Finally I baked some muffins after a long break. All these days something was stopping me from getting into the kitchen for baking. But now that I have baked these double chocolate muffins, I have sort of got into the baking mood and all I can think of now is what can I bake next. For me baking is addictive, once I start it there is no stopping. The only bad thing about this is that I will start packing pounds eating all of it. Already the 2 months vacation in India, Navarathiri and Diwali celebrations has sent the scales tipping way more than it should be. I have to find some way to enjoy baking and also not to gain weight. Any suggestions?
We are also super excited about our first recipe video ever. Hope you all like it. The credit goes to my husband for shooting, editing and all the other technical aspects which goes into it. As always we are open to any constructive comments about the video, so that we can do better in our next attempts.
I found this recipe for double chocolate muffins here a long time back. Maybe even a year or so. Finally got a chance to bake it yesterday. The secret ingredient in this muffin recipe is the Fiber One original bran cereal. It has about 13gms fiber in a ½ cup serving and zero sugar. I don't like this cereal all by itself, so I mix it with some other cereal. So if you too don't like a particular cereal then you should be using it up by preparing these delicious double chocolate muffins. You will hardly notice it.
Recipe
Double Chocolate Muffins Recipe & Video
Ingredients
- 1 Cup Fiber One Original Bran Cereal
- 1 And ⅓ Cups Buttermilk
- ¼ Cup Oil (I Used Vegetable Oil)
- ¼ Cup Pureed Banana (About ½ A Banana)
- 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- ¾ Cup Brown Sugar (I Used Light Brown)
- 1 Cup All Purpose Flour
- ½ Cup Cocoa Powder
- 1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
- ¼ Teaspoon Baking Powder
- ¼ Teaspoon Salt
- ⅓ Cup Mini Chocolate Chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375F/190C for 15 minutes. Line a muffin tin with paper liners or grease it with some cooking spray.
- Place the cereal in a zip-loc bag and crush it coarsely or use a food processor.
- Soak the crushed cereal with the buttermilk in a large bowl for 5 minutes.
- Add the oil, pureed banana, vanilla extract and brown sugar to the cereal mixture and stir it.
- Sift in the flour, cocoa, baking soda/powder and salt directly over the wet ingredients, breaking lumps if any.
- Combine everything until just moistened. Do not over mix.
- Stir in the chocolate chips.
- Fill the muffin cups with the batter, about ¾ths full in each cup. I got only 10 muffins for the above measurement even though the original recipe was for 12 muffins. So fill some water in the empty tins about ½ full, to ensure even baking.
- Bake for about 15-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Mine was done by 16 minutes.
- Remove the muffin tin from the oven and place it on a cooling rack for about 5 minutes. Serve the muffins warm or at room temperature.
My Notes
- I used about ½ a medium size banana and pureed it with little water in a blender. ¼ cup of unsweetened applesauce or pureed prune (from the baby food aisle) is also a good alternative.
- For the flour you can use ½ whole wheat flour and ½ all purpose flour as mentioned in the original recipe or even a cup of whole wheat pastry flour.
- You can also lightly grease the muffin liners with some cooking spray so that you can remove the muffins almost immediately from the liner without most of the muffin sticking to the paper. Or else you will have to wait for at least 45-60 minutes.
Taste & Texture
- Even before tasting, I was ecstatic when I removed these double chocolate muffins from the oven because they looked perfect. I would say that these were the best looking muffins I have ever baked. I couldn't wait to taste it. My friend had come over to my place so we both tasted it and we loved it. She was all praises for the muffin. I personally liked the texture of the cereal in the muffin. I did not powder it completely, so there were small bits and pieces of the cereal here and there which gave a nice texture to the muffins. The sweetness was just right and the house was filled with the wonderful aroma of chocolate. The muffins do have a subtle banana flavor. If you don't like it then you should try unsweetened applesauce instead.
nandini says
can i substitute cereal with oats or oatmeal?
Madhuram says
Hmm..probably. Not sure though.
Sneha says
Where do we get this fiber one bran cereal. All others are easily available
Madhuram says
You can use any other high-fiber cereal, Sneha.
Shaily says
Dear Madhuram
Last time I baked it with soy milk, but this time I baked it with buttermilk and still it didn't bake 🙁 It was in semi-liquid state from the middle... I don't know why is this happening... could you please suggest something to avoid it ? 🙁 🙁
Shaily says
Dear Madhuram
I baked these muffins exactly the same way as you've written in the recipe. I just made two differences (1) I used soy milk (instead of buttermilk) and I baked it as a cake in 18cm round dish.
Unfortunately the cake didn't bake at the bottom (it was the same as it was before baking) and got a hard crust on the top. I could easily separate the crust from the bread.
Please advise me how I can avoid this bad baking 🙁 🙁
Regards
Shaily
Madhuram says
How long did you bake the cake for and at what temperature?
Shaily says
I baked it for 30 mintues. I didn't use pre heat option. In my microwave there is one button for bakin cakes so i used that.. I don't know the temprature...May be I should learn to fix temprature in my microwave... 🙁
Madhuram says
That's it then. Because when I read your other comment about the semi-liquid state I immediately thought that there was some trouble with your oven. Do you have a convection microwave oven or a regular oven. In any case you have to check the manual for the instructions to bake because I don't have experience baking in microwave oven.
Shaily says
Thanks, Madhuram. Yes, I have a convection microwave, but i don't know how to use pre-heat option. I will check the manual. Thanks a lot 🙂
Swatti says
Can we use quick cooking oats instead of bran and what can we substitute for pur?ed banana ?
Will be waiting for your reply.
Madhuram says
Swatti, I don't know how it will turn out using oats instead of the bran cereal. Any other pureed fruit can be used instead.
Roshni Prakash says
Hi,
I stay in Delhi. Wanted to ask you what this 1 Cup Fiber One Original Bran Cereal is? Is it available here?
Thanks,
Roshni
Madhuram says
Hi Roshni, it's a variety of high fibre breakfast cereal. I don't know if the same or something similar is available in India or not. Try using any other cereal instead of that if you are not able to find it.
prem says
you mentioned 'how do i get into baking without gaining weight?" Have you tried baking with almond flour- grain and carbohydrate free. It's really refined foods and carbs that make us fat- not fat. Fat is good for you.
check out this link: http://www.elanaspantry.com/the-gluten-free-almond-flour-cookbook/#about
Madhuram says
Thanks Prem. I did get that book too recently. Waiting to get some good quality almond flour here in Canada.
Cham says
Nice video, expected ur voice at least , kidding great capture.
That is healthy fibrous muffins 🙂
Ennama Maruthani color unga kaiyilla pidichurruku, superb 🙂
Madhuram says
Thanks Cham. My friend here in Canada got it from an Indian store and gave it to me. It's the cone type marudhani.
Killer On The Plate says
Thanks for the video, the cupcakes look so mosit I could just eat them off the screen. Coincidentally I made similar cupcakes last evening using carrot cinnamon and chocolate. Will surely try out this combination soon enough though.
Regards,
Privish from Killer On The Plate
Nisha says
Thanks Madhuram! 🙂