vegan blueberry muffins.

You guys, I have to start work on Monday. That means I can't bake every single day (this is probably a good thing). I have to be a real person and supervise the children of the Twin Cities throughout their day camp adventures...

This morning I experienced a traumatic biscotti fail. The cause was unknown and still is. A Danie fail bake means she absolutely has to redeem herself.

Time to make muffins, kidlets. These are real good, mostly because of the homemade blueberry preserves that are swirled into the batter before it's baked. I was wary about replacing the eggs in this one because the existing, non-vegan recipe seemed to already have a lot of liquids. But I substituted with applesauce and the result was a beautiful, moist, and light muffin baby. 

Also, below you can see the mug my mama made and gave me while I was home. She made that mug. It's pretty great and extremely large.

Vegan Blueberry Muffins (adapted from this recipe on America's Test Kitchen)

2 cups fresh blueberries

1 1/8 cups sugar

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

4 tablespoons vegan butter or margarine, melted and cooled slightly

1/4 cup vegetable oil

3/4 cup soy yogurt combined with 1/4 cup non-dairy milk

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spray muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray or line with liners. 

2. Bring one cup blueberries and one teaspoon sugar to simmer in small saucepan over medium heat. Cook, mashing berries with spoon several times and stirring frequently, until berries have broken down and mixture is thickened and reduced to 1/4 cup. Let cool to room temperature.

3. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together in large bowl.

4. Whisk together sugar and applesauce, then slowly whisk in cooled butter and oil until combined. Whisk in yogurt mixture and vanilla.

5. Fold wet ingredients and remaining blueberries into dry ingredients until just combined. Do not overmix.

6. Fill muffin cups to the top and, using a chopstick or skewer, swirl in one teaspoon of cooled blueberry jam. Bake for 17-19 minutes. Let cool for a few minutes in pan before moving to a wire rack.

Also, I'm doing this thing where I attempt to get into good hip-hop music. Below is an example and also a lesson in what A Tribe Called Quest prefers to snack on. Fact: hip-hop music is really excellent to bake/cook to. You have no idea.

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