)
I woke up today thinking “I want to make a bunch of pumpkin flavored recipes…” so I went out to Whole Foods, bought some organic pumpkin puree and got to work. These were the first of my pumpkin experiments and they turned out really fluffy, moist & delicious– despite the fact that they’re gluten-free and vegan (sometimes gluten-free baking turns out like a brick). I added apples to the muffins to add an extra sweetness- they’re at the peak of their season right now and absolutely delicious so head to your local farmer’s market, co-op or grocery store and stock up.
On an un-related note, when I was visiting family in Michigan recently I made a baked apple crisp and it was really, really good. So I’ll be re-creating that soon to post on Eat Local. Live Simple in addition to a superfood pumpkin smoothie recipe (yum). Stay turned for more apple & pumpkin recipes!
Makes: 15 muffins (Note: I was going for 12, but this makes 15 regular-sized muffins. They’re really really good so you’ll thank me later when you have extra 😉 )
What You’ll Need:
- 2 cups quick oats
- 1/2 cup chopped walnut pieces (farmer’s market)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon allspice
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 cup pumpkin purée
- 1 large chopped apple (I love honeycrisp, gala and jonagold)
- 1/2 c unsweetened vanilla almond milk
- 2 tbsp ground flaxseeds
- 1/2 cup real maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
To Make:
Pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees F.
In a small mixing bowl, combine two tbsp ground flaxseeds with 6 tbsp cold water. Mix with a fork and set the bowl in the refrigerator for 15 minutes to cool. This makes two ’flax eggs’ (a plant-based egg replacement for baking).
You’ll need two more mixing bowls… one medium sized for the wet ingredients and the other a larger one for dry ingredients and later on, the batter.
In your large mixing bowl, combine quick oats, walnut pieces, salt, cinnamon, ground ginger, nutmeg, allspice and baking powder. Mix dry ingredients well using a fork or mixing spoon.
In your medium-sized mixing bowl, combine pumpkin puree, vanilla almond milk, maple syrup, vanilla extract and your flax egg after it’s been chilled for 15 minutes. Mix well and pour wet ingredients into the large mixing bowl with the dry ingredients. Mix well with a mixing spoon or fork.
Rinse, peel and chop your apple into small pieces. Add to the large mixing bowl and mix the apple into your batter. Line your muffin tin with muffin cups and spoon your muffin mixture into the cups.
Bake for 22 minutes. Remove from the oven and let them cool down for 10 minutes on a cooling rack before eating.
Storage: Make sure to store them in a ziplock bag or BPA free tupperware or glass container so they stay moist. After two or three days, store them in the refrigerator so they don’t get moldy. I’d also recommend re-heating them so they’re warm when you eat them 🙂
peacelovegreenblog.wordpress.com 