I created these especially for my great friend’s baby girl, Tziporah. She is a cutie-pie vegan, with a mischievous grin and a great appetite for life. To her, I dedicate these “Zippy Muffins”.
Muffins are easy with two basic rules: mix wet ingredients into the dry ones, and never overmix.
Even though this recipe does not contain eggs, they rise beautifully and set into a very fluffy muffin. Moistness comes from the fruit and applesauce. The secret ingredient is definitely the flaxseed meal, which acts as a fat and egg replacer, while adding a tasty nutty flavour and healthy Omega-3 fatty acids.
The other reason why I love making these muffins, is that I can make them in a few easy steps.
First, I grease and flour two mini-muffin tins. Stop baby from pulling the drawstring off my pants.
Second, mix the dry ingredients. Give baby a container of dried beans to entertain for a bit longer.
Then mix the wet ingredients and fold gently into the dry ones. I pop them in the oven, and pick up all the beans my son threw all over the kitchen floor.
Zippy Muffins
- 1 and 2/3 cups unbleached flour
- 1/3 cup flaxseed meal
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 2 ripe bananas, mashed (but leave some chunks)
- a handful of raspberries, torn into bits (but also leave some larger chunks)
- 1 cup of applesauce
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1 tbsp. vanilla extract
Preheat your oven to 325 F. Sift the flour in a large bowl, and mix in the rest of the dry ingredients. Mix the fruit, applesauce, oil and vanilla in a separate bowl, then fold them into the dry ingredients. Fill up two mini-muffin tins (making 24).
Bake for about 12-15 minutes. Check with a toothpick. Don’t leave them in too long or they will dry out.
Variation: For plain banana muffins, mash 4 ripe bananas (leaving some chunks). Also add 1 tbsp of cinnamon and 1 tsp of nutmeg in the dry ingredients.
Note: If you feel your batter is not moist enough, add a dab more applesauce or coconut milk.
Super easy! Just to prove how simple they are to make, I was able to whip these up in the morning before my son’s playdate. Below, witness the mayhem I worked through. The mess was a small sacrifice for the goodies: the babies and mommies ate ALL the muffins!
Witness the mayhem.
Beans everywhere!
nya98
June 15, 2011
loved these muffins! will have to make them, i love the adventure you had baking them