The Lustful Vegan

Saturday morning saw me awake at around 5am, and up by 5:30. Ug. Have I mentioned that I’m so not a morning person? But there are advantages to seeing the sun come up — like realizing there’s time to make fresh muffins for everyone, to start a crazy-busy day. And lo, there were fresh, warm blueberry muffins for breakfast, and they disappeared so fast I didn’t get a single picture. But that’s okay, that just gave me an excuse to make more today.

Today’s version was, if anything, even better than Saturday’s. These muffins are surprisingly light and fluffy — so much so that my gf thought I’d adapted a cupcake recipe!

I love the fruitiness of these, particularly with today’s cranberry-blueberry mix. They’re not nearly as full of fat as everyone thinks either. For Saturday’s version I used Earth Balance, and they had a definite buttery taste. For today’s version I switched to oil, which gives a more neutral flavour that lets the fruit really come through. Mmmmm, fruit. Can’t wait for berry season!

Blueberry-cranberry muffins

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup sugar

• 2 T oil
• 2 T apple sauce
• egg replacer for one egg (I used 1 tsp Kingsway mixed with 2 T orange juice)
• 3/4 cup unsweetened soy milk
• 3 T lemon juice (you can substitute some apple cider vinegar if you’re short)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 1/2 cup blueberries*
• 1/2 cup cranberries*

* Thaw these at least partially before using. Blueberry muffins turn an interesting blue-green when you bake them; you can toss the berries with a bit of flower before mixing them into the batter to minimize this if you like.

To make:

1. Preheat oven to 350F, prepare a muffin pan with liners**.
2. Mix the dry ingredients together in a bowl, and make a well.
3. In another bowl, mix together the wet ingredients.
4. Pour the wet mixture into the well, and stir until it’s only just barely mixed. Add the berries, then stir a couple more times to mix them in. (Stir as little as possible overall!)
5. Fill the muffin cups. Bake 15 to 20 minutes.

** I’m sure there are all sorts of good liners out there, but these are my favourite so far. They never ever stick to your muffins or cupcakes, not even when they’re extra-fluffy or full of fruit.