muffin mondays: kris’s no-bake chocolate chip bran muffins

This week, Kris from Married to Chocolate brings her special chocolatey touch to mornings. Kris also specializes in low maintenance: these muffins are almost no-bake and come together as fast as you’ll eat them.

I’m a serious believer in dessert emergencies–when you gotta have something sweet, stat. As in, right now. As in, yesterday.

I’m also a serious believer in no-bake desserts. I started No-Bake Mondays on Married to Chocolate because I wanted my desserts fast, cheap, and easy. But the real story why I got into no-baking is because I was oven-less for a year and I had to be creative (that, and I’m a lazy baker).

This insanely easy Chocolate Chip Bran Muffin recipe is not entirely no-bake; you need a microwave to make them. Still. Sticking them in a microwave for one and a half minutes beats waiting half an hour to bake them in the oven, don’t you think? So if you’re anything like me and you have the patience of a five-year-old when it comes to desserts, this recipe is for YOU.

I made these for the first time today and they turned out great! I’ve never made muffins before, let alone microwave muffins. Nervous, I stood watching the muffin tray turn in the microwave with my fingers crossed saying, “please rise, please rise, please, please.” And they did!

More than that, the muffins came out ridiculously moist, dense, and not the least bit airy. They’re made with bran so they have a light, whole grain taste to them that’s awesome with chocolate. I topped the muffins with chocolate chips right out of the microwave so the chocolate was melting as I ate them— ayayay. YUM.

A few tips:

You can also make this in a regular oven. Preheat at 350 and bake for 25-30 minutes and do the whole toothpick test. I made a bunch with white chocolate chips and cranberry. They were awesome. If you don’t use up all the batter, you can keep it in the freezer for up to four weeks.

Chocolate Chip Bran Muffins

makes 18

Ingredients

1 cup boiling water
2 cups All Bran cereal
1 cup Bran Flakes cereal
2 cups buttermilk
2 eggs, beaten
½ cup vegetable oil
2 ½ cup flour
2 ½ tsp baking soda
½ cup chocolate chips
1 and ½ cup sugar
½ tsp salt
walnuts (optional)

Preparation

1. In a large bowl, pour boiling water over cereal. Stir in the rest of the ingredients and mix well (leave some chocolate chips to top with).
2. Line a plastic muffin tray with paper liners. Spoon batter in 4/5 of the way.
3. “Bake” in microwave for one minute and a half. Garnish with chocolate chips and walnuts.
4. Ta-dah! Muffins in 15 minutes–including prep time. Enjoy!