Love Muffin(s)

My favourite kind of recipes are those that can be reinvented over and over, with just a quick change up of ingredients.  This is what I have done with great results with my blueberry muffin recipe, prompted by a lack of fresh blueberries and an abundance of chocolate chips one day.  Its so fast to whip up, using just one bowl –who doesn’t love less mess?!  You don’t even need to turn on a mixer, just a spoon or spatula will do, as the less you work the dry ingredients, the less likely you will end up with tough, dense muffins.  These are great for breakfast or for filling that late night hunger (I can’t be the only one that stays up so late they get too hungry to go to sleep right?).  I especially love them a bit warm, with the chocolate still gooey, but were still good two days later stored in an airtight container.  I think these would be great with mini chocolate chips too, but for some reason seem to be tricky to find in a grocery store lately.

Chocolate Chip Muffins

Using an ice cream scoop is fast and gives you perfectly proportioned muffins with a nice rounded top

Makes 8 muffins

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease muffin cups or line with muffin liners.
2. Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt and baking powder. Place vegetable oil into a 1 cup measuring cup; add the egg and enough milk to fill the cup. Mix this with flour mixture.  Mix in vanilla. Fold in chocolate chips.  Using ice cream scoop, place one full scoop in each cup or liner (if not using a scoop, just put large spoonfuls).
3. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until skewer inserted in middle comes out clean.

Adapted from "To Die for Blueberry Muffins" submitted by Colleen to Allrecipes.com.

Eggless, Milk-free Pancakes

One of the many things I have had to reluctantly give up is pancakes, since every time I would eat them I would feel sick. There are milk ingredients in the boxed mix, the kind that you just add water to, which of course never dawned on me until about the third or fourth time feeling funky after a pancake breakfast. I feel the same way after Eggo waffles. Whether it was the milk, or the egg (I am assuming there would be powdered egg as well) or just the heaviness of the pancake itself, I’m not sure. I am sure there are lactose intolerants that can eat pancakes or waffles with no problems.
I have had this recipe from The Milk-Free Kitchen, sitting on my computer for a long time, but have been too afraid to try it, thinking there was just no way it could work.

I made a couple of changes but they were surprisingly good. They were fluffy and moist, and you can taste the cinnamon without it being overpowering. It has also not left me with a stomach ache. I think you could almost fool someone if you didn’t tell them there was no milk or egg in it.
That said, the way the recipe is written, its not dairy-free, as it calls for margarine. Some brands can contain some milk ingredients. I can handle butter and margarine, but for severe lactose intolerance, milk allergies or vegans, you can substitute the margarine in the batter for applesauce, and a very light oil for frying. This recipe will also work if you have a craving for pancakes and you just happened to have run out of milk and eggs!

Eggless, Milk-free Pancakes

Ingredients

• 1 cup white flour (can substitute half or all for whole wheat)
• 3 tablespoons white sugar
• 2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 1/2 tablespoons margarine or butter (can be substituted with applesauce)
• 3/4 cup water
• 1 egg or 2 tablespoons water
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup fresh or frozen blueberries (or other fruit), optional
• pinch cinnamon
• (If not using margarine or butter, small amount of light oil to grease pan)

Directions

Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt together into medium mixing bowl.
Melt 2 1/2 Tbsp margarine in frying pan until melted. Be sure to tip the pan side to side to coat/grease all over.
Pour melted margarine in a small bowl, add water, vanilla and egg (if you are using), Mix well.
Mix blueberries or other fruit with dry ingredients, just before adding the liquids.
Stir liquid mixture into the dry ingredients until it is thoroughly moistened; It is OK if this batter is lumpy.
Cook the pancakes over medium-high heat on the stove-top (or 375F on electric frying pans). Cook pancakes until the tops are bubbly and the bottoms browned. Turn the pancakes over to cook other side (*Approximately four minutes per side).
Serve hot with margarine, honey, brown sugar or maple syrup.
*Actual cooking time will depend on the size of the pan you are using
Adapted from the Milk-Free Kitchen

I didn’t have any blueberries on hand so I left them out. These would be great when blueberries come into season in the summer, as I find frozen will turn the entire pancake purple, and you don’t get that lovely texture of fresh. I see no reason you could not use strawberries or raspberries tossed in there instead.
The original recipe didn’t call for cinnamon, but I found it really added something extra. I would love to try these with some apples chopped or thinly sliced in the batter…like an apple pie pancake.
Pass the syrup, and Enjoy!