blueberry muffins!

these are SO GOOD!!!

• 2 cups flour
• 2 tsps baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup butter, cut in cubes, room temp
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tbsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup milk
  
• 2 cups blueberries

preheat oven to 350 degrees. spray or line 1 muffin pan (12 regular sized muffins). add the flour, baking powder and salt to one small bowl and mix. then in another bowl, cream together the butter, then sugar, then eggs, and then vanilla. slowly add the flour mix and milk to the liquid bowl, alternating between the two. finally, fold in the washed and rinsed blueberries. bake for around 26-27 minutes and then it's yum time!

important notes:

FOLDING is important because you don't want to squash the blueberries.

RINSING is important because you don't want to dye your batter purple...unless you want that, but i didn't in this instance.

if you're going to substitute a different fruit for the blueberries, you may want to reduce the sugar amount. for example, strawberries are much sweeter, so you would want to reduce the sugar. also, if the fruit is chopped up and a bit "sticky", mix it with a tablespoon or so of flour before folding it into the batter. the flour will help keep the color of the fruit from bleeding into your batter.

vegan oatmeal raisin muffins

i just whipped these up this morning and they are DELICIOUS! i found a recipe online that i kind of liked, and then swapped and added things as i felt necessary...so i guess you could say that i invented this recipe!

• 3/4 cup rice milk
• 1 cup oats
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 cup melted margarine (non-dairy, i used earth balance)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• chopped almonds (i think i had somewhere between 1/3 and 1/2 cup)
• raisins (again, probably somewhere between 1/3 and 1/2 cup)

to start, preheat oven to 350 degrees. mix the rice milk and vinegar together. (this makes a "buttermilk"...the vinegar "curdles" the rice milk.) add the oats and let them soak for up to 10 minutes. at this time, i also added the sugar, oil, vanilla, and melted margarine. i then mixed all the dry ingredients together: flour, baking soda and powder, salt. i added the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in 3 installments, mixing after each one. at the end, i added the almonds and raisins. bake for 15-20 minutes. this makes 12 dense and delicious muffins.

things for next time: i may add some cinnamon, add more vanilla, or even substitute out some of the sugar for honey. also, you could swap out the oil for applesauce. and i just had rice milk on hand...you could use any type of "fake milk" you wanted, or you could even create your own using whatever nuts you have on hand. if you wanted to use cow's milk, then you probably wouldn't have to add the vinegar, but don't quote me on that. H and i are partial to the almond, but i bet this recipe would be delicious with walnuts and pecans too.

enjoy!