More Muffins!

I love making muffins. Not only are they a dead simple way to use up almost anything in your house, they can be sweet, savoury, healthy, waist-expanding or any combination of those things. Making them for school or office consumption is great, since they’re portable and easy to grab off a tray without need for a knife or lifter. Being in the school that I am, bringing in goodies isn’t as simple as white flour + sugar + eggs + butter – the vast majority are vegans (totally fine here!), there’s nut and coconut allergies floating around, and a few students are gluten-free too. While I’m not sure how many are just keeping wheat, gluten, eggs or dairy out of their diets because of celiac or allergies and how many are doing it out of principle (we already had one “gluten free” girl accidentally eat gluten-containing crackers and “normal” soy sauce without any reactions) I don’t want to take any risks that I don’t need to. While not everything I bring to the (proverbial and literal) table is fine for everyone, everything I bring in is vegan, and I always try to throw in a gluten free goody now and then.

 

This time I brought back a common flavour combination that’s almost always a hit in any form: lemon and blueberries. I hearkened back to my last blueberry muffins for inspiration and at the last minute decided that heck – why not make them blueberry, lemon and cornmeal muffins? Corn is gluten free, vegan, tasty, and pretty too! I’ve always had a soft spot for cornbread and cornmeal muffins because of the texture and slight sweetness they had, so of course I just had to do it! The original recipe is from Karina’s blog, and is a winner!

 

Gluten-Free, Soy-Free, Vegan Blueberry Cornmeal Muffins
Makes 12
¾ cup cornmeal
¼ cup millet flour
½ cup sorghum flour
¼ cup corn flour
½ cup tapioca starch
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp sea salt
½ tsp xanthan gum
1/3 cup sugar
¾ tsp stevia extract
½ tsp ground nutmeg
¼ cup oil
2 tbsp applesauce
1 tbsp agave nectar
2 tbsp grated lemon zest
2 tsp gluten-free vanilla
½ tsp lemon juice
1 tbsp Ener-G Egg Replacer (or other replacer powder) whisked with 1/3 cup warm water (or 2 eggs)
½ cup warm water
¼ cup unsweetened almond milk
1 (generous) cup blueberries

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a 12-muffin cupcake pan.
2. Whisk together the dry ingredients in a medium bowl (cornmeal through nutmeg). Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, beat together oil, applesauce, agave nectar, lemon zest, vanilla, lemon juice, prepared egg replacer, water and almond milk.
4. Add the dry ingredients and mix well to form a smooth, sticky batter.
5. Fold in blueberries.
6. Spoon into the tins and bake 20-22 minutes.
7. Cool the pan on a wire rack for five minutes, then remove from the pan and cool directly on the rack.

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 157.6
Total Fat: 5.2 g
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Sodium: 9.5 mg
Total Carbs: 25.3 g
Dietary Fiber: 2.1 g
Protein: 1.9 g