Carrot Juice on Impulse

(You may notice I forgot to defrost these muffins before I began photographing. Pretend you didn't. For me.)

Occasionally, I am an impulsive shopper. Especially when it comes to food.

Last week I bought some carrot juice. Prior to this, I have never tried it, and I don't think I ever would again.

I did get used to it after a few tries, but I wasn't sold. I ended up throwing the rest of it out this morning because I just couldn't bare it once more.

I do love carrots.

Just not juiced.

Fine. Now I know.

Before I dumped it, I used it in these muffins and was able to cut back on sugar because of it. What a good idea, self!

Carrot Spice Muffins
Adapted from Fat-Free Vegan Kitchen

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 cup whole spelt flour (or more whole wheat pastry flour)
1/4 cup raw sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp salt

1 egg replacer (I used PaneRiso)
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2-3/4 cup unsweetened, natural carrot juice, plus extra if you need to moisten the batter
1 tsp vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups shredded carrots
1/4 cup raisins

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Spray a muffin tin and set aside.

Mix together the first nine ingredients in a large bowl. In a small bowl, combine the next five ingredients; add to the dry ingredients, and mix just to moisten. If the dough seems a little dry, add a little more of the carrot juice. Batter will be thick (you aren't trying to thin it out, you just don't want it to be dry). Stir in the raisins.

Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups. Bake 15-20 minutes, or until tested done. Cool in tin for a few minutes before removing to a wire rack.

Yield: 12 muffins.

If Muffins Could Talk

I'm not a big fan of muffins. The shape, I mean. Somehow I just find bread tastes better baked in a loaf pan. Maybe that's just me. Besides, twelve is too dangerous an amount to have around for only one person. Into the freezer they go!

I am, however, a big fan of lemon. I will gladly stuff most lemon-flavoured goodies into my face. I also love raisins, and I will continue to love them no matter how many times my friend tells me they remind her of old, wrinkly skin. What? They are just raisins to me.

So I guess those are the factors that made me like these muffins. They are extremely lemony, which delighted me much-ly. Part of the muffin stuck to the liner though. Isn't that qualified for cheating? What are they trying to tell me?
Stop eating, Alicia.
No, I will not.

And for the record, I would have baked these into a loaf pan, but I couldn't find a clean one. I guess I should go do something about that now.


Lemon-Raisin Muffins
Adapted from Kellogg's Corn Flakes Cereal Recipe Collection

1-1/2 cups flour
1/3 cup raw sugar
1 tbsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
2 cups unsweetened corn flakes cereal
1-1/4 cups non-dairy milk (I used almond)
1 egg replacement
1/3 cup canola oil
2 tsp. grated lemon rind (I used an entire lemon... it may have been more than 2 tsp. but I'm ok with that)
1/2 cup raisins

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine cereal and milk. Let stand until cereal is softened, about 2 minutes. Add "egg", oil, and lemon rind. Beat well. Add flour mixture and stir until almost combined. Stir in raisins.

Divide batter into 12 greased or lined (only if you want rude muffins) muffin cups. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes, or until lightly browned.

Yield: 12 muffins

When You Feed an Alligator Muffins...

Perhaps it should be mentioned my photography is less than creative, and the lighting is sometimes funny-looking, and the angles are a bit odd.

Perhaps it should be said that I am one lazy kid and more often than not, I forget to bring my sad, little cherry-red Nikon with me on baking excursions.

It should also be known that, perhaps, I will leave readers (will I have any now that I've told you of my lacking photography?) a gift or two in the form of typos. They are a part of my life, no matter how hard I try to kick them out.

So, now that you know a little bit about me, you should also know that today is the first day of Vegan MoFo 2011. Oh, yes, it's exciting!

This is my first year participating, and as such, I had a bit of a pickle thinking of what my theme will be. I don't mean to be boring, so pardon my lack of imagination, but I decided my theme would be something along the lines of 'a day in the life of a vegan', and a new vegan, at that. I'll be doing a lot of baking so expect many baked goods and recipes by the side of a not-so-flattering photos (if I remember). Additionally you'll catch a couple of product reviews, lists of whatever I find wonderful and vegan, and stories.

Time to kick this off with some muffins, because everyone appreciates muffins.

But do you notice the little specks of green embedded in these dense, chocolate morsels? That would be avocado. I know what you're thinking, and you are correct: avocados + muffins = weird. Strangely enough, it works. These muffins are wonderfully moist and dense (not in a bad way, of course) like a muffin should be. They aren't too sweet and all you can taste is chocolate. No avocado taste what-so-ever.

In fact, they are so good, that I question you if you don't try making these. I just slightly adapted this recipe by using dutch-process cocoa, only 1/2 teaspoon of salt (1/2 a tablespoon seemed a little overboard) and using 1 cup all-purpose with 3/4 cup whole wheat flour as I cannot for the life of me find whole wheat pastry flour.

Don't you think these look a little Halloween-ish with their green spots? Let's go ahead and say I did that on purpose. Now who's creative?