Bonne Bouche Bran Muffins

Nirvana…

I did it!

A smaller version of Mimi’s Cafe’s Honey Bran Muffin!

If you’ve ever had one of these at the restaurant, you know that they’re more dessert than a bread, but I just call them perfection.

This recipe makes a lot of muffins, but it’s hard to cut in half due to ingredient quantities, so I like to bake 12 muffins and freeze the rest of my batter and syrup (separately) to have it ready to go for another batch later.

TIPS: I highly recommend using a stand mixer and really good food processor for this recipe. Otherwise, it can really be a beast to work with the prunes.

NOTES: The butter temp is really important, otherwise it won’t cream right w/ the sugars! I use a meat thermometer (see top, left pic) to let me know when it’s come up to temp enough to cream.

Bonne Bouche Bran Muffins Recipe

Ingredients

• 3 large eggs
• 2 (9 oz) bags pitted prunes, pureed in food processor
• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 2 cups 2% buttermilk
• 13 Tbsp honey, divided (5 Tbsp for syrup + 8 Tbsp [1/2 cup] for batter)
• 1 cup wheat bran
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup salted butter, softened to 67^◦
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 3 Tbsp boiling water
• 2 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp freshly ground Himalayan pink salt

Directions

1. In a large bowl, cream 1/2 cup dark brown sugar, 1/2 cup granulated sugar, and 1/2 cup butter, until fluffy.
2. Add 5 Tbsp honey and 3 Tbsp boiling water, then beat until thoroughly combined.
3. In 2 12-muffin tins, use a basting brush to coat bottom and sides of each well with syrup mixture.
4. In another large bowl, mix 2 – 9 oz bags of prunes, remaining 8 Tbsp honey, and 1/3 cup vegetable oil, until well combined and smooth. Depending on how thoroughly you pureed your prunes, there may be little chunks and that’s fine as long as they’re really small (like flakes rather than chunks).
5. Add 3 eggs, 2 cups buttermilk, and 1 cup bran, then mix until well combined.
6. In a medium bowl, sift together 3 cups flour, 2 1/2 tsp baking soda, and 1 1/2 tsp salt.
7. Add 1/3 of flour mixture at a time to prune mixture, mixing until just combined before adding next 1/3. Once last 1/3 added, also mix until just combined.
8. Preheat oven to 375^◦ F.
9. Transfer 1/3 cup of batter to each muffin tin well.
10. Bake on center rack for 25 mins, until springy to the touch.
11. When baking is done, remove from oven and allow to cool for 5 mins.
12. Once initial cooling time passes, invert onto a wire rack to fully cool.

Nutrition Facts
Serving size: Muffin
Servings: 24
Amount per serving
Calories	259
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 8.2g	11%
Saturated Fat 3.5g	18%
Cholesterol 35mg	12%
Sodium 220mg	10%
Total Carbohydrate 45.8g	17%
Dietary Fiber 3g	11%
Total Sugars 26.7g
Protein 4g
Vitamin D 5mcg	24%
Calcium 43mg	3%
Iron 1mg	8%
Potassium 216mg	5%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calorie a day is used for general nutrition advice.

#LactoOvoVeg