This recipe for Apple Oat Bran Muffins is great for people who eat eat mostly gluten free, but can tolerate small amounts of gluten. I had been missing my old bran muffin recipe so I decided to look for a wheat free cereal to substitute for my previous wheat All Bran. The only cereal that I found in my local health food store that mentioned bran was Nature’s Path Organic Millet Rice Cereal with Oat Bran.
This cereal can not be considered gluten free because it is made with oat flour and oat bran. It also is sweetened with barley malt extract, which can have small amounts of gluten because of the barley.
Here is a statement from the Nature’s Path website about the oats in their cereal: “ As you may already know, it seems that the protein in oats does not do damage, but the concern is the possibility of cross contamination from wheat, rye or barley in the field or during the milling process. Therefore, at this time in North America most oats are not acceptable in a gluten free diet and organic gluten free oats are not available in the quantities required for our products.”
One of my readers brought this gluten problem to my attention and I am grateful that she took the time to comment. Thanks Lisa!
I’m lucky that my gluten intolerance is not severe, but I know that it can be for many of you. I wanted to be sure to give all of the facts so you could decide if this recipe works for you or not.
This cereal is in a flake shape so I just measure out what I need for my recipe and then place it in a sealed plastic baggie. I use my rolling pin to crunch it up into even sized little pieces.
This recipe makes 36 mini muffins, so it will make 12 regular sized ones. My original non-gf recipe that I perfected way back in 1992 had a topping of brown sugar, cinnamon and pecans or walnuts. I didn’t make it with the topping this time but I remember it was yummy! I will include it at the bottom of this recipe so you can try it.
I hope you are able to eat small amounts of gluten because I think you will be really happy with this muffin recipe. It tastes just like (as far as I can remember!) a regular bran muffin. I will also be testing another bran muffin recipe from my pre-gf days that doesn’t have any added fruit.
What other fruits do you like to add to your bran muffins?
I have quite a few other additions in mind to take the place of the apples- blueberries, bananas, dried apricots, the list could be endless!
I shared this recipe with Gallery of Favorites at Premeditated Leftovers, Gluten Free Wednesdays at The Gluten Free Homemaker, Full Plate Thursdays at Miz Helen’s Country Cottage, Fight Back Friday at Food Renegade, Sweets For A Saturday at Sweet As Sugar Cookies, Mouthwatering Monday at A Southern Fairytale, Pennywise Platter Thursday at The Nourishing Gourmet
Apple Oat Bran Muffins
Prepare muffin pans (this recipe makes 36 mini or 12 regular size)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Measure cereal (I use Nature’s Path Millet Rice Cereal with Oat Bran), place in sealed plastic baggie and crush into uniform sized small pieces.
If you don’t have issues with gluten, then I would suggest using Kelloggs All Bran, it’s what I used back in the days before I was gf. It is in little pieces that are already the right size to use.
In small bowl, combine rice milk, bran cereal and raisins. Let stand 5 minutes to soften the cereal.
3/4 cup rice milk
1 cup bran cereal
1/2 cup raisins
In a large bowl, beat eggs, brown sugar and oil, then add cereal mixture.
2 eggs
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup grapeseed oil
Mix dry ingredients in another bowl and then add apples to flour mixture.
1 and 1/4 cups GF Flour Mix*
1/4 cup ground flaxseed meal
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 and 1/2 cups finely chopped apples (I used Gala)
Add wet mixture to dry mixture and stir just enough to get rid of any dry spots of flour.
Spoon batter into prepared muffin pans (I use paper liners)
Sprinkle streusel topping on top of batter if desired.
Streusel Topping
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 and 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 cup pecans or walnuts, finely chopped
Bake 23-25 minutes using cookie sheets underneath the muffin pans and switch sheets from top to bottom halfway through baking time.
Gluten Free Flour Mixture*
The GF flour mixture that I use is pretty standard. I use Authentic Foods gluten free flours because they are ground more finely than commercial brand GF flours that you can buy off the shelf. This results in wonderful baked goods that do not have that “gritty” feel when you chew them like so many products that we all tried in the beginning!
GF Flour Mixture
2 cups AF Superfine Brown Rice Flour (available in the amazon.com store on my blog)
2/3 cup AF Potato Starch Flour (available in my store)
1/3 cup AF Tapioca Flour (available in my store)
I make up several batches of this mixture at a time and keep it in a canister. I keep all of my other GF flours in the freezer.
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My daughter told me last weekend that she missed bran type muffins since going gluten-free. I bet she would enjoy these muffins. Your idea of putting the cereal in a bag and using a rolling pin is brilliant. I bet this has many applications. If you have a chance, I would love for you to share this post with the Gallery of Favorites.
Alea, Thank you so much for your nice comment! I will be playing with more bran muffin recipes in the future. I wish I could take credit for the idea of using a rolling pin to crush the cereal flakes, but the truth is I saw it somewhere else!
These Apple Oat Bran Muffins sound really delicious. I love apple and oats together. My family can eat gluten, but these are muffins we would enjoy regardless!
Thank you April! I try to make all of my recipes adaptable for my non gluten free friends too!
Hi Andrea,
Your Apple Oat Bran Muffins look so warm and inviting on this cold rainy day, wish I had one! Hope you are having a great week end and thank you so much for sharing with Full Plate Thursday.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day and Come Back Soon!
Miz Helen
Andrea, I don’t know why I always have trouble with your site, but it responds very slowly for me. Your muffins look good. I will keep an eye out for that cereal the next time I’m at the health food store.
Thank you Linda! I’m sorry my site loads slow for you. I asked my WordPress guy about it and he said everything looked ok, so I’m not sure what the problem is.
Just an FYI. These are NOT Gluten Free muffins. The cereal you used in the recipe contains barley malt (which contains gluten). Also, when using oats– they must be certified GF oats (this includes the oat bran in the cereal). Almost all oats have been contaminated with wheat if they are not certified GF oats. This cereal would make someone with a true gluten-intolerance or celiac disease very sick.
Thank you very much for taking the time to comment Lisa! I really appreciate you bringing this to my attention and you will see that I rewrote the first part of this post to include information on gluten in oats and barley. Thanks again!