Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Mmm...blueberry muffins!


I took a baby step into the realm of dairy-free baking today--blueberry muffins!  Made with rice milk!  And they turned out GREAT!  If I hadn't been the one who made them, I would have never known they were made any different than "normal" blueberry muffins.   Whew!  I was feeling very leery of dairy-free baking...long ago I was roommates with a woman who wanted to be vegan, and wanted to master vegan baking.  Some of her creations were decent.  Others were just not quite right.  And still other were bad enough that she didn't even let me sample them.  So food substitutions in recipes always make me nervous.  And yes, I was a vegetarian for 13 years, and I did plenty of "fake meat" substitutions, but that's different.  Baking is much more scientific than cooking.

Anyway, I thought I'd share the recipe I used in case anyone wants it!  I adapted it from Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book, copyright 1989 ("new" indeed...):

1-3/4 c flour
1/3 c sugar (I used just a little less than that)
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 beaten egg
3/4 c vanilla rice milk (plain would probably work just as well, I just happened to have vanilla open)
1/4 c cooking oil
3/4 c blueberries
1 tsp lemon zest

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.  Make a well in the center.  In a separate bowl, mix together the egg, rice milk, and oil; add to the flour mixture.  Stir just until moistened (batter should be lumpy).  Fold in blueberries and lemon zest.  Fill lightly greased or paper lined muffin cups 2/3 full.  Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until golden.  Remove from pan.  EAT! 

They could probably use a little more lemon zest or some sort of tasty dessert-y spice (nutmeg, maybe?), just to give them a little more flavor, but I think that's an issue with the base recipe, not with the rice milk substitution.  Any suggestions are welcome.  However, I should note that I was raised on Betty Crocker Blueberry Muffin Mix, so my taste buds are accustomed to a more "processed" flavor of muffin.  Maybe I just need to adjust!


Don't they look tasty??

I was hoping to have a cute picture of Dashiell enjoying a blueberry muffin to post on the blog, however he decided he didn't even want to try them.  Not a single bite.  I think it was because I so emphatically told him how tasty they were and that he'd love them.  I should know better than to try to convince a 2-year-old of anything!  Next time I'll tell him he can't have any--then he'll want them all!

The BHaG cookbook has adaptations for many varieties of muffins using the same base recipe...next time I might have to try pumpkin muffins.  Or oatmeal muffins.  Or JELLY muffins--YUM!

No comments: