Some time ago, I discovered the magic of aquafaba. Aquafaba is the liquid contained in a tin of chickpeas and other tinned pulses. It is full of nutrients and has the added bonus of being a fabulous egg replacement - just like chia seeds, or flax seeds. As a general rule you need 3 tbsp of aquafaba to replace 1 egg. It works really well in muffins!
Vegan Aquafaba Blueberry Muffins
These blueberry muffins are perfect for breakfast, or as a snack with a cup of tea.
Ingredients - makes 12 regular sized muffins
- 1 cup self raising flour
- ½ cup wholemeal self raising flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 6 Tbsp Aquafaba
- ½ cup almond meal
- ? cup coconut sugar
- ½ cup almond milk
- ½ cup cashew cream
- ½ tsp vanilla essence
- ¼ cup melted coconut butter/oil
- 1 cup fresh blueberries
Method
- Preheat oven to 180 C and grease a muffin pan, or line with muffin cases.
- Beat the Aquafaba until light and fluffy.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine dry ingredients.
- Add blueberries to the dry mix.
- Add wet ingredients including vanilla essence and aquafaba.
- Stir until just combined.
- Divide mixture into muffin pan.
- Bake at 180 C for 25 minutes. Allow to cool.
Vegan Chocolate Banana GF Muffins
These muffins are lovely for breakfast with some fruit, or as a snack with a cup of tea or coffee. They're not too sweet and have a slightly nutty texture.
My aquafaba was from a tin of black beans, but you can use any.
My almond meal was dried and ground almond pulp from home-made almond milk. I ground the oat flour from rolled oats.
I was going to sprinkle some oats or choped nuts on top of the muffins before baking but forgot ..... they would have looked much prettier!
Ingredients - makes 10 muffins
- 2 medium ripe bananas
- 6 tbsp aquafaba
- 3 tbsp maple syrup
- 3 tbsp almond milk
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup almond meal
- 1/2 cup oat flour
- 1 tbsp cacao powder
- 1 tsp baking powder
Method
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees C and line a muffin tin with paper liners.
- Mash the bananas on a plate, then transfer into a medium bowl.
- Stir in the aquafaba.
- Add maple syrup, almond milk and vanilla. Stir well.
- In a large bowl, stir together the almond meal, oat flour, cacao powder and baking powder.
- Transfer wet mixture into dry and carefully fold in with a large spoon, until just combined.
- Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre of a muffin comes out clean.
- Remove and let rest in pan for 5 minutes. Then cool completely on a cooling rack.
- Store in an airtight container or freeze.
Vegan Aquafaba Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
This was an experiment with a recipe found at avocadosandales.com. I made adjustments to make it gluten free as well as vegan.
Another hit with the family!
Ingredients - makes 12 regular sized muffins
- 1/2 cup coconut sugar
- 1/2 cup coconut oil
- 3 bananas - mashed really well
- 1/2 cup almond milk
- 6 tbsp aquafaba
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- 2 cups gluten-free flour - I make my own (combine 1 cup brown rice flour, with 1 cup cornflour and 2/3 cup tapioca flour - sift together a few times to make sure the flours are mixed well)
- 1/2 tsp bicarb
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 cup dark chocolate - chopped into little pieces
Method
- In a medium bowl, cream together the coconut oil and coconut sugar.
- Beat the Aquafaba until light and fluffy.
- Add the mashed bananas, aquafaba, milk and vanilla to the creamed cococnut oil and sugar mixture. Stir well.
- In a separate bowl, combine the flour, bicarb and cinnamon.
- Add dry ingredients into wet and mix together.
- Stir in the chocolate pieces.
- Pour batter into lined muffin tins.
- Bake for 20 mins at 180C.
Vegan Chocolate Strawberry Almond Muffins
These muffins don't necessarily fit into a totally "healthy" category, but when you are trying to please a vegan teenager and have a craving for chocolate and strawberry together, they are perfect! Anyway, I had just made up a new batch of almond milk and wanted to use the almond pulp in something.
This time I used aquafaba that had been frozen into ice-cube trays. I let it thaw naturally - and then stirred it into the other ingredients.
Ingredients - makes 12 regular sized muffins
- 1-1/2 cups almond meal (I used dried almond pulp, blended finely in my food processor)
- 1/2 cup plain white flour
- 1 tbsp cacao powder
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 cup dark chocolate - chopped into little pieces, plus extra for topping
- 1 cup chopped fresh strawberries
- 3 tbsp aquafaba (I used mine from red kidney beans)
- 3/4 cup almond milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted
Method
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees C and line a muffin tin with paper liners.
- In a large bowl, add all of the dry ingredients, saving 12 small pieces of chocolate to add at the end.
- In a separate bowl, add the wet ingredients and mix until smooth.
- Gently fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients mixing well and making sure there are no lumps.
- Spoon the batter into each muffin cup about 3/4 of the way full.
- Top each muffin with a small piece of chocolate.
- Bake for 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of a muffin comes out clean.
- Remove from the muffin pan and allow to cool completely.
- Store in an airtight container.
Chia Cornbread Muffins
These cornbread muffins were a great success using chia seeds instead of eggs, but they would also work well with aquafaba as a replacement instead. Either way, they are delicious and nutritious! Oh, and they make a great addition to a healthy green soup.
Ingredients - makes 12 muffins
- 2 tbsp chia seeds
- 6 tbsp water
- 1-1/4 cups flour
- 3/4 cup Polenta (corn meal)
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup almond milk
- 1/4 cup hemp oil
Method
- First, stir the chia seeds into the water and leave to thicken up. Stir again a few times and leave until the seeds have completely taken up all the water and have become a good thick mixture. This should only take a few minutes. Stir again.
- Stir all the other ingredients together in a bowl. Add in the thickened chia gel and stir well until the mixture is completely combined.
- Put spoonfuls of the mixture into greased muffin pans - approx. 3/4 full.
- Bake at 190 degrees C for approx. 25 mins.
- Serve with soup, or as a side for just about anything.
Notes
- You can use this recipe in a baking dish, or bread tins - whatever you choose. Just remember to alter the cooking time accordingly.
Enjoy these recipes and let me know which are your favourites!
Caryl ♥
