Friday 8 March 2013

One egg missing: Vegan muffins



This was easier than I had thought: My goal was to convert a healthy muffin recipe (click here for the original recipe) into a vegan version. I am by no means a vegan, but I am trying to include more and more vegan options in my diet. During my experimentation process and I was surprised to find out that it is pretty easy to convert regular recipes into vegan alternatives. When I looked at the list of ingredients for the healthy raspberry muffins I knew right away that I could easily substitute non-fat milk with soy milk. I only saw one other animal based product: an egg. I did some online research on fantastic vegan recipe and lifestyle websites. Two fundamental tips for substituting eggs in baking are mentioned almost everywhere:

1) add applesauce
2) add ground flaxseed

Since both of those ingredients are already part of the original recipe, I simply doubled the amount of apple sauce and added a bit more ground flaxseed and voilà: the muffins turned out great! Maybe it was my imagination, but I am convinced they are even better than the original ones. Could my impression come from the fact that I know these muffins are animal product free? Since I might be biased I asked my boyfriend V. about his opinion. Without him knowing about the missing egg and the soy milk, he said that the muffins where the best I have ever made!
Okay, I admit that he says this almost every day for anything I cook or bake... but whether they taste better or just the same, these ones are have definitely harmed no animal!
Here is the vegan recipe:

1 1/2 cups (165 g) of oat bran (substitute with wheat bran)
1 cup (250 ml) soy milk
1 cup (200 g) unsweetened apple sauce
zest of 1 lemon
1/2 cup (60 g) ground flaxseed
2/3 cups (125 g) of brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup (140 g) whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups (240 g) frozen raspberries 


  • Preheat oven to 375 F/190 C
  • Grease muffin pan or use paper liners.
  • In a bowl mix bran and soy milk and let stand for 10 minutes 
  • In a second bowl mix together apple sauce, brown sugar and vanilla, then blend with the bran mix. 
  • In a third bowl combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt, then add ground flaxseed. Stir the flour and flaxseed mix into the bran mix. Do not over beat. Mix the lemon zest with your berries first, then blend the fruit in with the dough. Scoop into muffin cups.
The muffins should be ready in 20-25 minutes. You can freeze them individually and pop them in the microwave oven in the morning to have a tasty vegan breakfast. 

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