Everything Muffins
I first tasted these yummy muffins at my friend Tara’s house and was so blown away, I immediately demanded the recipe. They are delicious–sweet but not too sweet, and a filling breakfast. I’ve replaced the eggs with flax eggs and the sugar with dates, so these are vegan and whole-food. I’m calling these “everything” muffins because it seems like they have a little bit of everything in them–oatmeal, nuts, apple, carrot, coconut, etc. Oh, and they are, as they say, “all that and a bag of chips,” so why not “everything” muffins???
Feel free to substitute and add ingredients to your heart’s content–shredded zuchinni, pumpkin pack, banana….the sky’s the limit here. Since it’s a large yield, I leave a few muffins out and freeze the rest for a quick, convenient breakfast or snack whenever we need it.
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- ½ cup old-fashioned oats
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 cup pitted dates, soaked overnight, with soak water
- 2 large carrots, grated
- 1 apple, cored and shredded
- ½ cup raisins or currants
- ½ cup dried blueberries or cranberries
- ½ cup shredded unsweetened coconut
- ½ cup chopped pecans or walnuts
- 2 flax eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ cup applesauce
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Make your flax eggs--combine 2 tbsp ground flax meal with 6 tbsp water in small bowl and let sit till gel-like.
- Blend dates with soak water until smooth and set aside.
- In large mixing bowl, combine flour, oats, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon.
- Stir in remaining ingredients until combined. At this point, you'll have to eyeball the mixture--if it's too wet, add more oats. If it's too dry, add more applesauce. I tend to need to add a little extra applesauce.
- Spoon into greased or lined muffin tins and bake until done. I make a tin of mini-muffins that takes about 12-14 minutes to bake and a tin of jumbo muffins that takes closer to 20 minutes.
How much water do you use to soak the dates in and for use in the recipe?
I just put enough water in to cover them. If you don’t have time to soak, I generally use 1/3 cup hot water for 1 cup dates, and that seems to blend fairly well. It’s a very forgiving recipe, though! If the dates aren’t blending well, just add a little more water.