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!