Vegan Blueberry Muffins

Everybody loves Blueberry Muffins, they're delicious and juicy and have fruit in them, so they're OK for breakfast time too, right? Definitely. 

These muffins are completely vegan and gluten free. So, aside from containing a whole cupa white sugar - which could easily be replaced with a sweetener or other sugar alternative and the intrinsic sugars that come from the bluebs - they're practically a health food. Hooray! Health that tastes amazing.


For quite a while now I've been trying to reduce my intake of diary and wheat. Lactose is generally not my friend and I always regret it after having a big old bowl of ice cream or other dairy goodies as I'm inevitably left with a not very happy tummy. In most of my recipes I use lactose free, dairy alternatives and always find the results to be just as good as using the real thing. The same goes for using alternatives to wheat flour. It's widely available now in supermarkets and no one ever knows that the gooey cake they're tucking into won't give them a horribly bloated stomach (and in my case headaches and eczema!) 

I had wanted to try out a fully vegan recipe for a while now when I found this one for blueberry muffins and new that it would be perfect. They don't turn out exactly the same as traditional muffins but are still lovely and most definitely perfect for a quick on-the-go breakfast.

Ingredients:

2 cups plain flour (I used gluten-free)

½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt 

½ cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tablespoon coconut oil

2 cups (350g) fresh blueberries
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons white vinegar + 2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
½ cup unsweetened almond milk
(makes 12 large muffins)

To Make:

• Preheat the oven to 185°C.
• Put 12 large muffin cases into a deep 12-hole muffin tin.
• Coat the blueberries in 1 tablespoon of flour and set aside.
• Mix dry ingredients — flour, baking powder and sea salt — together. Set aside.
• Stir together the sugar, oil and the applesauce until light and fluffy. Add vinegar and baking soda mixture, then the vanilla, stirring until incorporated.
• Sprinkle in the dry ingredients and almond milk, stirring until just mixed.
• Fold in blueberries. 

• Using a mechanical ice cream scoop, drop one scoop of mixture into the prepared muffin cases.

• Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown, then enjoy warm!