Make-Ahead Refrigerator Bran Muffins — The Prep-Ahead Thinking That Carries the Whole Season

Two weeks to Thanksgiving. The freezer is filling with Turkey Day prep: the pie shells are in there now, three of them, blind-baked and cooled and sealed in zip-lock bags. The cranberry sauce is done, six jars, made with fresh cranberries and orange zest and just enough sugar to make it not a condemnation of the cranberry itself. The rolls are shaped and frozen on sheet pans, thirty-six of them, to be placed in their pans the night before and proved overnight and baked Thanksgiving morning. The yams are cubed and frozen in bags because yams are one of those vegetables that survive freezing better than their reputation suggests.

The guest count for Thanksgiving is twenty-two adults and seven grandchildren, which at this stage means twenty-two adults and seven children in various states of being able to use utensils unsupervised. I have rented four card tables and placed them in the living room adjacent to the dining room in a configuration that allows enough seating and also allows the gravy to be passed between rooms without a relay team. Brandon helped me test the table configuration Sunday afternoon. He stood at one end and I stood at the other with a gravy boat full of water and we conducted a passing experiment. He said: this is the most you thing we have ever done. I said: the gravy boat passed without spilling. He said: I know. It was a compliment.

Ethan is studying for midterms, which is a new concept at seventh grade, and he is doing it at the kitchen table in the evenings because studying in his room apparently does not work as well, which I suspect has more to do with the proximity to snacks than the acoustics of the kitchen. I have been making his preferred study snack: homemade trail mix, peanuts and raisins and M&Ms and granola clusters, which I portion into small bags on Sundays and which has become part of his seventh-grade study ritual without either of us naming it as a ritual.

The same logic that put thirty-six dinner rolls in the freezer and six jars of cranberry sauce on the shelf is the logic that keeps a container of bran muffin batter in the back of the refrigerator. You make it once on a Sunday, and then all week — on a Tuesday morning before school, on a Thursday when Ethan materializes in the kitchen looking for something before he opens his trail mix — you just scoop and bake. It is the prep-ahead thinking applied to breakfast, and it asks almost nothing of you after the first hour.

Make-Ahead Refrigerator Bran Muffins

Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 18 minutes per batch | Total Time: 35 minutes (first batch) | Servings: 24 muffins (batter keeps up to 6 weeks)

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 1/2 cups wheat bran
• 1 cup boiling water
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup raisins (optional, but recommended)

Instructions

1. Hydrate the bran. Place 1 cup of the wheat bran in a medium bowl and pour the boiling water over it. Stir once and let stand 5 minutes until softened and cooled slightly.
2. Mix the dry ingredients. In a separate large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and remaining 1 1/2 cups of dry wheat bran until combined.
3. Cream butter and sugar. In a stand mixer or with a hand mixer, beat the softened butter and sugar on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla.
4. Combine wet and dry. Add the soaked bran mixture to the butter mixture and stir to combine. Alternating, fold in the flour mixture and the buttermilk in three additions each, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Stir only until just combined — do not overmix. Fold in the raisins if using.
5. Store the batter. Transfer the batter to a large lidded container or divide among two quart-sized containers. Refrigerate for at least 8 hours before using, or up to 6 weeks. The batter will thicken as it chills.
6. Bake when ready. Heat oven to 375°F. Grease a standard 12-cup muffin tin or line with paper liners. Scoop cold batter — do not stir it down — filling each cup about 3/4 full. Bake 17 to 19 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and the tops are set and lightly browned. Cool in the pan 5 minutes before turning out.

Nutrition (per muffin)

Calories: 185 | Protein: 4g | Fat: 5g | Carbs: 33g | Fiber: 3g | Sodium: 210mg