muffin post!

This post is for Catherine! I commented on her blog that I'd been baking a lot of muffins lately, and she came here and didn't see any. As usual, there's a lag between when I eat something and when I get around to blogging it, but I hope that she and all of you enjoy these muffins.

First, we have these blueberry muffins, the recipe for which comes from AmyArgh over on the PPK. (Here is the recipe- scroll down on the page. I left out the almond topping since I had none.) I was going to go shopping with a group of co-workers one day, and I wanted to get brownie points by baking everyone breakfast muffins. The recipe had to be suitably impressive, since I had a group of non-vegans to impress. This recipe, with its professional bakery-style topping was a hit. All these decadent muffins were gone quickly!

Second, we have these cranberry-orange-walnut(+chocolate) muffins, the recipe which I thought up one morning when trying to create a yummy yet healthy breakfast goody. They are whole grain, not-too-sweet, and if you omit the chocolate chips, totally free of refined sugar. Here's the recipe:

Pre-heat oven to 350. Line muffin pan with liners or lightly spray with oil.

In a bowl or measuring cup, mix together the following and set aside:

• 3/4 C unsweetened soymilk
• 1 TB flax meal (ground flax seeds)
• 3 TB olive oil
• 1/4 C agave nectar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp orange extract
  

Next, mix the following dry ingredients together:

• 3/4 C whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/4 C cornmeal
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt

Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and mix gently with a whisk or fork until just mixed. Now add small fistfuls of:

• dried cranberries (unsweetened if you can find)
• walnuts
• chocolate chips if you're feeling naughty!

And mix until just incorporated. Fill muffin pan and bake 20 minutes for normal-sized muffins and 15 minutes for mini-muffins. (I baked these in my toaster oven, so you might have to slightly adjust oven temps and times for your oven.) This recipe makes 6 big and 10 mini-muffins, or whatever combination of big/small you feel like!

*Note: I made another batch of these muffins, replacing the whole wheat pastry flour with barley flour and the cranberries with chopped dates, and those came out just as well. Feel free to mix up your ingredients to suit your tastes.*

By the way, thank you all for your blog suggestions in my last post! I am slowly making my way to visiting all of them. In celebration of all this new-found blogging energy, I promise to blog every day this upcoming week, with lots of recipes and photos that I have backlogged!

muffin post!