Applesauce Bran Muffins – gluten-free & vegan options

These applesauce bran muffins are a favorite in our family for a number of reasons. One of them is they are delicious. Another is that the recipe comes from a dear friend.

It’s always fun when a recipe isn’t just delicious, but it carries some memories or special meaning with it.

It could be a family heirloom recipe or your favorite recipe from when you were a child (I still need to see if I can get my favorite childhood Irish Stew and Pasta Sauce and Meatball recipes somehow…..), or it could be something you had at a friend’s house.

For example, this recipe for Chocolate Avocado Pudding has its roots in a lovely visit with one of my college housemates.

Margaret’s Muffins

Margaret is a wonderful hostess who likes to cook simply and have people over often.

She will have you into her house even though it isn’t perfect –and she doesn’t expect yours to be either :).

In fact, Margaret and her husband, David, have been known to phone us while driving through our neck of the woods just to tell us that they are in town in the hopes that they can drop by.  Sometimes they have even called us from our driveway!

Now that’s my kind of friend!  Well, unless I have plans. Then I really want advanced notice…..only because we love them so much and can’t turn them down and then things get a little too chaotic for us.

Anyhow, Margaret is, like a lot of us, very busy–she has five children and she is very active in ministry. She doesn’t like to cook much and so her recipes tend to be simple. And she doesn’t make a fuss like cleaning her place like crazy when friends come over……like I said…my kind of friend!

She likes one pan meals like this Pakistani Kima (my recipe is based on hers). These applesauce bran muffins are no exception to her simple cooking rules.

You will probably have much of what you need in your pantry to make these so you can whip up a batch at a moment’s notice anytime. And enjoy these gluten-free bran muffins with the company, which is one of Margaret’s favorite things to do.

I remember having these with Margaret in her family’s apartment when my husband and I were newly married. I still remember staying up too late, walking a lot (Margaret loves to walk and swim), and just enjoying simple whole food–and company.

Besides whipping up a batch on the fly, you could also choose to bake multiple batches because they freeze well, though muffin baking experts say that mixing more than 1-2 batches at a time will result in an inferior product because their texture depends upon not too much stirring of the batter.

I don’t think I care. I care more about saving time than having the perfect muffin :).

They work great as regular or mini muffins, or you can try my favorite time-saving method by baking them on a baking stone as muffin tops! That saves the time-intensive cleaning of muffin tins.

Side benefit – these muffins are loaded with healthy bran.

Regardless of what kind of bran you use, each has a benefit. For example, here are the benefits of eating oat bran.

Recipe Notes

• If using gluten-free flour, increase baking powder and baking soda by 25%. Let batter set for 10 minutes before baking. See gluten-free baking tips for other helps.
• See this great homemade version of baking powder.
• An egg substitute like this homemade one will work instead of an egg. Other alternatives are a flax egg or chia egg.
• A healthy sweetener like organic sucanat or coconut sugar can be substituted for the low carb sweetener in the muffins. 4 scoops stevia (see this post for helpful info on how to use it) can be used but add an additional 1/2 cup applesauce.
• If you would like to make your own da
• Flour Choice:  You may find that you need to be flexible with the amount of flour that you use for this recipe depending on the grain that you choose.  You will want a very stiff dough that is not wet at all, like a shortbread. For spelt (if you are eating gluten), you will probably need about 5 1/2 cups. For other grains, you will have to play with it to see what works, but you do not want a runny gooey dough. You want it to be thick.
• For gluten-free flours, use 25% more baking powder and soda. I typically use whatever I happen to have on hand.   Yesterday I used 3 cups sweet brown rice flour with 1 1/2 cups sorghum with success. I had to increase the liquid to about 1 1/2 cups to make it pliable, however.
• For a sugar-free version, a mixture of 1/2 xylitol and 1/2 erythritol for the granulated sweetener works great.
• Egg Alternative: An alternative can be used instead of eggs – see Homemade Egg Replacer. Also a flax, chia, or gelatin egg could be used. I haven’t tried those with this recipe, however.
• Sweetener Options: You can substitute any healthy sweetener for the xylitol in the doughnuts, but if you use a liquid sweetener you may need to use a different amount, so read Substituting Sweeteners. For the topping, any healthy granulated sweetener can be used.
• Homemade Dairy-free Milks: Here are homemade versions of both coconut milk and almond milk, which will both work great as a milk substitute.
• Lemon Juice: Here is a great brand of organic lemon juice.
• Grain-free Option: This recipe should work with a grain-free / low-carb flour like almond flour by increasing the baking soda by 50% and reducing the coconut oil by half. I haven’t tried it yet but it should work.
• iry-free milk, here are homemade versions for almond milk, coconut milk, or rice milk.

Enjoy these gluten-free bran muffins with a cup of tea, your family members or a friend or two, and make sure that you don’t clean up too much before you invite a friend over to enjoy them!

What is your favorite kind of muffin?
What is a recipe you have that carries special memories with it?