As I was editing the above and below photos of the Banana All-Bran Muffins I recently made for my Dad, I started to feel strangely emotional.
Mind you, I wasn’t getting teary over the muffins themselves. Sure, they’re deliciously soft-yet-hearty-and-healthy treats packed with fibrelicious All-Bran Fibre Toppers and sweet ripe bananas, but they’re not quite worth getting misty-eyed over.
My Dad, on the other hand, is well worth a bit of overflowing gratitude and happiness. Whether we’re standing in the kitchen chatting as he makes us cups of tea or it’s me in the kitchen preparing coffee and chocolate for our weekend Downton Abbey viewings (Mum included, of course); whether he’s texting me encouragement to take a great-wide-soaring leap despite the inherent risks, or I’m standing in the garage wondering if he’ll ever finish the doll’s house he started building when I was knee-high to a grasshopper… my Dad is always there, always supportive, and always someone I’m proud to know.
Plus, as you can see in the photo below, sometimes Dad and I match our outfits to each other’s eye colours. Is that the sign of a wonderful father-daughter relationship or what?
A few weeks ago, Nuffnang ran an ad for Kellogg’s new All-Bran Fibre Toppers on the side of my blog. My Dad clicked on the ad, and then sent me an email asking if I could make him the Banana All-Bran Fibre Toppers Muffins the ad had led him to. I may or may not have clapped at the screen when I saw this email, for I’m always nudging Mum and Dad to let me know what and when I can bake for them.
You see, baking treats for my parents makes me feel better about using their washing machine every weekend.
Yep, I’m that daughter. But I swear, they love knowing they’ll get to experience the glory of my company at least once a week. Right, Mum and Dad? Right?
As I didn’t change the muffin recipe substantially, I shan’t reprint it here. Food blogger ethics and all that jazz! For the recipe, please see Fuss Free Cooking.
Question Time: What do you love about your Dad?
What a sweet post! Dads are the best.
Along with mums and grandpas and grandmas and brothers and sisters and friends and puppies and chocolate and sprinkles and…
Your Dad is a lucky guy! Those muffins look great.
And I’m a lucky daughter, woot! Everybody wins!
what a sweet post
but the all important question….did he like said muffins???
Oh golly, how could I forget to mention that?
I believe the answer is a resounding ‘yes’ 
I like how ur dad sent his request of bakegoods via email. I hope to have the same closeness with my child one day, just like u and ur
Thanks for the link!
Aw, me too! I’m sure you and any future children will have nothing but closeness in your relationship
What a gorgeous post, lovely
I love how Dad will always quietly come through, with anything you ask. With no fuss. He’s just awesome. I need Downton Abbey in my life!!
Heidi xo
*gasp* Do you mean to say you… haven’t watched any Downton Abbey? Oh Heidi! You must rectify this immediately. If only we were in the same city, we could have regular DA-dinner-girlfriend nights! xo
Oh no, never fear! I have seen it, but only what’s been on channel 7. I miss it!!! When is it coming baaaaaaack?? Hope your day was smashing xo
Oh good!! My parents ordered the Blu-Ray DVDs from Amazon UK because it’s been out for ages there and we didn’t want to wait to watch it with crappy ads months from now
But I’ll just tell you that I love, love, love season two *so* much more than season one! The characters are so much broader and just, well, better. 
(The pokey-tongue faces are because I feel like I’m being mean and teasing you, when really I’m just trying to ensure you stay excited!
And my day was… well, the end of it at gospel was lovely! Hope yours was wonderful xo)
Dads! Yay dads. Yours sounds like one of the good ones. Also the thought of getting emotional over a Banana All-Bran Muffin made me chuckle. Bran! Ha! Thanks, Hannah.
Bran and I have a love that is timeless. We go together like peanut butter and chocolate, like puppies and cuddles. I was most certainly one of those bizarre twelve-year-olds who preferred warm All-Bran mush in the mornings to sugary cereals
What a lovely post
And by the looks of it, lovely muffins – a perfect baking gift for your Dad (and Mum!) by the sounds of it. I keep meaning to try these all bran toppers but haven’t yet; perhaps this recipe will inspire me.
I am thankful to my Dad for so much, it’s sometimes a bit emotion-provoking for me too.
Alas no, Mum could take no part in these creations! Apart from the fact that she detests bananas, they were far too wheat-y and dairy-y for her delicate constitution. These muffins represented a Dad-Only kind of love
Aw, squish! Yay for wonderful dads
I’m happy you have such a great relationship with your dad! My dad and me didn’t have for the first 20 years of my life, but we’ve both worked on it and on learning each other. I love that my dad tries so hard and really loves me despite the fact I’m so difficult for him to get.
There is something truly wonderful about a relationship that maintains an undying strength and love despite occasional barriers to communication. I’m so glad you and your dad are getting to place of mutual respect and understanding xox
Bran muffins. They sound so…so old fashioned, right? But they’re still so good.
Old-fashioned in a perfect Little House On The Prairie way
Oh, how I longed to be Laura Ingalls getting picked up in a blizzard by Almanzo… but I digress.
Lovely post and I’ll be using that recipe sometime soon too.
My father is much harder to cook for. Not because I’m a lousy cook but because, in the heady days of Sizzler all-you-can-eat restaurants in the 1980s, he’d sigh afterwards and say, “Let me die with my mouth open under the chocolate mousse tap.”
You just let me know if you want me to ship over some Fibre Toppers. Because clearly, there wouldn’t be anything here in Australia that you’d yearn for more than BRAN DELICIOUS BRAN.
Bahahaha! I love your Sizzler memory, because in my family the Sizzler memory involves my brother eating two bowls of ice cream and then going back…. for pickled onions.
what parent could resist a daughter using their washing machine regularly if you turn up with such baked goods! and what daughter could resist a father who is making a doll’s house – I am still recovering from never having a dolls house as a child – though of course my parents have one for the grandkids!!! Maybe your dad will finish this one for the grandkids
Grandkids? Don’t you go impregnating me yet, Johanna! I’ve got some more travelling to do first!
And teehee, thank you for your support for my naughty washing-machine using. 
Hmmm … Washing machine using or washer woman using? But yes, the company, the coffe and chocs, and the scrambled eggs on toast with Vegemite are all worth it.
See? Now I’m all full of smiles
And the balance works particularly well when the scrambled eggs on toast with vegemite make it to you rather than to the kitchen floor! 
Aww I bet your dad is so proud! Happy birthday to him!
Ah, not quite a birthday, but I’ll pass on your lovely message next February
These muffins must be delicious. I love allbran and bananas, never tried it out in muffins, great idea.
Can I be sneaky and take the credit for the recipe idea? No, I think the bad karma fairy would smack me if I did
Thank you for your comment!
My dad and I have been playing a lot of cribbage lately. I’ve been kicking his butt big time:) Because YUSSSSS! my parents are currently visiting. Hence the real reason why I haven’t been online much this past week;)
AAAAAAAAAAAH CRIBBAGE!!!!! That’s another ZWHOOOOSH in our destined-to-be friendship knot! Although I play crib with my grandpa more than my pa
Aw yay, parent visit! I assume they brought you much chocolate? Say hello to them for me, and particularly to your loverly mum!
Aww.. so sweet:) so cool that he asked for all bran muffins:)
I’m training him well.
Those look delicious!
Tops post and I have to try these muffins (reentering cooking phase thank goodness).
My Dad too is amazing. He lives far away from me now (in Sydney) and one of the main reasons I’d love to come out for a long long loong holiday is to hang with my folks (we call them The Kids). My Dad is a wild one. He used to race speedboats and have big sideburns I’m proud of. Now he is building his second hot rod and destroys me at tennis and comes over to Italy to fix everything that doesnt work in my house. He also laughs at my jokes. If we could find men as cool as our dads!
Oh, what a transition from the life of a celebrated Lady About London back to the kitchen!
(In truth, I think I could happily have a life involving both of those options… having only one might destroy the spirit.)
Oh!! I’m a little bit in love with your Dad too. I adore the fact that our dads will always come over to fix things in our homes, although I must admit that going all the way to Italy is a particularly huge, huge feather in both your and your dad’s caps. That’s a serious bond right there
And oh yes. A man as cool as my dad (and my brother) would be a mighty fine man indeed.
You and your dad share a beautiful relationship filled with love and bran
Awesome!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Love and bran. The foundation of every healthy relationship
awwww… that is so sweet!
I bet he enjoyed those muffins!!
Awwww… aren’t dads the very best?? My dad is super far away (back in Atlanta, GA) but we chat on Skype. I love that he always thinks it’s very important that I know the score of the baseballs games that he watches on TV. I love baseball (it’s OUR thing… me and Daddy) and I love hearing his re-cap of the games.
SarahKate, that’s is so incredibly lovely! It’s those little and unique, but ever-so-important, facets to relationships that make them so beautiful and sustaining, isn’t it?
Yum, I love banana muffins – so simple, but always delicious!
Except for banana and caper muffins. Those aren’t very delicious at all.
Is that the dress you got from Paris? Have I seen it in a previous post? I love these muffins. These look great. What a great, tasty, healthy recipe xx
I am so incredibly impressed by you right now. That is, indeed, the dress from Paris, and yes, you’ve seen it before – from this night, actually! Mum just put her photos from her birthday dinner in March up on Facebook, and I liked this one of Dad and me, so I stole it
How sweet! I love how close your family is.
The best thing about my dad is he is so funny. We have so many inside jokes from childhood that will never stop being hilarious to me.
Inside jokes are representative of AWESOMENESS. I kinda like my family too
Dads like that don’t come around everyday you know; Hold on to this one, he sounds like a real keeper. I absolutely treasure the relationship I have with my dad, because it was very hard won, so I understand the emotional muffin moment completely.
“Emotional muffin moment”. I feel like that has to become a set phrase from now on
And yes, I do think I will hold onto my dad. I will defend our relationship with glittering diamond swords against all dragons.
Such a cute photo! My dad loves hearty banana muffins too. What don’t I love about my dad?
Brilliant answer! And thank you
Aww, it’s lovely to hear how much you love your dad and what an awesome relationship you have.
I think muffins for use of washing machine is a very fair trade. I think maybe he should have even helped you fold your clothes hehe ;P
Thank you April; I feel very lucky to have the relationship we do
Bahaha! Shhh… Mum totally sometimes even folds my clothes and drops them off to me at work. She is a GEM.