Raisin Bran Muffins Recipe

This vintage recipe for Raisin Bran muffins uses buttermilk! An Easy to mix together, one-bowl, one-spoon recipe and batter that stores in the fridge so you can make fresh and addictive muffins each morning.

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Ingredients

Then & Now- Kellogg's and Post

I watch the docudrama show on History Channel called, "The Food That Built America." It's not dull like some history shows and it's so well produced- I'd say it is like watching Dateline! There was an episode that featured The Kellogg Brothers, creators of Kellogg's various cereals. Season 2-Episode 16 "Breakfast Barons."

It starts with the two brothers, John and Will Kellogg around the turn of the century. Circa 1890's. John was a Medical Doctor at Battle Creek Sanitarium in Michigan and his brother worked for him in bookkeeping, staffing, and maintenance.

Dr. Kellogg was very into health treatments and had all kinds of scary experiments going on. But one thing he felt strongly about was how important food was to health and body well-being.

They started making a healthy breakfast cereal that was like granola to feed to the patients. During this time, a patient arrives. He had what they referred to as a "nervous breakdown." This patient had been a serial entrepreneur. No pun intended. 🙂

He was still struggling to get well so to earn his keep and stay, he started working in the kitchen. He was watching everything they were doing and decided to turn their health treatment into his own breakfast product business.

Basically, he took everything he saw there and made a cereal company out of it, all in the name of wellness. His name was C.W. Post. That's right! The cereal brand Post. Grape-Nuts. You wouldn't believe all the ailments Grape-Nuts can cure. 🙂

Then, the asylum burns down. Will, the entrepreneur, bookkeeper brother starts a business called Kellogg's and goes to compete against Post with their version of cereal. Corn Flakes. Corn Flakes were accidentally created because they left some dough on the counter overnight.

C.W. Post has grown to a multimillion-dollar company. However, he is still plagued by mental and physical illness and ends up taking his own life. It is heartbreaking. There are medications out today that probably could have saved him from such suffering.

In his will, he leaves the company to his 27-year-old daughter,  Marjorie Merriweather Post, who turns out to be the hero of the story. She becomes the mogul of General Foods.

It's a fascinating real-life story that leaves you wanting to know more. The hatred between the two competitors, the mistress, the heartbroken ex-wife, the mental illness, torture experiments...I'll never walk down the cereal aisle the same.

All this being said, as far as Raisin Bran goes, I think Kellogg's tastes much better than Post Raisin Bran. I love some Post's cereal too, especially Grape-Nuts.

So guess what? It wasn't Post or Kellogg that came up with Raisin Bran. It was another cereal maker in 1926 named Skinner's Raisin-BRAN. It wouldn't be until 17 years later that Post and Kellogg's introduced their version of Raisin Bran Cereal.

My Recipe for Raisin Bran Muffins

This was one of the first recipes that I collected in my early teens. It's a one-bowl recipe. You really can't mess this recipe up.

1980s. I was babysitting for a neighbor and she was a wonderful cook. There were always treats in her kitchen. She had a tin sitting on the counter and told me there were muffins for me if I got hungry.

The shiny round Christmas tin was filled with these little mini muffins. I had never seen mini-sized muffins before.

By the time she came home, I had eaten half of the tin. I was so embarrassed. The best thing to do was tell her how delicious they were and ask for the recipe. I still have her hand-written recipe card and have been making them ever since.

Keeps In The Fridge

I've modified the recipe a few times over the years but it is still the same ingredients. On the card, she wrote that the raw batter can "Keep" in the fridge for 6 weeks before you bake the muffins. I think that is a bit too long so I have reduced it to 2 weeks. You will want to make sure to "Keep" it in a glass bowl container with a sealed lid.

You could even place the batter in a Gallon Sized Ziplock Bag. I prefer just to bake all of the muffins at the same time and then freeze some of the muffins and thaw them for later days.

Breakfast, Lunch or Dinner

These muffins, at any size you make them, can be served as part of breakfast, lunch or dinner. They are especially good as an afternoon snack when the kids get home from school or to grab on the way to work in the morning.

I store them in the refrigerator once they are cooled and then heat in the microwave before eating them.

You can also make small loaves, since this is considered a Quick Bread, like my Pumpkin Bread or Banana Bread recipes.

The Ritual of Eating These Muffins

Yes, these are mini-muffins and I like to pull the paper off of each one. Then, glide a little half-teaspoon dollop of butter spread over the warm center, watch it melt a little, and then pop it in my mouth. They are so good! You would eat half the tin too.

Recipe Tips

Watch the Quick Video Below to see the process!