Berry Muffins

I love muffins loaded full of fresh berries. And I mean loaded - more berries than batter!  Any berries will do in this recipe, it's really just a base recipe I came up with that works well for me and can easily be changed up to suit your tastes or what you have in your kitchen.

ingredients:

• 2 cups flour (I use half whole spelt and half whole wheat)
• 1/2 cup rolled or quick oats
• 1/4 cup dry sugar of your choice
• 1 Tablespoon baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 tsp xanthan gum (can omit if you don't have it)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• zest of 1 orange (optional)
• 1/2 cup soy / rice / almond milk, plain or vanilla
• 1/2 cup light oil (I use sunflower)
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• juice of orange you zested (optional, if not using you may have to add a smidgen oil or milk beverage)
• 1 3/4 - 2 cups fresh or frozen whole berries, a mixture is always best (one of my favourites is cranberry-blueberry, though raspberry-blackberry is pretty amazing too)

method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line a muffin tin, 6 - 10 cups depending on the size you like to make your muffins, with muffin cups.

In a large bowl combine all dry ingredients including the orange zest if you are using it.

In a smaller bowl combine all the wet ingredients, but not the berries.

Gently mix the wet ingredients into dry, folding in the berries once all the dry flour has been moistened.

Fill muffin cups to your desired level.

Bake 25 minutes or until golden on top and muffin top feels firm but bouncy.  Let cool in tin for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

Banana Chocolate Chip Walnut

This is a pretty basic banana chocolate chip muffin recipe with the addition of walnuts which I'm pretty partial to.  Some chopped dates would be nice in here as well.

ingredients:

• 2 cups flour (I use half and half whole spelt and whole wheat)
• 1/4 cup sugar of your choice
• 1 Tablespoon baking powder
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp xanthan gum (can omit if you don't have any)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 large, ripe bananas, mashed well
• 1/4 cup oil of your choice
• 1/4 cup soy / rice / almond / etc beverage, plain or vanilla
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup dark chocolate chips
• small handful walnut pieces (optional)
• small handful chopped dates (optional)

method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line 6 - 10 muffin cups with liners; the number of muffins will depend on how large or small you like to make your muffins. This recipe makes 6 large or 10 small muffins, or 8 medium.

In a large bowl combine all the dry ingredients except the chocolate chips, walnuts, and dates.

In a small bowl combine all the wet ingredients, then fold into the dry.  Mix gently until all the dry ingredients are moistened, then fold in the chocolate chips, walnuts and dates.  

Spoon into the muffin cups, bake 20 minutes or until golden and the muffin tops are firm to the touch.

Remove from oven, allow muffins to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

Perfect Blueberry Muffins

This recipe makes 6 medium - large muffins.  I highly recommend doubling the recipe! These are very light and fluffy, they'll be gone before you know it!

ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups flour (I use 1 cup white, 1/2 cup whole wheat)
• 1/2 cup organic cane sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp xanthan gum (can omit if you don't have it)
• 3/4 cup soy milk
• 1/4 cup oil
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries 

method:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Line a muffin tin with paper cups.

In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients.  Make a well in the center and pour in the soy milk, oil and vanilla extract. 

Mix lightly, then fold in blueberries.

Drop batter into prepared muffin cups, then bake 25 - 30 minutes. Let cool in the tin for 5 minutes before transferring to wire cooling rack.

Banana Split Muffins

This recipe came to me in my weekly email from the VegNews Recipe Club.  I happened to be really hungry the moment the email came in, had all the ingredients in the house, so I very quickly whipped up a batch and, woah, these little guys are dynamite! I think between Andre and myself we went through half of them in 24 hours!  I actually did sub out the dried cherries for dried cranberries, which worked great, but am going to try the cherries next time.

ingredients:

• 3 ripe bananas, mashed
• 1/2 cup organic cane sugar
• 1/2 cup sunflower oil
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups whole wheat flour (I used 1/2 cup white in there)
• 1 Tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup (or 1/2 package) firm Mori Nu silken tofu, mashed well
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 1 cup dried cherries (or cranberries)
• 3/4 - 1 cup walnuts, crushed

method:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Fill 12 muffin cup tins with paper liners, or just "grease" if you don't have any on hand. (I buy unbleached liners and find they really help with the cleanup of the tins after baking. The muffins pop out and once the tins are cool they just go right back in the cupboard. I find washing muffin tins a deterrent from making muffins)

In a large bowl combine mashed bananas, tofu, sugar, oil, vanilla extract. Add the flour, baking powder and salt and mix in just until moistened.  Fold in chocolate chips, cherries and walnuts.

Spoon mixture into muffin tin.  Bake 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Award-winning Lemon Poppyseed Muffins

Well, they haven't won any awards yet but they should!

You will need a blender, a large bowl and some muffin tins. This recipe yields roughly 18 small-ish muffins.

If you want to get extra creative & yummy, top these nuggets with some lemon icing!

Dry Ingredients: In a large bowl combine:

• 5 cups flour (I use 1 spelt, 1 white, 3 whole wheat)


• 1/3 cup + 1/4 cup poppy seeds


• coarsly grated rind of 1 or 2 lemons


• 2 Tbsp baking powder


• 1.5 tsp baking soda


• 1.5 tsp citric acid (avail. at health food stores)


• 1 tsp xanthan gum


• 1 1/4 tsp salt

Wet Ingredients: In a blender, combine and blend until smooth:

• 300 grams silken tofu


• 1 whole lemon (minus seeds and the peel you grated off for the dry ingredients)


• 1 1/4 cups soy or rice milk


• 1/3 cup + 2 Tbsp sunflower oil


• 1/3 cup honey


• 2/3 cup cane sugar


• 2 - 3 tsp vanilla extract (or lemon if you have it)

Method:

Combine dry ingredients well. Slowly pour wet batter overtop, stirring in and mixing thoroughly.

Drop into lined muffin tins (unbleached muffin cups are widely available).

To form "smooth" tops wet the tip of a small spatula and smooth out the top. You'll need to wet the spatula between each muffin.

Bake @ 350 deg. for 30 min.

Created by: Trudel; September 5, 2008

Cranberry Orange Muffins

Just like from your local bakery, but without all the sugar and nasty oils!


Dry Ingredients

• 2 cups flour (white, wheat, spelt, or combination)


• 1/3 cup organic cane sugar


• 1 Tbsp baking powder


• 1 tsp baking soda


• 3/4 tsp xanthan gum


• 1/4 tsp salt


• 1/4 - 1/3 cup walnut pieces


• grated rind of 1 orange


• optional: choc. chips if you've got a hankerin'

Wet Ingredients

• 1/4 cups juice (pretty much any juice will do)


• 1 cup firmly packed dried cranberries


• 1 Tbsp organic cane sugar


• 2 tsp vanilla extract


• juice of 1 orange - the one you grated would be perfect! (this is optional - sometimes I squeeze it and then end up drinking it instead)
• 1/4 cup light oil (like sunflower)

Method

Preheat oven to 350 deg.

Pour the 1 1/4 cups juice, dried cranberries and 2 Tbsp sugar into a saucepan. Bring to a boil, turn down heat and simmer on low for 10 minutes.

In a large bowl combine all the dry ingredients.

Remove saucepan from heat, add the oil, juice from the orange you grated and the 2 tsp vanilla extract. Pour over dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. If mixture is too stiff and thick, add a little bit more juice.

Transfer to muffin cups and bake 25 minutes.

Recipe by: Trudel; July 2008