Last year, I ventured off into vegan baking out of curiosity. Every vegan dessert I’d tasted before did not taste good, yet I saw recipes popping up all over social media. I love sweets, but it would be great to enjoy a nice pastry that is lower in calories and fat. So, as an effort to create a healthier treat for myself, I went to the kitchen and began experimenting. Eventually, I got to this recipe after a few tries and I must say, it is lovely!
It doesn’t lack in taste or texture, how vegan treats are usually labelled. These muffins are light, moist and full of flavor. If you didn’t know they were vegan upon tasting, you’d probably never know.
The easiest way to make a vegan recipe is to remember these options for substitutions:
- butter -> coconut oil or vegetable oil
- egg-> ground flaxseed or chia seed and water. This is your binder, which is the purpose of using eggs. Soaking the seeds in water will create a gelatinous texture similar to egg whites. Pictured below are ground chia seeds soaked in water.
- milk–> your favorite non-dairy beverage.
- buttermilk –> your favorite non-dairy beverage and a splash of vinegar (white or apple cider vinegar) or lemon juice. Pictured below is Almond milk and white vinegar.
Using these substitutions are an easy way to convert a recipe to vegan if you don’t know where to start. I’ve done this for pancakes, and it has worked quite well.
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First I combined the water and chia seeds, almond milk and white vinegar, and dry ingredients, and set each aside. Next, I melted the coconut oil and added vanilla extract, juice from half of large lemon, and turbinado sugar (it has a caramel taste that I like yet not as deep as brown sugar). I give it a quick a stir and add in the chia “egg”, curdled almond milk, and flour mixture. Then, I whisk everything together and add in a few berries.
This recipe will produce a thick batter, so I used an ice cream scoop to place the batter in each cup and added more berries on top. Before going into the oven, I topped it off with turbinado sugar to give it a sweet crisp.
These muffins are perfect with breakfast or as a quick snack. See the recipe below.
Have you tasted vegan muffins or dessert before? If so, what is your favorite?
Peace and Love!
Yasmin
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Vegan Berry Muffins
Credit: Yasmin for BloomingAugust.com
Ingredients
1 cup Almond milk
2 tbsp white vinegar
1 tsp Chia seeds
1.5 tbsp filtered water
2 cup unbleached pastry flour or all purpose flour
2.5 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp Himalayan sea salt
dash of cinnamon
2/3 cup turbinado sugar
juice of half a lemon
1/2 cup coconut oil (melted)
2 tsp Vanilla extract
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
- Sqeeze lemon juice or vinegar in cup of almond milk. Stir and set aside.
- Scoop chia seeds into a small bowl and add water. Stir and set aside until it becomes gelatinous.
- Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- Mix the sugar, lemon juice, melted coconut oil, vanilla extract.
- Add the chia “egg”, curdled almond milk, and dry ingredients. Whisk together until flour is completely incorporated. Approximately 1 minute.
- Drop a few berries into the batter and fold it in.
- Fill cupcake pan with liners in each cup (OR use your favorite non-stick baking spray). Scoop batter into pan about 3/4 full.
- Add more blueberries on top of each muffin and push down into the batter.
- Sprinkle turbinado sugar on top.
- Place pan in middle of oven. Bake 18-22 min.
Test with a tooth pick for readiness. If it comes out clean, muffins are done. Let cool for 5 min.
Enjoy!
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