Crumb-cake, Fruit-filled Fluffy Vegan Muffins 




This post was made prior to when I began high carbohydrate, low fat, raw-till four vegan diet--- I actually haven't really made these in a while since summertime. I've been wanting to find a good gluten-free flour and 'no-sodium' baking powder to make them again and see how it turns out. But these muffins are still vegan, a lot healthier than the regular non-vegan muffins, and delicious!

Muffin-palooza, not a real word but a compilation of various vegan muffin-related recipes I have tried since the amazing crumb cake muffins. From blueberry, raspberry, and peach filled muffins, along with carrot cake, which all taste great, during this past summer [2013], I tried making them all.

Some of these were made with coconut sugar, which has an interesting taste of its own. Coconut sugar is another refined-sugar alternative that has really spiked in popularity since it is believed to have nutrient properties that aren't present in other refined sugars, therefore making it a better alternative to over-processed sugars.





Ingredients

Muffin:

• 11/2 cups - flour
• 1/2 cup - raw turbinado/organic sugar/evaporated cane/coconut sugar*
• 1-2 teas - baking powder*
• 1/8 teas. - sea salt or just a pinch, 1/8 teas.
• 1 cup - nondairy milk (I like coconut-almond milk)
• 1/4 cup - banana (instead of oil)*
• Fill ins:
• Blueberries, raspberries, strawberries peaches, other berries/fruits that go well with/in muffins

*I used half coconut sugar and half evaporated cane juice
*I might have lowered the overall amount of baking powder due to sodium levels


Topping:

• 1/4 cup - Coconut Sugar or Brown Sugar
• 1/8 cup (2TBS) Flour
• 1 TBS Melted Earth Balance*
• 3/4 teas - Cinnamon**

 *I tried to use almond-coconut milk or banana instead of oil
*I would think that a small amount of flaxseed or Ener-G egg-replacer would work as well.


The only difference between all the other recipes and this one is the fact that I don't fold in the blueberries to make a usual blueberry muffin recipe. Instead, I put a small layer of batter on the bottom of the muffin pan and add in any fruits to fill it with and then add some more batter to the top.








Also, I started a new side-blog. I call it Ambrosia.

Carrot Cake Muffins or
Carrot Muffin-Cakes
Before I started doing raw till 4 and incorporating aspects from the 80/10/10 philosophy into my own diet, I had made a lot of vegan muffins during the past summer, which was when I meant to post this.
At the time, I had been snacking on bunches and bunches of organic carrots so I figured to make a healthier vegan carrot cake or carrot cupcake dessert and I did. I always get organic carrots, they're sweeter, better for environment, and aren't excessively expensive.



Ingredients

• 3/4 cups flour
• 1/2 cups raw/turbinado/coconut sugar
• 1/2 tsp   baking powder
• 1/2 tsp   baking soda
• 1/2 and 1/8 teas - cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp sea salt (I did 1/16 tsp.)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 3/4 cup banana
• 1/2-1 carrots or more

This makes 6 muffin-cakes since I halved the almost fat-free recipe from Happy Herbivore.
These muffin-cakes can also be topped with a coconut whipped cream.



I tried to put coconut cream on the muffins, but I was impatient it melted.. and then turned into a glaze.


 

This makes for a great seasonal raw vegan ice cream that tastes like a candy I might have had prior to becoming vegan. I don't remember what candy exactly that I am reminded of, but this recipe is made from fruit: persimmons and bananas. Since bananas and persimmons are both sweet fruits, they fit well together in terms of proper food combining. Therefore, these two fruits are not only good on the taste buds and your health, but also digestion.



Ingredients

• 2-5
• Frozen Bananas
• 1-4
• Persimmons
• 2 Tbs. (for ice cream consistency) add more for smoothie
• Water

It is important for both of the fruits to be super ripe!
I can only fit a maximum of 3-6 medium-sized bananas in my blender so you can use more bananas/persimmons.


























Persimmons taste like pure sugar. They are pretty much only in season during the winter months and can be difficult to find since they aren't usually sold in grocery stores. Thus, you might have to go to either a farmers market or international food store to find it. I recently found an international farmers market that sells produce and all types of food for unbelievably great prices i.e. a full cart of fruits and vegetables (some exotic) that might last a few weeks for only 25-30 dollars. I don't think I have ever exceeded 35 dollars since I've been there even when I get items for making veggie sushi and super exotic fruits like dragon fruit.