It may be vegan week, but that doesn’t mean muffins are off the menu.  My part-time veganism is going very well and I’ve been quite surprised at how easy it is and how many of my favourite dishes I can still enjoy.  And now I have found that vegans can not only bake cakes, but eat them too!  Truthfully, I expected these to be a poor man’s version of my delicious banana bran muffins, but far from it – they are entirely delicious, and I don’t think anyone would even suspect they were lacking any of the traditional cakey ingredients.  They are a delicious treat, and, coupled with a mug of hot chocolate (five months without tea now) and a good book, make for quite a lovely breakfast.  It’s rather a shame to have to go into work afterwards!

Vegan Banana Muffins

Makes 10, slightly adapted from Veganomicon

Ingredients:

2 large, ripe bananas

90g applesauce

4 tbsp sunflower oil

90g sugar

2 tbsp black treacle

160g plain flour

100g whole wheat flour

0.75 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 tsp ground cinnamon

pinch ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp salt

Method:

1.  Preheat the oven to 180C and line a muffin tin with paper cases.

2.  Mash the bananas in a large bowl.

3.  Add the applesauce, sugar, oil and treacle and beat together.

4.  Sift in the flours, bicarb, spices and salt.  Mix together with a wooden spoon until just combined.

5.  Spoon the batter into paper cases, filling two-thirds full.

6.  Bake for about 18 minutes.

7.  Stand in the tin for a few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool.  Eat them warm!