"Choose your own adventure" Muffin Recipe (vegan, GF)

I am terrible at recording recipes. I tend to open my cupboards, see what I have and play a game of baking roulette. I’ve been baking ever since I was a child and I’ve done so many recipes that I have a general sense of ratios/portions of ingredients to make things rise and come to life. It’s not always a win!🙃 But practice makes progress over the years.

Each weekend I love making a muffin or loaf recipe for the week. So, here is what I did at the crack of dawn this morning! Please note that I did NOT measure this out. I eyeballed the approximate measurements and once I was done wrote down what I did. If you try this out, let me know how your game of baking roulette goes! 😋

Pumpkin banana muffins (vegan, GF):

Wet ingredients:

• 200mL pumpkin or butternut squash (I used butternut squash purée). I think sweet potato would also work.

• 1.5 spotty ripe bananas (or two small ones)

• 1/4 heaping cup of coconut oil (melted)

• 1-2 tbsp Cinnamon (I like lots)

• 1/4 cup sweetener of choice like maple syrup, honey or coconut sugar (I used maple syrup and it was more like 1/8 cup; but if your family is accustomed to sweet things I would add maybe even more than 1/4 cup and gradually wean them down 😉)

• Splash of apple cider vinegar. ✨You’ll notice there is no egg or ‘flax egg’ in this recipe. Instead, there’s a little chemistry trick with the Apple cider vinegar taking place.

*Combine all in above ingredients to a smooth consistency. I do this with a fork but a food processor would also work.

Dry ingredients:

• 2 cups flour (I used 1 cup Bob’s red mill GF flour mix, 1/2 cup coconut flour and 1/2 cup almond flour). Oat flour would also be a great choice.

• 1/4 heaping cup of oats (I used One Degree Organic rolled oats). Quick oats would also work. Avoid steel cut.

• 1/2 tsp baking powder

• 1/2 tsp baking soda

• 1/4 tsp salt

*Mix dry ingredients in a bowl then add to wet mixture until combined. Batter will be fluffy. If too wet, gradually add a bit more flour mixture or more oats.

Add in 1/2 to 3/4 cup toppings of choice:

• Nuts (I used chopped Walnuts)

• Raisins (I was out, so I used Craisins)

• Other ideas: pecans, coconut flakes, fresh raspberries or blueberries, chocolate chips, etc.)

*Coat your pan with coconut oil or use unbleached muffin cups. Bake at 350 for ~35-40 minutes or until tops are golden and toothpick comes out clean. These muffins are very moist because of all the purées, so a little extra bake time is helpful.

Good luck 🍀