Vegan Muffins on 3 occasions and Vegan Adventure #28

Lately, I have taken to making a weekly trip to Ellwood’s Coffee.  Each time I go I always get an Americano and muffin.  If you have read my blog before you know that I like to experiment with Vegan cooking/baking even though I am not vegan.  I find it extremely fascinating.  Ellwood’s Coffee carries a line of Vegan baked goods that they make in the Ellwood Thompsons Bakery, which is across the street.  Ellwood’s Coffee also makes vegan paninis and wraps.  Currently, I have only tried their muffins, but I am going to slowly branch out and try some of their other Vegan options.

Pineapple Coconut Muffin

The three Vegan muffins that I have tried so far are the Peach-Raspberry Muffin, Blueberry Oat Muffin, and Pineapple Coconut Muffin.  Out of all of these by far my favorite was the Peach-Raspberry Muffin.  It was perfect and moist.  What is funny is that as soon as I took my first bite of any of the muffins I knew what milk they used, soy 🙂  This didn’t bother me, but I know for a fact that my friend, DrFaulken, would have totally given me the “what the hell did you just make me eat” look.  He doesn’t really like the flavor of soy, which I totally understand.  That is one of the reason that when I started Vegan Baking, last year, I would only use Rice Milk.  Rice Milk has a milder flavor than soy so it is perfect for baking for those individuals that don’t like the flavor of soy.

Blueberry Oat Muffin

The other two muffins: Blueberry Oat and Pineapple Coconut, were very good, but they were a little too dry for my taste.  I am thinking that since the muffins are kept in a refrigerated case that warming up the muffin might improve the texture.

Peach-Raspberry Muffin

Since I have been eating vegan muffins, I decided to try my hand at one of the muffin recipes in Vegan Brunch: Coffee Chip Muffins.  Who wouldn’t love these muffins, coffee and chocolate in a breakfast treat.  HELL YEAH!!!  When I made these muffins I substituted Instant Espresso Powder for the coffee granules, and they turned out great.  I actually didn’t taste the coffee flavor, but I loved them just the same.  They were perfectly moist, not too sweet, and an ideal breakfast with a cup of coffee or an Americano 🙂  I decided to make these in giant form, and the put what I didn’t eat in the freezer.  So each morning when I wanted a muffin, I would take it out of the freezer and put it in the microwave for 30 seconds.  Out would pop a perfectly lightly warm delicious muffin 🙂

Coffee Chip Muffins

Source: Vegan Brunch by Isa Chandra Moskowitz

1 cup almond milk (or your favorite nondairy milk)

1 heaping tbsp instant coffee crystals or espresso powder

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup canola oil

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 375°F.  Lightly grease a muffin tin.

In a large measuring cup, measure out 1/2 cup of milk.  Stir in the coffee crystals and mix to dissolve.  (A few undissolved crystals are okay.)  Stir int he rest of the milk and the vinegar and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.  Make a well in the center and add the milk mixture, oil, and vanilla.  Mix together until the batter is just moistened, being careful not to overmix.  Fold in the chocolate chips.

Use an ice cream scoop to drop the batter into the muffin tin, filling it about three-quarters full.  Bake for 22-26 minutes, until a knife or toothpick inserted through the center of a muffin comes out clean.  Let cool a but until you can remove the muffins and transfer them to cooling racks to cool the rest of the way.