Very Veggie Vegan Muffins

A slow roasted applesauce, along with homemade pumpkin and carrot purees, made up the base of these vegan spice muffins, which are crowned with cereal crunchies. The other secret? Cane sugar ginger ale!

 

Easter always brings out the first carrot cakes of the year. The perfect marriage of new growing vegetation and the warming spices of fall and winter, a carrot cake is one of the most delicious ways to bridge the seasons. Of course, I have more than a few carrot cake / cupcake / doughnut recipes on this blog, and by and large they use grated fresh carrots. But I found myself in the situation with leftover cooked carrots languishing in the fridge that nobody would eat (including me - I hate cooked carrots except in soup). 

Rather than toss them (my finances have recently tightened a bit), I decided to clean out the rest of the fridge and see what I found. Turns out I had all the makings of a batch of hearty, healthy and delicious muffins! Laced with ginger ale and spiked with spices and a whisper of both maple and vanilla extracts, they required no egg or dairy to come together into a moist, full-flavoured package. Wrapped individually and frozen, they're great to throw in a lunchbox for mid-afternoon, or split and toast them lightly before topping with (vegan) butter or cream cheese for a decadent breakfast!

Very Veggie Vegan Muffins
Adapted from Lunch Box Bunch
Makes 14
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp molasses
½ cup pumpkin puree (homemade or canned)
½ cup carrot puree (homemade, or approx. 1 jar of baby food)
½ cup chunky applesauce
2 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
½ tsp ginger
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp maple extract
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp ground flaxseed
2 tbsp canola oil
1 cup ginger ale (I used Boylan’s)
2 cups spelt flour
1 tbsp Homemade Egg Replacer or Ener-G egg replacer
1 tbsp baking powder
Crushed cereal or granola, for topping (optional, I used this one)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 14 muffin tins (I find liners stick too much).
2. In a bowl, beat together brown sugar, molasses, pumpkin, carrot puree, applesauce, spices, salt, extracts, vinegar, flaxseed, oil and ginger ale.
3. Add flour, egg replacer and baking powder, mixing until just blended.
4. Scoop evenly into the muffin tins and top with granola.
5. Bake for 35 minutes or until muffins test done.

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 150.5
Total Fat: 2.7 g
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Sodium: 6.9 mg
Total Carbs: 32.4 g
Dietary Fiber: 2.9 g
Protein: 2.6 g