Wholewheat, Vegan Muffins

Submitted by Kathy Evans

The BEST Muffins! - Whole wheat, no dairy, no added oil (oil is in the nuts, etc.), does use cane sugar and honey
These take some time to make but are so yummy!!! I make two batches at a time and freeze the second batch. They freeze quite well.

Heat oven to 360˚F. If you have a stone muffin pan put it in the oven to warm.

Dry ingredients
Mix together:
• 3 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 1/4 cup cane sugar (or less)
• 3/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp egg replacer (optional) this is used dry, not blended with water
• 2 Tbsp baking powder
• 2 tsp baking soda (optional – good if with apples)
Add:
• 1 cup finely chopped walnuts or pecans
• 3 cups grated carrots

Wet ingredients
Separately in a blender add the following ingredients and blend well:
• 1/3 cup honey (if warmed 10 seconds in the microwave it is easier to use … but heating is not necessary)
• 1/3 cup sesame seeds or 3 Tbsp tahini
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1/3 cup cashews
• 3/4 - 1 cup soy milk (amount depends upon the optional blender ingredients used below)
• 3 prunes
Optionally also put in the blender one of the following (I prefer the lemon). Use less soy milk.
• Whole lemon (or seeded, but put in the rinds too)
• Whole orange (or seeded, but put in the rinds too)
• Some other fruit

Mix the wet and dry ingredients. (Until barely mixed - Don’t over mix.) The mixture should be wet, but not at all runny.
Optionally mix in one of the below:
• 1 - 1 1/2 cups blueberries (may be thawed or fresh)
• 2 mashed bananas and mashed strawberries (If using this, do not put in optional fruit above.)
• 1 cup cranberries (especially good with the orange above)
• sliced apples (When using apples, keep the batter dry. Apples will weep moisture as they cook.)
• raisins
• Any chopped fruit, dried fruit or even ginger pieces … use your imagination :)

Put in muffin pan or bread pans. Muffins cook for 30-33 minutes or about 2 minutes after the tops start turning brown. You will need to cook a little longer than when the tops start turning brown so the insides cook enough.

The sample for the Simple Abundance meeting was made with the mashed bananas and strawberries. I did not completely use all the wet batter from the blender because the banana and strawberries made the mixture wetter. It should not be runny.