# Crumbly Bran Muffins



## jaime625 (Feb 10, 2012)

I have a bran muffin recipe that our family grew up on. A few years ago, one of the original ingredients was discontinued in the US so the mission started to find a proper substitute...

I have come up with a substitute that tastes almost exactly the same. The only problem now is that the new version ends up a lot more crumbly.

Does anyone have any tips on how to make it less crumbly?

Here is the recipe...

Refrigerator Bran Muffins

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup boiling water
1/2 cup prune juice
2 cup Grape Nuts Bran cereal
4 cup Kellogg's All Bran cereal
3 cup sugar
1 cup shortening
4 eggs (well beaten)
1 qt butter milk
1 tsp salt
5 tsp baking soda
5 cup flour
Directions

Mix boiling water, prune juice and Grape Nuts together and let cool.
Add eggs and butter milk and mix well.
Add all remaining ingredients.
Bake at 350° for 20 minutes.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!


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## chefbillyb (Feb 8, 2009)

What was the old ingredient that was discontinued ???? and what was the sub, we may have a better idea for a sub that doesn't react like this one does..................Chefbillyb


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## jaime625 (Feb 10, 2012)

The ingredient that is no longer made (at least in the US) is Post's 100% Bran cereal. The only cereal that I could find that was close to the same ingredients was Grape Nuts. The problem was that the 100% Bran had prunes as an ingredient so I replaced some of the water with prune juice to give it that needed flavor.

So here are the original ingredients and what was used in the substitutions...

Original

2 cups boiling water
2 cups Post's 100% Bran cereal
Substitutes

1 1/2 cup boiling water
1/2 cup prune juice
2 cup Grape Nuts Bran cereal
I found in some other posts on the website that it was suggested to reduce the flour and baking soda just a little bit and that seems to work better. But if someone has any other insight, I would greatly appreciate it.

Also, there is one other thing that seems to be a little bit "off" from the original recipe. It seems weird, but sometimes when I make the new version the muffins are a nice dark brown (like bran muffins are supposed to be) and sometimes the muffins are a much lighter color. They taste the same, but I have never seen a recipe where the baked product could change so much in coloration from one batch to another. I mean the color differences were like a light tan and a dark brown. Very strange!

Thanks for your help!


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## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

When America's Test Kitchen was doing Bran Muffins, they found that the Bran product you used had a texture impact. They preferred the ones that come in sticks.  I think it was Kelloggs All Bran Original


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## jaime625 (Feb 10, 2012)

There are 2 kinds of cereal in this recipe. The Kelloggs All Bran Original (sticks) and the Posts 100% Bran. I think I've read the same information about the "sticks" that you mention, so I do use the sticks version of the All Bran, but the other cereal is the one that I think is causing the issues. I have tried to find a "stick" version for the 100% Bran substitute but I haven't been able to find any thing.


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## jaime625 (Feb 10, 2012)

Ingredients for the original cereal and the substitute...

Post 100% Bran:

Wheat Bran, Sugar, Malted Barley Flour, Salt, Fig and Prune Juice Concentrates

Post Grape Nuts:

Whole Grain Wheat Flour, Malted Barley Flour, Salt, Dried Yeast


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## petemccracken (Sep 18, 2008)

OK, I'm confused, is this: http://www.postfoods.com/cereals/post_100_percent_bran/ the cereal you are trying to find a substitute for?


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## jaime625 (Feb 10, 2012)

Yes, that is the cereal that is no longer sold in the US. Post is actually a Canadian company and for some reason a few years ago they decided to stop selling the 100% Bran cereal here in the US. But it is available in Canada.


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