Kale-Chive Vegan Muffin

Beautiful Kale-Chive Vegan Muffin

This delightful muffin is made with wheat flour (organic all-purpose) in this recipe, but I think it could be made with a gluten-free flour, and also would work with half whole wheat or other half oat flour, half whole wheat.  I can also see it done up as a sort of cake (using spelt flour) and used to mop up olive oil and basalmic vinegar-- a kind of focaccia-soda bread.

It's tasty!  Savory is often the way to go.  Especially as this pandemic plays out for those of us who seemingly can't stop baking muffins and banana bread and cakes.  Savory is a nice change-up to something that seems healthier.

And it goes very nicely with a lunch soup.  Or as a breakfast muffin with some melty vegan cheese on top (or avocado or tomato and fako-bako-- you get the drift).

It makes 10-12 muffins, depending on the size of your muffin tins. 

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INGREDIENTS:

1 1/4 cup (300 ml)         non-dairy milk

1/4 cup    (60 ml)           extra-virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon (22 g)        ground flax

Add the above together in a small to medium bowl and stir until combined well.  Set aside.

2 cups (120 g)                organic unbleached flour

2.5 teaspoons (11.25 g)  baking powder

1/2 teaspoon (3 g)           fine sea salt

1/2 teaspoon (3 g)           powdered turmeric

1/2 teaspoon (3 g)           powdered mustard

1/2 teaspoon (3 g)           powdered garlic

1/4 teaspoon (1.5 g)        cayenne, ground

1 teaspoon    (5 g)           fennel seed (whole) 

Add the above dry ingredients to a large mixing bowl and whisk until combined.

1 cup fresh kale, chopped small

1 cup fresh chives, chopped small

Set the oven for 400-420 degrees Fahrenheit (200 - 220 degrees Celsius).

Get your pans ready.  If you are using metal pans, it is easier to deal with getting the muffins out when you choose to use parchment cups. Otherwise, 'grease up' the cups or use silicone pans.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and stir to combine until a stiff dough.  Don't stir too long or the resulting muffins will be tough.

Fold in the kale and chives.

Spoon the batter into the muffin cups.

Pop into the oven for 20 - 23 minutes.  A toothpick should come out of the muffin, clean.

Let the muffins cool for about 10 minutes before removing from the pan to cooling racks.

Other muffins and banana cake recipes made during the COVID19 lockdown:

Molasses-Maple Banana and Date Muffins, Gluten Free, Vegan

Lemon-Berry Vegan Muffins, Gluten Free

Hemp Seed- Applesauce Muffins, Vegan

Fudgy Vegan Chocolate Banana Bread Recipes, Vegan

 

 

 

Molasses-Maple-Banana Muffins with Dates and Walnuts, Gluten-free, Vegan

Molasses-Maple-Banana Muffins

This most recent muffin is inspired by the molasses cookie, specifically the molasses cookie my grandma used to bake.  It was fragrant, lightly spicy, soft but chewy, and generally had dates and walnuts in it.

The muffins smelled so great when they came out of the oven, but for a few minutes I thought back to the sort of sugar-gritty and oily features of those delicious molasses cookies.  I am pretty sure my grandma used white sugar (and quite a lot of it, I would imagine) and some kind of oil.  These particular muffins are free of any poured oils, and instead of a sweet white or brown sugar I used a mix of molasses and maple syrup and banana to sweeten it.

Would this muffin be a flop?

Then I tasted it it... and

IT WAS / IS DELICIOUS.  It is uncannily like the molasses cookies of my grandma... or my memory of them... except puffier and muffin-y.  

I also use the oat flour and almond flour base of my last batch of muffins on here (the lemon-fruity muffins) so if you used certified gluten-free oats, these muffins are gluten-free.  

And there are no eggs or dairy in this recipe, so these muffins are also vegan.

But above everything else, they are delicious.... try the recipe and see!

So-- TO MAKE 12 LARGE (not Jumbo) MUFFINS:

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup  water

4 tablespoons ground flax seed

2 cups  almond flour

2 cups  oat flour (I ground my oat flakes up in my vitamix to make flour-- but can be purchased)

1 cup    rolled oats (certified gluten-free if needed)

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 tablespoons pumpkin pie spice

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1 cup     maple syrup (not maple-flavoured pancake syrup)

2 riped   mashed bananas

4 tablespoons coconut water, or just plain water or non-dairy milk

1- 2 cups total of chopped dates and walnut pieces

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METHOD:

1. Combine flax seed and water in a medium-size bowl and set aside.

2. Combine and mix together: almond flour, oat flour, rolled oats, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice and salt in a large bowl.  

3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit/ 177 degrees Celsius

4. Mix maple syrup, mashed bananas, molasses, and coconut water (or plain water / non-dairy milk) in the medium-sized bowl with flax seed and water.

5. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients.

6. Mix until well combined.  

7. Gently add in chopped dates and walnuts.

8. Spoon into the muffin cups.

9. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.  Let cool for 15 minutes on rack. Enjoy. These muffins freeze well.

Let's Grow More Food!

Let's grow more food-- my new mantra for this spring and summer!  Yes, today is the last day for the inspirational Home Grown Summit.  I have learned a lot from the many presentations I have watched.  I am looking forward to watching those learnings spin out over the summer and over the years to come.  Go here to sign up for the final day of the Home Grown Summit-- or click on the banner above to take you there, where you will register with your email address and name.  Then you will receive the information to access all of today's presentations, free.  If it is not to your liking, just unsubscribe.  

3 Strategies

 to Simplify Preserving and Storing Your Harvest

 So You Can Enjoy The Fresh Food All Year Long

Free. Online 

 at 10amPDT Tuesday, May 11th.

Just before I typed this I had a really interesting invitation arrive in my email to attend a workshop on preserving my garden food-- a workshop by one of the speakers (Stacey Murphy) I enjoyed very much when I listened to her yesterday.  If you are interested in knowing about several safe and healthy methods for preserving your harvested veggies, you can check out the page to sign up for that HERE.  You also get to download a freebie transcript of the workshop, so that note-taking is not necessary (she does speak with enthusiasm, and pretty fast).  

I plan to have more good resources from the Summit on here as the summer plays on.  Leave a message in the comment section below (your email address will not be published with your comment but I will have it to contact you with what you specifically request) and I can put you on the list to contact when I post other information that might be of value to you in your garden.  Let me know what that might be!

  

Lemon-Berry Vegan, Gluten-Free Muffins

Changing Up the Recipe

These lovely lemon-y gluten-free vegan muffins originate from a perfect blueberry-lemon recipe by my friend, Michelle Blackwood at Healthier Steps.  I had all the ingredients called for in the recipe except for blueberries (but I have a lot of bags of other berries in my freezer).  

This is my second unique muffin recipe in the Covid19 baking season. You can see the recipe for Hemp seed Applesauce muffins here.

The first batch I baked of this recipe were yummy, but because my muffin cups are large, and not the dainty, regular muffin size, instead of a dozen large muffins, I ended up with a dozen muffins that were more like puffy cookies, if you know what I mean.  Muffin tops? It so happens that my hubby and I like a fullsome muffin, one that comes close to popping over the sides, even.  And I know from past recipes, that expanding the recipe x2 usually gives me the muffin we love.

As is often the case, I find a recipe for something that sounds absolutely delicious and what I am looking for, but then discover (1) I don't have all the ingredients, or (2) when I bake up the recipe, I find that I didn't get exactly what I was counting on, or (3) I make an addition or subtraction to the ingredients that changes the recipe's flavour or texture.  When I make enough changes, I publish the recipe and call it my own.  But in this case, Michelle definitely deserves recognition, because her original recipe is gorgeous and perfect.  I am definitely using her recipe as a foundation.

Adds + Subtracts from the original recipe:

The original recipe calls for equal amounts of almond flour, oat flour and rolled oat flakes-- (certified gluten-free if you have celiac disease or are gluten sensitive).  I subbed one-half of the oat flakes with coconut shreds.  I personally love a little coconut in my muffins for the sweetness and subtle coconut flavour.  If you don't like it, just go back to using the rolled oats for the full amount.

I used blackberries instead of the original blueberries.  Blackberries are very flavourful and a wonderful match with the lemony 'batter'.  I suggest you find your fave berry and put it in this recipe.

I love love love lemon flavour and so have begun to bake using Simply Organic Lemon Flavor so I find it unnecessary to use lemon peel (zest) to get the lemon-y flavour I'm looking for.  It is made with two ingredients: organic sunflower oil, and organic lemon flavor.  In this recipe, I use the lemon flavor in lieu of the vanilla called for in the original recipe.  See a recipe for lemony Carrot Soup here.

And, as I said before, I doubled the original recipe, so I also added in about 10-15 minutes on the baking time. This muffin has just the right muffin moistness.

So-- TO MAKE 12 LARGE (not Jumbo) MUFFINS:

The Music Stand  Top Gifts for Music Students & Teachers!

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup  water

4 tablespoons ground flax seed

2 cups  almond flour

2 cups  oat flour (I ground my oat flakes up in my vitamix to make flour-- but can be purchased)

1 cup    rolled oats (certified gluten-free if needed)

1 cup    coconut shreds

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1 cup     maple syrup (not maple-flavoured pancake syrup)

2 riped   mashed bananas

4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 teaspoons Simply Organic lemon flavor

2 cups frozen berries, your choice

METHOD:

1. Combine flax seed and water in a medium-size bowl and set aside.

2. Combine and mix together: almond flour, oat flour, rolled oats, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.  

3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit/ 177 degrees Celsius

4. Mix maple syrup, mashed bananas, lemon juice and lemon flavor in the medium-sized bowl with flax seed and water.

5. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients.

6. Mix until well combined.  

7. Gently add in berries.

8. Spoon into the muffin cups.

9. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.  Let cool for 15 minutes on rack. Enjoy. These muffins freeze well.

You might also enjoy these carrot cake muffins: (click on the image)