Hello everyone! I’m so excited to be a part of this fun Veganuary Event! I hope you enjoy these muffins as much I do! My hope for this recipe is that it will help you learn how to make delicious vegan goodies!
Don't forget to look at all these other amazing vegan dishes!
My new philosophy is: Anything you can make I can make vegan... and better. 😜
If you’re missing those moist, soft, sweet muffins, then this recipe is about to save your life! It’s easy and delicious! Who said going vegan was hard? 😜 I know what you're thinking, “Do I even have any ingredients that are vegan?” (Or maybe you already know, the answer, but play along.)
And the answer is yes! Quite a lot of ingredients used for baking are already vegan. Score!
The only ingredients you might have to go out and buy are coconut oil or vegan butter, non-diary milk, and a vegan egg replacer. That’s it! Not too shabby huh?
These are the vegan versions of egg, milk, and butter that I used
Already vegan: vanilla extract, salt, baking powder, baking soda, sugar*, flour, and (not in the photo) poppy seeds, lemon juice, and lemons.
A few things to note before we get started. (Trust me, this information will be very important when proceeding to make these delicious muffins.)
I use coconut oil because it sits on my counter all the time. So when I need to bake I don’t have to think ahead and leave my vegan butter out on the counter until it’s soft. You can use vegan butter if you want to though. My favorite is Earth Balance, but there are a lot of great vegan butter substitutes. Just use one stick, or 1/2 cup of the vegan butter if you don’t want to use coconut oil.
If you are using coconut oil, refined is the best one to use because it doesn’t have as much of a coconut flavor to it.
For the vegan “egg” you can use ground flaxseeds (1 tbsp ground flaxseed with 3 tbsp Luke warm water for one egg), or an egg replacer. I’ve been using a generic one, which works very well. Bob’s Red Mill Egg Replacer is also a great egg replacer.
The original recipe calls for 1 cup sour cream or yogurt. You can use vegan versions, Silk has a really good yogurt, or if you’re like me, and don’t want to buy that, you can use vegan buttermilk. All you have to do is put 1 cup of non-diary milk in a bowl, and whisk in 1 tbsp of lemon juice or apple cider vinegar. Let it sit for 5. - 10 minutes (you'll see it get clumpy), and voila! You have vegan buttermilk! (Cool trick huh?!)
When baking muffins and cakes make sure to leave the oven shut until they’ve been baking in the oven for at least 2/3rds the baking time to ensure you get a nice dome top. For example, these muffins bake for 15 - 18 minutes. Don’t open the oven or flip them until they’ve baked for at least 12 - 13 minutes. If you open the oven and the batter is still jiggly/wet looking, leave them for another few minutes. The flour needs time to set up/ form its structure.
Now that you're a pro at how to make muffins, let's get baking!
Ingredients:
Batter:
1/2 c coconut oil, or vegan butter of choice, softened to room temperature
3/4 c granulated sugar*
2 tbsp lemon zest
2 vegan eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp lemon extract (optional but highly encouraged)
2 c flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 c poppy seeds
1 c vegan sour cream, yogurt, or vegan buttermilk
Glaze: (optional but recommended)
2 tbsp lemon juice
3/4 c powdered sugar
Directions:
Heat the oven to 350 degrees F
Line a cupcake tin with liners or spray it with oil
In a separate bowl, make the vegan eggs and set aside to gel up
If using vegan buttermilk, combine 1 cup non-dairy milk of your choice with 1 tbsp of lemon juice or apple cider vinegar
Zest and Juice the lemons (I used 2 medium sized lemons) in bowls and set aside
In a bowl or stand mixer, cream the coconut oil and sugar together until they’re a homogenous smooth mixture
Add in the vegan egg replacer and lemon zest and continue mixing until they’re also well combined (I usually put my mixer up to 4/5 to help whip the ingredients together)
Add in the vanilla extract and lemon juice and whip until the ingredients are well combined and smooth
Stop the mixer, and add in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and poppy seeds
Slowly start to mix the ingredients
Once the dry ingredients begin to incorporate with the wet ingredients, add in the buttermilk
Continue to mix on low until the batter is just combined (it will be lumpy and thick but still wet)
Scoop the batter into the muffin cups so each cup is about 2/3rds full
Bake for 15- 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean or with a few crumbs on it
If making the glaze, whisk the lemon juice and powdered sugar together and set aside
Once the muffins are out of the oven, spread the glaze on top of the muffins with a pastry brush
Let cool for about 5 minutes then transfer them to a cooling rack
Enjoy!
*Another Tip:
I don’t want to overwhelm you guys, so I decided to put this information at the bottom.
If you are also trying to use vegan sugar, but don’t want to spend a million dollars on organic sugar, fear not! Target just came out with their Good & Gather brand, which has VEGAN friendly sugar! That’s right! Their granulated sugar, light and dark brown sugar, AND their powdered sugar are all vegan! And they’re affordable. Their 2 pound powdered sugar is 1.79. Very exciting!
If you’re already feeling overwhelmed, and just want to use the sugar you have, go for it! You’re still making an amazing impact on the environment by not eating meat this month! And that’s what we’re really trying to do. So good luck and congratulations on participating in Veganuary! You're doing great. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻