Vegan Banana Quinoa Muffins

Yesterday I made muffins. This recipe for quinoa muffins looked interesting but a little boring. I added the use of whole wheat flour and made them vegan with a few changes. The muffins came out really moist and dense. The quinoa made them kind of nutty, which is awesome with the banana.

This photo is from the original recipe, with rasins and all purpose flour.
This gives you a good idea of the texture.
image from MSLO

This recipe made a lot of muffins, so after scooping the batter into muffin liners, I froze some of the un-cooked muffins. Every time I make something and tell Kyle it is in the freezer, we both have to laugh a little bit, because I am serious, it is an obsession. It is so easy to bake off a few goodies at a time, they just need a few minutes longer in the oven. Wrap the frozen muffins tightly and bake within a month or two so they don't get freezer burnt.

Also, I made the quinoa the night before, so it was cool when I mixed the ingredients together. This seemed easier and made more sense to me. I made a little extra and made awesome veggie burgers. Instead of making a yogurt sauce, I crumbed some feta into the mixture.

Something about baking vegan has been really fun, like a science experiment. So far, all of my recipe "improvements" have turned out great. It's also nice to know that I can share all of these treats with all my friends no matter what their eating habits.

Sorry, no photos...I was too concentrated on the muffins.

Vegan Banana Quinoa Muffins
makes 18 muffins

Ingredients
1 cup quinoa, rinsed
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup packed dark-brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (or cinnamon)
2 very ripe bananas, mashed
3/4 cup soy milk
1/4 cup coarsely chopped pecans
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium saucepan, bring quinoa and 1 cup water to a boil. Reduce to a simmer; cover, and cook until water has been absorbed and quinoa is tender, 11 to 13 minutes
2. Meanwhile, line muffins tins with paper liners. In a medium bowl, whisk together flours, sugar, baking powder, salt, pecans, pumpkin pie spice, and 2 cups cooked quinoa; reserve any leftover quinoa for another use.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together oil, soy milk, mashed banana, and vanilla. Add milk mixture to flour mixture, and stir just until combined; divide batter among prepared muffin cups.
4. Bake until toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool muffins in pan, 5 minutes; transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container up to 5 days.

Granola No-Bake Balls

While looking for something to bake tomorrow I found this simple recipe for peanut-butter granola balls. We have some almond butter so I decided to take a little inspiration from the Martha Stewart recipe and whip up a snack. I was winging it so I didn't measure anything out, everything is approximate but it should still work fine.

photo from MSLO

Granola No-Bake Balls

3/4 cup old fashioned rolled oats
1 heaping tablespoon of each: ground flax seeds, wheat germ, unsweetened coconut, unsalted sunflower seeds, roughly chopped almonds
2 tablespoons Earth Balance (vegan) butter
2 tablespoons agave nectar
1 tablespoons maple syrup
1/3 cup almond butter
just a tiny pinch of salt
1/4 scant cup dried cherries

Toast all dry ingredients on a rimmed baking sheet in the oven (better yet, the toaster oven!) at 400 degrees. Keep a close eye on them, the toasting time will vary depending on how crowded the pan is. Remove when lightly browned.

Combine butter, sweeteners, almond butter, and salt in a small sauce pan. Warm on low heat until just melted, while stirring to combine. Add dry, toasted ingredients and dried cherries slowly into liquids, stirring to check consistency. When the mixture is sticky and no liquid remains at the bottom of the pan spoon into individual paper muffin liners. Put in the refrigerator for 15 minutes to let the balls cool and set up.

I have a pantry full of things that I could throw in next time and make something a little different...chocolate chips and cherries? Pecans and blueberries?

Vegan Cranberry-Cornmeal Quick Bread

This weekend I am going to New York and finally get to visit to Babycakes! Kyle and I will be visiting some great people and my personal goal is to eat and drink my way through Brooklyn. I don't think it should be hard; we have some great places lined up to try.

My friend Brenna will be checking on our crazy cats over the weekend and I wanted to bake something to share with her. I started with this recipe from Epicurious but knew I wanted to make it so Betsy, who has dairy allergies, could eat it as well. Then I realized that I should really just go all the way and make it vegan. This was my first attempt to take a conventional recipe and replace multiple dairy ingredients to make it vegan. So here is the new and improved recipe!

Vegan Cranberry-Cornmeal Quick Bread
makes 2 loaves

Nonstick vegetable oil spray
2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups cornmeal
2 tablespoons wheat germ
1 cup sugar
3 teaspoons salt
3 teaspoons baking powder
2 1/2 cups soymilk "buttermilk", add 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar and let sit for 5 minutes to make soy-buttermilk
1 cup Earth Balance, melted
1 cup pure maple syrup
1 very ripe banana, mashed
2 tablespoons flax seeds plus 6 tablespoons water, whisk in bowl with fork
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans
1 1/2 cups dried cranberries
raw sugar for sprinkling tops of loaves

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F. Spray 2 9x5x3-inch metal loaf pans with nonstick spray. Whisk both flours, cornmeal, wheat germ, sugar, salt, and baking powder in large bowl. Whisk soy-buttermilk, melted "butter", maple syrup, mashed banana, flax seed paste, and extract in medium bowl. Combine liquids with flour mixture; stir just until blended. Stir in chopped pecans and cranberries. Spoon batter into pans. Sprinkle tops of loaves with raw sugar.

Bake bread until top is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into center of bread comes out clean, tenting bread loosely with foil if browning too quickly, about 1 hour 10 minutes. Cool in pan on rack 20 minutes. Turn out onto wire rack; cool.

For more information on vegan baking replacements look at the Post Punk Kitchen