Vegan Oatmeal Spice Muffins

Recipe Wednesday (er, late edition)

Welcome to another edition of my vegan recipe cook-blog-book. I am particularly fond of this muffin. It has been in the works since I became vegan. It started with me trying to vegan-ize spice cake and eventually turned itself into a muffin once I realized I only had a muffin tin and no cake pan :)

I wrap these in plastic wrap and freeze them then eat them at my leisure. They freeze really well - I couldn't tell you for how long because they're always eaten up in my house within a week. Cute little snacks all wrapped up that are thawed and ready a couple hours later at school when I get hungry. And they're a complete protein with the peanut butter and wheat flour and oats - well, and you have the tofu too - protein all around! :)

You may notice that I have two egg-replacing binding ingredients in here - both ground flax seed and blended tofu. There is a method, I swear. Through a series of many trials and errors, I have found that these two work amazingly well in bready baked goods - as well as cookies that you want soft and a little cakey. The flax lends a bit of earthy flavor (so I find it doesn't work so well in chocolate-y things) and binds the muffin together, while the tofu also binds but lends it's moisture. I find it a perfect replacement for the egg, which bind, moistens AND leavens. Sheesh.

For a less sugary muffin, replace the 1/4 cup of sugar with 1 Tbsp of agave nectar.

Vegan Oatmeal Spice Muffins

2 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 cup turbinado sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 Tbsp ground flax seed

1 Tbsp natural peanut butter
2 Tbsp margarine
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 cup molasses
1/2 cup tofu
1 1/2 cups water

oatmeal sprinkled on top

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. While oven is heating, mix together all of the dry ingredients very well.

Blend the tofu and water together. Then add the peanut butter, margarine, and molasses and blend again until smooth.

Once the oven is heated, fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients quickly until everything is just wet. Do not mix until smooth, there should be lumps.*

Scoop and distribute evenly into the muffin tin. Sprinkle oatmeal over the tops of the batter and press gently with the back of a spoon so they'll stick.

The time between the wet ingredients mixing with the dry should be relatively short. Get the batter out of the bowl, into the tin, and into the oven quick as you can. **

Bake for 20-22 minutes. After they're baked, let them sit for two minutes before removing them from the tin and placing them on a cooling rack.


* If the batter is stirred too smooth, the muffins will turn out rubbery and chewy.
** The baking powder begins its chemical reaction immediately once the wet ingredients come into contact with it. If the batter sits out of the oven too long, the baking powder's leavening power runs out and the muffins won't rise much.


Enjoy!

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