Procedure1 Preheat oven to 350F. Oil and flour cake pans. I used one 8-inch round pan and baked the remaining batter in a muffin tin for cupcakes. Got 6 of them.

2 In a bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder and salt.

3 In a blender/food processor blend together the warm water and EnerG and blend it until it’s frothy. To this add the soy milk and blend it for another 30 seconds and set it aside.

4 In another bowl beat the margarine with an electric mixer until softened. Add sugar and vanilla to the margarine and cream together thoroughly.

5 Add 1/2 of the soy milk mixture to the margarine/sugar mixture and beat for a minute.

6 Add 1/2 of the flour to the margarine and beat for a minute.

7 Now add the remaining soy milk mixture and flour mixture alternately and beat together for a minute after each addition.

8 Pour the cake batter into prepared pans.

9 Bake 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

10 Cool the cake in the pan for 10 minutes. Remove from pan to wire cooling rack.

TasteThis cake was good, but I think I felt the presence of soy milk when I ate the cake without the icing. Luckily my husband and others didn’t feel it. So next time I’ll be trying some other non-dairy milk instead. It did have a nice texture, especially the cupcakes. Together with the frosting it tasted no different than any other cake.

My Notes1 I used sweetened soy beverage so I reduced the quantity of sugar to 1 cup and it was perfect because it also got the sweetness from the frosting.

2 For the margarine, I used Fleischman’s No Salt Added soft tub margarine.

3 If you don’t have cake flour it’s ok. Instead use this substitute which is widely used. Place 2 tablespoons of cornstarch in a 1 cup measuring cup and then fill the rest (until the top of the cup) with all purpose flour
and level it off.

TasteI’m not a fan of peanut butter. So far I have tasted only peanut butter cookies and nothing else baked using it. So I was not sure if I would like these peanut butter muffins. Surprisingly enough the flavor of peanut butter was not dominating. It had the perfect blend of chocolate and peanut butter. The sweetness was right for us not as sweet as the store bought muffins. So If you prefer it sweeter add some chocolate chips or increase the quantity of sugar to 1 cup. Since I was making a vegan version I did not add chocolate chips but I don’t regret it at all.

My Notes1 Use dairy/non dairy milk of your choice.

2 As mentioned in the Procedure, either adjust the oven temperature or the baking time to get perfect muffins.

Procedure1 Preheat oven to 400F/200C. Grease a muffin tin or use paper liners.

2 In a large bowl combine together all the dry ingredients (from whole wheat flour to grated pear).

3 In a measuring mug, measure the buttermilk. Add 1/4 cup water, vinegar, vanilla extract and oil. Whisk together. Dissolve the brown sugar in this liquid mixture and blend it well with a fork.

4 Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, stirring just until moistened. Do not over mix.

5 Fill the batter in each muffin cup to the top. Sprinkle a teaspoon of oatmeal on each cup.

6 Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the muffin comes out clean. Mine was done in 16 minutes.

7 Leave it in the pan for 10-15 minutes. Then transfer it to a cooling rack.

Taste I couldn’t wait for more than an hour to taste the muffins. I was expecting some sort of raw taste/smell from the whole wheat pastry flour and the oat bran. Surprise! it didn’t taste weird at all. In fact the muffins had a very good texture. The only thing missing was sweetness. It was very mild. I used a pear which was not sweet by itself, maybe that was the reason. But we liked it because we generally don’t eat very sweet stuff and my husband told me that these were the best muffins I have ever baked. My son who has a sweet tooth enjoyed these oat bran muffins very much.

These muffins were very filling too. Unlike the empty calories-sugary muffins, I did not feel like reaching for another one. So these muffins don’t disappear fast and I stored it in the fridge. It becomes little hard if stored in the fridge. So heat it in the microwave oven for 30-35 seconds before eating it and it’s moist again like freshly baked.

My Notes1 Taste the fruit you are going to use, whether it is apple or pear. The pear I used was very bland, that’s why I wanted to use it up because no one wanted to eat it. I should have anticipated that the muffins will also not be sweet enough. So add another 1/4 cup of sugar if the fruit you are using is not sweet.

2 The original recipe used 1 cup of all purpose flour and 1 cup of whole wheat flour. So if you don’t have whole wheat pastry flour go with this blend.

3 If you are a cinnamon fan use 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon and omit the vanilla extract (as per the original recipe).

4 The recipe clearly asked to fill the batter to the top of the cup. I was not sure about this because usually muffin recipes mention 2/3rds full. I thought that it would overflow while baking and the muffins will get stuck to each other. Except for 4 muffins I did not fill it to the top. So I got 12 regular size muffins and had some batter left which was enough for 6 mini muffins. The 4 muffins which I had filled to the top rose beautifully and it did not stick to the other muffins. So if you fill the entire cup there should not be any batter left and the given measurement should yield exactly 12 regular size muffins.

If baking as mini muffins 8-10 minutes should be enough. I baked mine for 10 minutes and it was already very dark in the bottom.

Procedure1 Preheat oven to 350F for 15 minutes. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners and use a non stick cooking spray to grease the liners. In a baking sheet toast the wheat germ while the oven is preheating. Have a close watch or else it might burn. Around 5 minutes should be enough.

2 In a large mixing bowl, beat the margarine and sugar until creamy using a hand held electric mixer. Stir in the buttermilk. The mixture appears to be curdled but don’t worry. Also add the prune puree. Add the 1 tablespoon water to the baby food jar and shake it well and then pour it to the rest of the ingredients. Stir in the applesauce and vanilla extract too.

3 Add the rest of the dry ingredients (flour to salt) except the wheat germ to the wet ingredients and stir until just combined; do not over-mix. Lumps in the batter is fine.

4 Divide the batter among the muffin cups. Sprinkle the tops with wheat germ (around 1 teaspoon for each muffin). I usually fill 3 tablespoons of batter for each muffin. Even though the measurement is for 12 muffins, I was able to fill only 11 cups. So fill the 12th cup with water (3/4th of the tin should be enough), to ensure even baking of the muffins.

5 Bake around 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. I baked mine for 23 minutes.

6 Remove the muffin tin from the oven and cool it on a wire rack for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes take the muffins out of the pan and let it cool on a wire rack.

Taste If you think that healthy and tasty don’t go together, you have to taste these muffins to change your belief. It is unbelievably tasty for a muffin made with whole wheat pastry flour. No raw smell or bitter after taste, right amount of sugar and amazing texture! I don’t think I will like any other chocolate chip muffin more than this one or try any other recipe, because this is PERFECT. I did skimp on the wheat germ topping because I was not sure if I would like it, but what a surprise, it blended well with the muffin and did not affect the taste. My son loved these muffins.

Another interesting thing, these muffins tasted so good on the day I baked them itself. Usually whole wheat baked goods don’t taste good the same day, it gets better the next day. I know that I cannot resist my temptation to taste it immediately, so I baked these after dinner assuming that it can cool overnight and we can have it for breakfast the following day. But I was able to be patient only for 3 hours. I skeptically took piece of the muffin and was really blown away by the texture and taste and ended up eating the entire muffin. Initially you will be able to smell the baking powder (very mild) but not after the second day.

My Notes1 As per the original recipe you can use either prunes or dates. Blend 1/4 cup chopped prunes or dates with 1/4 cup hot water and puree until smooth. I had a jar of pureed prune, so I used it instead. The 2.5oz jar measures exactly 1/4 cup.

The muffins are brown in color because of the prune puree but that does not affect the taste at all. I think using dates will leave it’s taste in the muffins.

2 The original recipe required one egg white, which can be substituted with 2 tablespoons of any egg substitute. I think the egg white acts as a binder in this recipe. So I used a tablespoon of water (to wash the prune puree jar) and 1 tablespoon applesauce. If you have extra prune/date puree you can use 2 tablespoons of the same.

Procedure1 Preheat oven to 400F. Line muffin pans with paper liners.

2 In a medium bowl sift together the flours, salt, baking powder. Add sugar, dried fruit and the nuts. Combine well. Make a well in the center and set aside.

3 In a liquid measuring mug measure the milk, add the yogurt, orange juice (or peel) and whisk well.

4 Add the wet ingredients to the flour all at once and stir just until combined. Do not over mix. At this point I felt that the batter was very thick, so I added another 2 tablespoons of milk. The consistency felt right after adding the milk.

5 Now spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling each two thirds full. I have a ladle which holds 3 tablespoons of batter and it’s the perfect amount to bake the perfect sized muffins. Sprinkle oats on top, if using.

6 Bake in the preheated oven for 18-20 minutes or until golden and a wooden toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. Mine was done by 19 minutes.

7 Cool in muffin cups on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Remove from muffin cups; serve warm (See Taste).

Taste The tartness of the dried cranberries and the orange flavor is a winning combination. But don’t try tasting it warm if you are using whole wheat flour. The original recipe used all purpose flour but I have used a combination of whole wheat flour and oat flour, so it did not taste good when the muffins were still warm. It was a sticky and bitter mass of dough inside, which really freaked me out. Thank God I was patient enough to come to a conclusion the next day morning and was relieved that it tasted good. Actually good enough that my son had it for breakfast everyday.

My Notes1 The original recipe used 1 and 3/4th cup of all purpose flour. You can go with it if you are not a fan of whole wheat flour or don’t have it. Baked goods with whole wheat flour definitely don’t taste exactly like it’s white counterpart. Like tofu, whole wheat pasta, it’s an acquired taste. We have got used to it now. So you may want to start slowly, maybe 1 cup of all purpose flour and 3/4th cup of whole wheat flour/oat flour.

2 Oat flour is readily available in some of the grocery stores. You can make it at home too by finely processing quick cooking oats in a food processor/mixer. Since oat flour does not contain gluten, it cannot substitute 100% of all purpose flour/whole wheat flour. Baked goods will not rise if it is only used. So it has to be used in combination with either all purpose flour or whole wheat flour.

3 I didn’t have fresh oranges to make the zest, so I went with 2 tablespoons of store bought orange juice. This does not give that fresh orange flavor, but be careful not to go overboard with the juice because sometimes the store bought juice has a bitter after-taste and it spoils the taste of the baked goods.

4 I have used 2 tablespoons of yogurt in place of one egg white mentioned in the recipe. Even after using 2 tablespoons of orange juice I found that the batter was very thick, so I had to use another 2 tablespoons of milk. I think the whole wheat flour and the oat flour absorbed more moisture. So consider what type of flour you are using and add water as required.

5 The original recipe is supposed to yield 12 muffins but I got only 9.

Procedure1 Preheat oven to 350F/180C. Line the muffin tins with cupcake liners.

2 In a large bowl sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Stir in the sugar.

3 Add all the remaining ingredients and beat until you have a smooth, liquid batter.

4 Using a ladle, pour the batter 3/4ths full. Approximately 3 tablespoons of batter for large cupcakes and 1 and 1/2 tablespoon of batter for the mini cupcakes.

5 Bake until risen and firm to touch. Approximately 12-13 minutes for the mini cupcakes and 15-16 minutes for the large.

6 Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Frosting

Frosting is optional. I did not frost the entire batch. Made a very small batch of chocolate ganache using 1/4 cup mini chocolate chip cookies and 2 tablespoons milk. Heat the milk, don’t let it boil. Add the warm milk little by little until the chocolate chips melt and is very smooth. The chocolate chips did not melt enough. So I heated some water in a saucepan and place the bowl of chips on the saucepan and kept stirring it with a whisk and it melted from the heat in no time. If you add excess milk, keep the frosting in the fridge until you get the correct consistency to frost the cupcakes.

Taste

I was pleasantly surprised with the good taste of these vegan cupcakes. Earlier I have baked something similar and it was literally awful and I had to throw the cake. The other recipe used more oil, soy milk instead of water and white vinegar. The soy milk gave a sticky texture, the use of vinegar was very obvious. So I was relieved to see a recipe with just 2 tablespoons of oil and water. That’s why I went with apple cider vinegar this time. I wouldn’t say that these cupcakes taste exactly like the regular vanilla cupcakes, but it’s definitely very good for a low-fat, egg free and dairy free vegan cupcake. The next time I will probably reduce the quantity of sugar by at least 2 tablespoons, especially if I decide to frost it.

As for the texture, it is not light. At the same time it’s not dense or moist either. It’s somewhere between light and dense. It’s solid and not crumbly, so I should probably try this in a round/square cake pan to make a good layered cake with icing and stuff.

My Notes1 The original recipe mentions that the measurement yields 12 mini cupcakes, but I don’t know how I got so many. Also the time mentioned to bake the mini cupcakes is about 20 minutes, but mine was done in 14 minutes. Actually had I taken it out a minute earlier the cupcake’s texture would have been even better/lighter.

2 It was a little sweet for me even without the frosting.

3 I forgot to refrigerate the cupcakes on the first day, so I felt it was sort of sticky on the top on the second day. I think the sugar released out moisture and made it sort of sticky. The inside was good though.

4 To make vegan ganache, use vegan chocolate chips and any other non dairy milk.

Procedure1 Preheat oven to 400F. Grease the muffin tin or line it with paper liner. If using a paper liner, after lining grease the liner by spraying with a non stick spray so the muffins will come out of the paper easily.

2 Combine the dry ingredients together in a big bowl. From granola to baking soda.

3 In another medium size bowl, whisk together the applesauce, milk, brown sugar, oil and yogurt.

4 Add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture and mix until just combined.

5 Divide evenly into prepared muffin tin, approximately 3 tablespoons of batter per muffin or 3/4th of the tin. Sprinkle little granola/oats on top.

6 Bake 18-20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. I baked mine for about 26 minutes. Always set the timer for the minimum time mentioned in the recipe, test for doneness and if it’s not done, increase the time for 2-3 minutes at a time. (Check My Notes, point 5)

7 Let cool slightly in the tin and then remove to a cooling rack.

Taste I have to say that I did not like the muffins immediately (unlike my son), but started liking it from the next day. These granola muffins don’t have a fluffy texture but feel more like a dense cake. Also they are not overly sweet, in fact the sweetness is very mild, which is perfect for me. The mini chocolate chips and the raisins which you bite on here and there give the right balance. Also they did not taste cinnamony (I know it’s not a word, but you get it right!)

Will I be baking it again? Definitely.

My Notes1 I measured the applesauce using a dry measuring cup, not the liquid measuring mug.

2 If you prefer sweet muffins, either use sweetened applesauce or increase the quantity of brown sugar to 1/2 cup.

3 The original recipe did not use oat flour, I used it because I had it. So if you don’t have oat flour just use 1 cup of all purpose flour or in a food processor finely powder quick cooking oats.

4 Walnuts and semi sweet chocolate chips were not mentioned in the recipe. I added it to lure my son to eat something healthy and it worked! The chocolate chips also gave the sweetness. Always try using mini chocolate chips because you can cut down on calories, sugar and fat. In place of using 1 cup of chocolate chips, you can use just 1/2 cup of the mini without affecting the taste.

5 I had some flavored yogurt (which we did not like by itself) so I used it instead of eggs. I used peach flavored yogurt. Also while using yogurt to replace eggs, instead of measuring exactly 1/4 cup of yogurt, use 3 tablespoons of yogurt and 1 tablespoon of water or any liquid. For this recipe I emptied directly two small containers of yogurt and while mixing felt that the muffin batter was very thick and then I had to add extra water, which made it very watery. I think this is the reason I had to bake it for around 26 minutes. So while using yogurt measure 3 tablespoons of yogurt and 1 tablespoon of water in a cup, whisk it well and then mix it to the other ingredients or simply use buttermilk.

Procedure1 Preheat the oven to 400F for 15 minutes. Line the muffin tin with paper liners or grease the tin.

2 In a medium size bowl combine together the milk, butter and buttermilk.

3 In another large bowl sift together the flour, salt and baking powder.

4 Add the sugar, chocolate chips and nuts to the flour mixture and stir well.

5 Slowly stir in the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, but do not overdo it.

6 Fold in the mashed bananas.

7 Fill each muffin cup with 3 tablespoons of batter.

8 Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the muffin comes out clean.

My Notes1 The bananas I used were extremely ripe, so I simply mashed it with a fork. If the bananas are not that ripe you could cut into pieces add few drops of water/milk and blend it in a blender/food processor.

2 The original recipe used chocolate chunks. Since I did not have it I went with semisweet chocolate chips. If you have chocolate chunks, chop 5 ounces of semi sweet chocolate into large chunks and use it instead of the chips.

3 The sweetness was perfect for us. Not very sweet like the ones you get in stores. If you have a very sweet tooth you would have to increase the quantity of sugar or chocolate chips.

4 You could substitute vegetable/canola oil instead of butter to make it healthier. I have tried it in couple of other recipes and it works. Since I wanted to finish the butter in the refrigerator I did not do this substitution.

5 You could also substitute whole wheat flour for the all purpose flour. I didn’t do it this time because the brand of wheat flour I’m using right now is not good in banana muffins. A couple of days ago I tried a banana muffin recipe with whole wheat flour and did not like the taste. I liked it when I made something similar a year ago, but that was a different brand of wheat flour, so I went with all purpose flour itself.

Procedure 1 Preheat the oven to 375F (see My Notes) for 15 minutes. Lightly
grease a muffin tin.

2 In a medium bowl, combine together flour, baking soda, salt and lemon zest.

3 In a large bowl, combine the sugar, milk, oil, extract, and vinegar. Mix well.

4 Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, stir until just combined. Don’t over stir.

5 Gently fold in the berries using a rubber spatula.

6 Fill the muffin tins about 2/3rds full.

7 Bake until a wooden skewer inserted into the center comes out clean, about 22 minutes.

8 Remove from the oven and let it cool for 5 minutes. After that remove the muffins from the tins and cool on a wire rack.

My Notes 1 I didn’t want to bake 2 batches when I started. What happened was I didn’t read the recipe properly and poured the measured sugar on top of the flour instead of mixing it with the wet ingredients. I continued with it anyway and saw that the muffins began to brown very much around 12 minutes itself. The original recipe had mentioned to bake it at 400F. So I reduced the oven temperature to 375F. I thought that adding sugar to the flour was the reason and so I baked another batch following the instructions correctly. Even then the same thing happened. That’s when I realized that the oven temperature was the culprit. That’s the reason I have changed the temperature to 375F in the procedure. Later I was going through a whole wheat banana muffin recipe in The Joy of Baking website and there it was mentioned that baking that muffin directly in a muffin tin without the paper liner would yield a crusty and brownish muffins but it would soften later. The same thing happened in these blueberry muffins too. So you may also try lining the muffin tins with a paper liner, instead of pouring the batter in the greased molds.

2 Regarding sugar, the original recipe itself mentions 3/4-1 cup. For the first batch I used 3/4 cup because the vegan strawberry cupcakes which I tried earlier from the same book used 1 cup sugar and was very sweet. The sweetness of the blueberry muffins were perfect for us, but it may not be enough for everybody, especially if the blueberries are very sour. So for the second batch (I had already decided to give it to my neighbors, because I didn’t want to have it at home and gain weight) I decided to increase the quantity of sugar. I used little more than 3/4 cup and little less than 1 cup. That was good too.

3 I used frozen blueberries. Thawing is not necessary. Add it to the muffin batter directly from the freezer, but do not over mix, or else it would start bleeding.

Procedure 1 Preheat oven at 400F/200C for 15 minutes. Grease muffin cups with shortening.

2 In a large bowl combine the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and salt.

3 In a blender/food processor add Ener-G, water, milk and oil. Blend it thoroughly, for about 3 minutes.

4 Stir into the dry ingredients just until moistened.

5 Fill the muffin cups 2/3rds full.

6 Bake for 16-18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

7 Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack.

My Notes 1 I don’t have any complaints with this recipe. The only thing I wish I had done was spreading the batter in the 8 muffin cups evenly in the first go itself. I had some batter remaining after filling the cups initially, so distributed it again among the 8 cups. So what happened was after baking there was this extra top on the muffins. Not a big deal, but the corn muffins would have looked perfect and smooth on the top (just like the picture in the magazine) if I had done it the other way.

2 Adding some fresh/frozen corn kernels to the batter would be nice too.

3 This is a general baking tip. I have found that greasing baking sheets/pans with shortening works better than using a non stick spray. Non stick spray leaves burn marks on the sheets while shortening does a clean job.