

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Easy Applesauce Cake

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This Easy Applesauce Cake is turning into our favorite fall breakfast treat!

Breakfast, you ask? Cake, you wonder? Yes, you know we eat cake for breakfast. The way we make cake, it’s like making muffins in a cake pan. :)

—> My Original Breakfast Cake recipe <—

The beauty of this Applesauce Cake is that if you have some apples that are starting to shrivel, making them not so appealing (<—get it?!), you can grind them up and use them in this cake. This leaves behind delightful little apple chunks in your cake.

But if you (or your kids) don’t want chunks, using applesauce to make this cake will be perfect. Apples or applesauce make this moist and delicious. This truly is a perfect fall breakfast cake.

Easy Applesauce CakeYum

Easy Applesauce Cake
 
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Ingredients
  • 1½ cups whole wheat flour
  • ¾ cup sucanat or ½ cup honey
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ¼ teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1 cup applesauce
  • 3 eggs
  • ⅓ cup melted coconut oil
Instructions
  1. Stir all dry ingredients together in a bowl.
  2. Add applesauce, eggs, and oil, stirring until well combined.
  3. Pour batter into a buttered 9x9 inch baking dish.
  4. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

 

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Moist Chocolate Muffins (With Hidden Spinach, ha)

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These Moist Chocolate Muffins are truly made moist because of spinach. And yes, it’s like a new obsession with me, apparently.

What’s an obsession? Oh, just that I keep blending spinach into my chocolate baked goods because guess what? NO ONE CAN TELL. It adds nourishment, and as an added bonus, it is making all of our chocolate baked goods extra moist. True story.

See, it’s chocolate cake. With spinach. And it’s awesome.

Read these to learn more and to join the craze:

And now, we are adding spinach to our Chocolate Muffins. It changes nothing about the taste of the muffins. It only makes them moist and easy to eat. Alrighty-then. Why have we not been doing this all along?

Moist Chocolate MuffinsYum

Moist Chocolate Muffins (With Hidden Spinach, ha)
 
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Serves: 24
Ingredients
  • ½ cup melted coconut oil
  • 1 cup milk
  • ½ cup sour cream
  • 2 eggs
  • 3ish handfuls of fresh spinach
  • ½ - ⅔ cup brown sugar or sucanat
  • ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 3 cups whole grain flour
  • 1¼ teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
  1. Place all ingredients into a high power blender, beginning with liquids.
  2. Cover blender and blend on high until the spinach is pureed and all ingredients are thoroughly mixed.
  3. Pour into 24 prepared muffin tins.
  4. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 20-24 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of a muffin comes out clean.

 

 

Can you make these muffins without a blender? Yes. But make sure you puree the spinach with the liquids first so that it isn’t chunky in your muffins.

When I mix all of my ingredients together in my Blendtec, I find that the spinach is no longer recognizable and simply adds moisture to the batter! Plus it makes the mixing part of this recipe super easy!

NOTE: I bake for a large family so this recipe is the double version. Cut ingredients in half if you only want to make a regular 12-muffin batch!

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The Only Muffin Recipe You’ll Ever Need

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What if we really only need one muffin recipe to get us through our muffin making needs?

Yum

Will we really never need another muffin recipe (besides this one) for as long as we all shall live?

Ok, fine. Not really. Man shall not live on one muffin recipe alone. I have 40+ more muffin recipes that we can enjoy here. Some of them even have cheesecake baked on top. So yeah. We’ll need those.

But if you were to look through all 40 muffin recipes, you would likely notice a theme. A similar grouping of ingredients in a very similar proportion.

It was while throwing together muffins one day that I realized: When making muffins, I pretty much make the same recipe every time. I just tweak it slightly depending on what kind of muffin I’m making.

AND THEN, that day I decided to just make one big muffin batter (I quadrupled my ingredients) – but create a variety of different muffins all with that same batter.

Eh?

Here’s what I did:

  1. I measured oil, eggs, milk, sour cream, flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt into my mixer.
  2. These are ingredients used in every single muffin that ever lived.
  3. I didn’t actually measure. I don’t measure. I eye-ball. I don’t know where my measuring spoons are and the kids ate my measuring cups.
  4. I mixed my ingredients and since I’m a big believer in making one big mess and turning out a large quantity of food (instead of making a small mess over and over and over every day), I “measured” my ingredients x4.
  5. I scooped the batter into 24 muffins plus one loaf pan.
  6. I finished off a container of shriveling blueberries onto the top of seven muffin batter cups. I sprinkled chocolate chips onto the top of 11 more. I left six muffins plain.
  7. I stirred freeze-dried strawberries into the loaf pan of batter.
  8. I baked the muffins and the bread.
  9. My family at the muffins and the bread and now I need to sweep my floor.

Muffin crumbs, man. Have you ever fed muffins to an 8yo, a 6yo, a 3yo, a 2yo, and a 1yo? Muffin crumbs are everywhere.

And now for the only muffin recipe you’ll ever really need.

I’m going to write the ingredients for us in large batch quantity. That way we can use this recipe to make many muffins of all different varieties. One big mess, lots and lots of crumbs. I mean, muffins.

The Only Muffin Recipe You’ll Ever Need

The Only Muffin Recipe You'll Ever Need
 
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Serves: 30
Ingredients
  • 4½ cups whole grain flour
  • 1 cup sugar, brown sugar, or sucanat
  • 1 Tablespoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 4 eggs
  • ½ cup sour cream (optional, but makes the muffins moist!)
  • ¾ cup melted coconut oil
  • 2 cups milk
Instructions
  1. Mix all ingredients together by hand or with a mixer.
  2. Scoop batter into prepared muffin cups or loaf pans.
  3. Add any fruit, nuts, or chocolate chips you would like.
  4. Bake bread at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Bake muffins at 400 degrees for 20ish minutes.

This recipe makes approximately 24 muffins and 1 loaf of quick bread. Or 36 muffins. Or three loaves of quick bread. Or 12 muffins and 2 loaves of quick bread.

Plus lots of crumbs when you feed them to babies.

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Flourless Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins (Big Batch!)

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Flourless Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins: When you create a muffin that the entire family loves to eat, you make a big batch and you share the recipe with the world!

Now, of course, I always put together a “big batch” of whatever I’m making because we have a large family. But even though we have a lot of kids, not all of them have teeth or eat much yet. So we don’t need as big of batches of steak and broccoli at this point. Muffins though?

Must. Make. Muffins. In. Big. Batch.

We go through muffins like crazy around here. Our just-turned-one-year-old only has a few front teeth, but she is good at gumming her little nibbles of muffins and she loves them! Our 2-year-old and 3-year-olds LOVE muffins. Our six and eight-year-olds love muffins. Our teens and adults love muffins. Well. We go through a lot of muffins around here.

Here are more muffin recipes!

40 + Real Food Muffin Recipes

Muffins Freeze WellYum

So that’s why I’m giving you a Big Batch recipe for these Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins. If we’re going to dirty up some dishes, why not make a big batch of something that freezes well? When I make these muffins, I set them out for today’s snack and tomorrow’s breakfast. Then, whatever is remaining goes into the freezer to pull out for another day!

I love that these muffins are flourless. I love that all of these ingredients go into a blender and are mixed up so easily. And of course, I love that these are moist and taste so delicious!

You can make them gluten-free (if you use GF oats) and dairy-free (if you use coconut oil and coconut or almond milk).

Flourless Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins

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Flourless Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins (Big Batch!)
 
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Serves: 24
Ingredients
  • 4 eggs
  • ½ cup milk
  • 4 overripe bananas
  • ½ cup melted butter or coconut oil
  • 3 cups whole rolled oats
  • ¾ cup brown sugar or sucanat
  • 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon sea salt
  • ½ cup chocolate chips (optional)
Instructions
  1. Put all ingredients (except for the chocolate chips) into a blender, beginning with the liquids.
  2. Blend until smooth.
  3. Fold in chocolate chips.
  4. Pour into 24 paper-lined muffin tins.
  5. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean.

 

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