Sweet Vegan Blueberry Corn Muffins

Sweet, crumbly, and moist - that's how these turned out. They are absolutely wonderful. So good that I scarfed down two whole ones within 7 minutes of their coming out of the oven. So yeah. That happened.

But I didn't feel too guilty because I eliminated most of the oil in these. So on top of their being vegan, they're also low-fat and use banana and applesauce to bind them together. So your internal narrative can center around all the wonderful potassium and doctor-sending-away-ness of the muffins instead of those piddly 2 tablespoons of oil. At least, that's what happens in my head when I eat them. Everyone I gave them to thought they were just as fabulous as I did - vegans and non-vegans, gluten-free and gluten-ful alike. The only thing I'll recommend is that you store them in the fridge, as they became a bit TOO moist sitting out on the counter at room temperature (even in my chilly basement apartment).

Sweet Vegan Blueberry Corn Muffins (Adapted from this recipe)
Makes 12 muffins

3/4 cup gluten-free cornmeal
1/2 sorghum flour
1/4 cup brown rice flour
1/4 cup tapioca starch
1 tsp. sea salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 soft ripe banana, mashed
2 tbsp. olive oil
2 tbsp. smooth applesauce
1/3 cup + 2 tbsp. So Delicious Almond Milk (or other non-dairy milk)
1 1/2 tbsp. gluten-free vanilla extract
1 - 1 1/2 cups wild Maine blueberries
Raw sugar to sprinkle on top

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line a muffin tin with paper liners.

Combine the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl (everything up to and including the brown sugar) and mix well. In a separate mixing bowl, use an electric mixer to combine the banana, olive oil, applesauce, soy milk, and vanilla extract). Add the wet mixture to the dry and mix well. Add the blueberries and stir them in gently.

Fill each muffin liner 3/4 of the way full. Bake for 18 - 22 minutes, or just until they are slightly browned on top and a toothpick comes out clean. About halfway through the baking, when they have started to set, sprinkle each one with a little raw sugar (quickly, and without moving them too much!).

Serve warm from the oven, or store in the fridge and eat cold. They are delicious no matter how you eat them!

Blueberry Coffee Cake

Um....so yeah. This didn't last very long in my house. I really need to have a more formal process for getting rid of all the baked goods I produce while living alone. That is, I need to alter my process, which often consists entirely of me just eating it all. Thank goodness for co-workers and friends who are willing to help me out!

Recently, I got nostalgic for this cake that my cousin and I made when she visited last year. I remembered it being pretty fantastic, and I also remember us absolutely demolishing it within a day or two because it was so good. We found a way to eat some at almost every meal. And um, sometimes not at meals. 

I can now confirm that the recipe holds up to my memory - this was absolutely delicious! It's a great recipe to make for a lazy mid-morning brunch or for dessert. And best of all, it's based on a ratio, meaning you can substitute nearly any flour you like as long as you keep the weight the same (but just be careful with coconut flour, which notoriously sucks up more than its fair share of liquids in baked goods; if you use it, you'll need to add more liquid to this recipe). 

*Please note that all measurements given below in cups are approximate, as I used my kitchen scale to make this cake and used an online converter to figure out the volume measurements.

4 eggs
8 oz. white sugar (~1 cup)
3 oz. Earth Balance Buttery Spread (3/4 stick or 6 tbsp.)
5 oz. applesauce (unsweeted, natural) (~1/2 cup)
1.5 tbsp. lemon juice
1 1/4 tsp. lemon zest
1 1/4 tsp. vanilla
3 oz. tapioca starch (~3/4 cup)
2 oz. sorghum (~1/2 cup)
3 oz. brown rice flour (~1/2 cup)
(OR 8 oz. of your favorite gf flour blend)
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. xanthan gum
3/4 lb. blueberries

For crumble topping:
4 - 6 tbsp. brown sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon (or more to your own taste)
2 tsp. Earth Balance Buttery Spread

Preheat the oven to 350 F.  Spray a glass 9" x 13" baking pan with cooking spray and set aside.

In a medium or large mixing bowl, beat the eggs (preferably with an electric mixer) with the sugar until it's frothy.  Add the Earth Balance, applesauce, lemon juice, lemon zest, and vanilla and mix until it's well incorporated.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flours, salt, baking powder, and xanthan gum.  Add about 1/3 cup at a time to the wet ingredients, beating on medium speed until the batter is very smooth.

Pour the batter into the 9" x 13" pan.  Press the berries lightly into the top of the batter.

In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, cinnamon, and Earth Balance.  Mix with your fingers until it's finely crumbly.  Sprinkle the cake generously with the cinnamon sugar crumble topping.

Bake at 350 F for 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Let cool for as long as you can stand it before eating a piece (we lasted 20 minutes).  Keep refrigerated once cooled.  It's fantastic if you warm it slightly in the microwave before eating.

Fresh Carrot Salad with Sunflower Seeds and Blueberries

I love cooking - that much should be obvious.  But there are days when even I can't take it.  Days that are so hot, and so lazy, that I just want a 5-minute meal.  To put a bunch of things in a bowl and be done.

Today was one of those days.  And it also happened to be the day that one of my friends sent me the link to the New York Times Minimalist guide to summer salads.  The list is extensive, with almost any ingredient I could think of, put together with ingredients I might not have thought of right away. 

Number 7 on the list caught my eye immediately.  I had carrots.  I had blueberries.  I love both.  It was a done deal. 

This salad comes together in a matter of minutes, and will be a lovely addition to whatever else you're having for dinner, or great on its own as well.  The crunchy carrots and sunflower seeds balance the berries, and the lemon and pepper bring out the flavors in a refreshing, delicious way.  It's delightful.

Save this one for a hot day when you want something quick, refreshing, and cool.  And enjoy.


Fresh Carrot Salad with Sunflower Seeds and Blueberries (from this list)

1 1/2 cups shredded carrots
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/3 cup blueberries
1 - 2 tsp. olive oil
2 - 4 tbsp. lemon juice (to taste)
black pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients.  Eat.  Enjoy. 

Blueberry Cobbler Granola

I'll confess that granola is not actually what I set out to make yesterday.  I was trying to make snack bars.  You know, the kind that, uh, don't fall apart when you try to eat them.  But this turned out to be an ambitious goal.  No matter how much honey I added, they stubbornly refused to stay together in bar form.

But that's ok.  I was putting too much pressure on them to be something they're not.  This was a granola recipe from the beginning.  I see that now.

And once I just let it be granola, it all fell into place. At first I was going to call this Blueberry Muffin Granola, but when I shared it with two of my friends, they immediately said it tasted more like cobbler.  Which makes sense, since it probably shares more ingredients with cobbler than muffins.  But, the point is really that it will taste like a delicious baked blueberry dessert of some kind, and you'll probably have a hard time not eating all of it from the pan.

I had originally added only 1/4 cup of honey, but after baking them for about 20 minutes, it was clear that the mixture was too dry to stay together in bar form.  So I added another 1/4 cup in the hopes that this would help - but it didn't.  And then I ended up with really sticky, soft granola.  Which, again, was delicious, but feel free to adjust the amount of honey according to your own tastes, since it's not going to stay together anyway.

I'm sure this would be wonderful with other add-ins - maybe some flax or chia seeds, or nuts, or a different combination of dried fruit.  Go crazy if you feel like it.  But if you're a blueberry fan, stick with what you know.  You won't be disappointed.

Blueberry Cobbler Granola

1 1/2 cups gluten-free rolled oats
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut
1/2 - 1 cup dried blueberries
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 - 1/2 cup honey
2 tbsp. maple syrup
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
1/2 - 3/4 cup vanilla almond milk (or other non-dairy milk)
1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350 F.  Line a 8 x 8 pan with foil and spray lightly with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, toss the oats, coconut, blueberries, salt, and cinnamon together.  Combine the wet ingredients in a separate bowl and mix together lightly, then toss with the oats.

Spread over the pan evenly and place in the oven for at least 30 minutes (for a softer granola) and for up to 50 minutes (for a crunchier granola).  Stir around every 10 minutes or so, and remove when you're happy with how browned it is.

Store in the refrigerator until ready to eat.  If there's any left.

Gluten-free Pantry Muffins - Blueberry and Chocolate Chip

I have had a box of Gluten-free Pantry Muffin and Scone mix for a long time now.  I don't know what I was waiting for, exactly.  Some moment of revelation when it would become clear to me that this was the time to make them?  Probably not.  Probably it just got hidden behind all of the other ingredients in my pantry.  Sad and forgotten on the back of the shelf.

But now it has its time to shine.  Instead of following the directions exactly as they were written, I substituted applesauce for some of the fat, used Pumpkin Spice soy milk instead of regular milk, upped the vanilla, and tossed blueberries into half the batter and chocolate chips into the other half.  Of course, this meant I had to sample one of each muffin when they came out of the oven, just to ensure the highest quality.  And highest quality they were - moist, but not too crumbly, and with a wonderful vanilla flavor that was perfectly complemented by the blueberries and chocolate chips.  I can absolutely recommend this mix - these muffins came together quickly and were completely delicious.  I have since been defrosting the ones that I froze, and they taste just as good as they did when they were fresh from the oven. 

Gluten-free Pantry Muffins Two Ways

1 package Gluten-free Pantry Muffin Mix
4 tbsp. Earth Balance Buttery Spread
3 tbsp. applesauce
2 eggs
1/2 cup Silk Pumpkin Spice Soy Milk (or plain)
1/2 cup rice milk or Trader Joe's Whole Grain Drink
1 tsp. gluten-free vanilla
1/2 - 1 cup blueberries (more if desired)
1/3 cup chocolate chips (more if desired)
Durkin Maple Cinnamon Spice (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350 F.  Line a muffin pan with cupcake liners.
In a small mixing bowl, combine the Earth Balance buttery spread, applesauce, and the package of muffin mix.  Using a pasty mixer or a fork, cut the mix into the butter until a crumbly mixture forms.  Add the 2 eggs, the Pumpkin Spice soy milk, the rice milk, and vanilla and mix with an electric mixer on medium-high speed for about 2 - 4 minutes, or until all the lumps are gone.

If you want to make two different kinds of muffins, divide the dough in half.  Add the blueberries to one of the bowls, and the chocolate chips to the other. Pour the batter evenly into the muffin tins, filling them almost to the top (but don't overfill or they will spread too much onto the pan!).  Sprinkle the Durkin Maple Cinnamon Spice over the blueberry muffins.

Bake muffins for about 14 - 17 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean and they are slightly browned on top.  Remove from oven and leave in the muffin pan for about 2 - 3 more minutes before removing to a cooling rack.

Eat warm from the oven or wait until they are cooled.  Freeze the muffins you don't eat right away and defrost as needed.

Tip:  The blueberry muffins, when spread with maple butter or drizzled with a bit of maple syrup, taste exactly like a blueberry pancake!

Blueberry Oat Muffins by the Gluten-free Goddess

This is possibly the tastiest muffin I've ever had. Including all of the gluten-ful ones I had before being diagnosed. If you like hearty oats, delicious cinnamon and brown sugar, and blueberries, prepare to be blown away by these little treats. I have been wanting to try the recipe (which you can find by clicking here) from Karina (the Gluten-free Goddess) for a while now. Well, this morning, I went to the farmer's market and found an unbelievable deal on blueberries - 16 oz. packages for only $2.49 each. So I came right home, opened Mozilla to Karina's blog, and set to work mixing sorghum, cinnamon, brown sugar, oats, and fresh, ripe blueberries. Tempted as I usually am to eat a baked treat hot from the oven, I couldn't quite do it with these because they needed to cool for a little while to firm up. They were slightly fragile when I removed them from the pan, but they were solid enough by the time I had one. I still wouldn't necessarily expect to be able to grab one and eat it on the go, but that was fine by me! (**Note: if you refrigerate them, they hold up pretty well, and you would probably wouldn't need a plate.) You could try them with other berries, too - I'm guessing that raspberries, cherries, or apples would be delightful as well. These muffins have a wonderfully comforting combination of flavors, and I am constantly amazed by what alternatives to wheat and animal products can produce - a gluten-free, vegan muffin that tastes at least as delicious as anything you've had that contains gluten. I promise.