More pumpkin! And the Perfect Muffin Formula

Well, this may be the last of the pumpkin recipes for a while. I am starting to feel a little pumpkin'd out! I already made a soup and a dessert, so I figured it was time for breakfast. I Have heard of a few ways to incorporate pumpkin into breakfast. Oatmeal, smoothies, breads and muffins. I have one cup of pumpkin left, so I get a choice of one of these. I have decided on muffins and maybe if there is a bit left over I will see if can incorporate it into a green smoothie! Maybe I'm not so sick of pumpkin yet.

I am not sure what else I can say... pumpkin is awesome. It is such a versatile vegetable. 


So, muffins... have you ever heard of the perfect muffin formula? Well, you are in for a treat! There are a few of these out there, but they all generally end at the same result. Good muffins. All you need is to have the formula of how much dry and wet ingredients are required to get the right consistency. This is my formula:


Perfect Muffin Formula
Makes 12 muffins

Wet Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup earth balance or oil (butter makes it more cakey, you can use more, but I wouldn't go over 1/2 cup)
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 chia egg (1 tsp chia seed and 2 Tbsp water)
• 1 to 1 1/2 cup of choice liquids (flavour): apple sauce, vegan yogurt, sour cream, juice, mashed banana, milk, pumpkin, fruit etc. If you are using a thini liquid like water, use 1 cup, if you are using thicker luiquid, use 1 1/2 cups

The dry ingredients:

• 1-1/2 to 2 cup flour (depending on how much wet ingredients you have)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 - 1 tsp salt
• Extra dry ingredients: herbs, spices, zest, fruit, nuts, seeds, chocolate etc.

Preheat your oven to 375 F. Get two bowls and mix your wet ingredients and dry ingredients separately. Add the dry into the wet and stir until just combined. It's OK if your batter is lumpy. Next if you are adding chocolate chips, nuts sees etc. Add them last (If you didn't do this, that's OK). Bake for 20 - 25 minutes for muffins. 


*Note: You can make this recipe into a loaf, just bake at 350 F for 50 - 60 minutes.


Here is how I made my muffins:


Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins

• 1/4 cup earth balance
• 1/2 brown sugar
• 1 chia egg (1 tsp chia seed and 2 Tbsp water)
• 1 cup pumpkin
• 3/4 cup milk

• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup oat meal
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp all spice
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Follow the above instructions. I put the chocolate chips in last and then topped each muffin with a walnut and a little extra brown sugar.

Prepare the wet and dry ingredients..

Add dry to the wet and stir

And.. bake

So next time you want to have some muffins and want to show off that you don't need a recipe, remember this basic formula. Also remember that you want a somewhat thick batter at the end (in between cakes and cookies). If yours is too thick, add a little more milk, too thin? Add a little extra flour. There are no real rules.

Late Night Chocolate Pecan Muffins and Coconut Butter

I didn't go grocery shopping today like I normally do and I really wanted to make some muffins for breakfast... and a late night snack. So I found a really tasty looking recipe that I thought I could pull off (Found Here at the Baking Sheet).

Unfortunately, I was out of the following: whole wheat flour,vanilla, vanilla soy milk and walnuts! It is really hard to make decent baked goods without vanilla and the whole point of these muffins were that they had walnuts in it! Dammit! I decided that I didn't want to wait until tomorrow and went ahead with the recipe anyways. I had to modify it though to incorporate the fact that I lacked a couple key ingredients. Here is what I did:

Late Night Chocolate Pecan Muffins
Makes 8

• 3/4 cup of stone flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup cocoa
• 1/2 tsp instant espresso powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 3/4 cup of soy milk
• 2 Tbsp canola oil
• 1 Tbsp coconut flakes
• 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts and 8 more for the garnish

Line or grease a muffin tin and preheat the oven to 350 F. Combine all the dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix. Combine the Maple syrup, milk, and oil in a small bowl and mix. now pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir until just combined. Add the chopped pecans and the coconut and stir again. Fill the muffin tins about 3/4 of the way and bake for 18 - 20 minutes.

Learned this trick to cooling muffins without a rask from theppk.com

I served these up with some homemade coconut butter. How do you make this? Take a couple cups of unsweetened coconut (DO NOT use sweetened, I tried and it didn't work. Then I found this warning while searching online to figure out why) and put it in your food processor.

This is about 5 minutes into processing

and... 10 min later - Buttah!

Processor for 10 - 15 minutes, scarping down the bowl once in a while. The coconut will first shred and then will start to clump up and when you think you can't bear the sound of your food processor anymore, voila! It will be pretty soft at first, but will harden if you leave it at room temperature. I was shocked at how easy this was..If you like coconut, give it a try!

So the question - did these work without the vanilla? Every time I forget or omit the vanilla I regret it, but I didn't notice it so much in these. They were light and chocolaty and the pecans were a great added crunch. I still stand by the rule, never omit the vanilla, but these do not feel like they are lacking in anything.

Raspberry Lemon Loaf

Seems like suddenly it is spring. I cannot be more relieved. Since it is Alberta, I will remain pessimistic until I see leaves on trees and green grass, but I think there is a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel.

This inspired me to try out a brighter, sunny recipe and since It was midnight at the time, I figured why not get an early start on breakfast.

In Colour me Vegan there is a great recipe for raspberry lemon muffins that I just had to try. Unfortunately, I broke a very important cooking rule.. I skipped pre-prep. I made my batter, had my oven heated and ready to go and turn to grab my muffin pan and to my surprise; it is nowhere to be seen! I searched everywhere and I am sure my neighbors were wondering what the hell I was doing smashing pots and pans in the middle of the nigh. Gone, gremlins got it.

So, with my batter ready, I had to improvise and made a loaf. I should have went with my instinct on the timing and temperature, but I didn't and the the end result was classic 'oven too hot syndrome' Little dry on the outside and a little too moist on the inside. Ah well, I am the only one eating it, so it is not the end of the world. The important this is that this recipe is seriously good.

Raspberry-Lemon Loaf

• 1 small container of vanilla yogurt
• 1/2 cup of milk (I used sunflower)
• 3 Tbsp canola oil
• Juice from 1 lemon
• 1/2 tsp lemon extract
• 1 1/2 cup of whole wheat pastry flour
• 3/4 cup of sugar (I used white granulated)
• 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp lemon zest
• 1 cup fresh raspberries

Preheat the over to 400F (375F if you make a loaf) Mix together the wet ingredients and set aside. Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Pour the wet into the dry ingredients and stir until it is just combined (Lumpy batter is fine. Over mixing muffin batter is bad, don't do it!).

Fold in the raspberries (Note: While making this in the middle of the night, I was sure it said two cups, so I used about a cup and a half of raspberries and then a handful of mixed berries. This may be another reason why my end result was a little too moist in the middle! Lesson learned? Only to read recipes twice. I will cook in the middle of the night forever)

Pour into a greased muffin / loaf pan. If cooking muffins, bake for 20 - 25 minutes. If cooking a loaf, this will be trickier. Start with 30 minutes, then you will have to watch it. Mine ended up taking about 50 minutes in total, but that included taking it out of the oven at 30 minutes thinking it was done, then remembering to check with the toothpick 15 minutes later, realizing a mistake was made and throwing it back in the oven.

I am amazed something edible came out of this, but obvious it was not the recipe's fault. Totally my fault this time.

I love to put brown sugar mixed with a bit of cinnamon on top of muffins, so if you are OK with extra sugar, go for it!

Makes 12 muffins or 1 loaf.

The book includes the nutritional info, so make sure to grab the book, or send me an email and I can get it to you. Red foods are rich in anthocyanins and lycopene (and plenty of other nutrients) and they have been linked to lowering the risk of cancer, aging and neurological diseases, inflammation,  diabetes and bacterial infections. If that isn't enough for your to try... how about this - it tastes awesome! Nuff said.

Other red foods:
Red pepper, Berries, Beets, Red miso, Red quinoa, chard, tomatoes, water melon, red lentils, Apples and many more.

Ways to increase red foods in your diet:

• Add apples, red pepper, tomato to salads
• Eat tomato salads
• add red lentils or tomato paste to soups and stews
• Add red berries to cereal or smoothies
• Drink red berry juices or tomato juice
• Keep apples at your desk

This is a fabulous red recipe, but could be considered a yellow one too. Really brightened up my Monday morning. The only thing to make this morning complete was to have a little pig time.

Prince Henry, chilling like a villain and looking a little pissed that I am not sharing!