Blueberry muffins...an experiment in veganizing

This Saturday, I purchased a heaping pint of blueberries from the farmer's market for $3.00, and I've been munching them the last few days, noticing last night that they were starting to get a little soft. So, what is a chickpea to do when she still has about a cup of blueberries left? She makes muffins. I've made them before, but it's been ages, so I started looking around online. Sadly, none of the vegan ones were looking all that great. I found this basic muffin recipe from the King Arthur Flours website and decided I needed to veganize it. The result? Yum. Maybe next time I'll add a little streusel, but this time, I went basic. I wanted to make sure the recipe translated into a tasty muffin on it's own. It did! So damn tasty. Or, maybe it's just that I haven't had bloob muffins in a really looooong time. Whatever the case, they rocked, especially with a little Earth Balance slathered on.

In addition to this tasty muffin, I learned a couple tricks from their website.

• Add the fruit to the dry ingredients so they don't fall to the bottom while baking. Totally worked.
• Turn the heat super high during the pre-heat, then once you put the muffins in the oven, drop the temp. This will make your muffin tops rise rounded.
• Oils aren't necessary to the muffin, but I added half to keep them moist. 

I did alter the recipe slightly, as veganizing requires one to do. Plus I added a different extract instead of lemon. So, without further ado, here is my altered version of the King Arthur Basic Muffin Recipe.

Makes 6 muffins

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/2 cup unbleached all purpose flour (or just cut the wheat and use all unbleached. Whatever)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup almond milk
• 1 1/2 tsp distilled white vinegar
• 2 TB oil or melted butter (optional)
• scant 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• scant 1/2 tsp almond extract
• 1 flax egg (1 TB ground flax, 3 TB warm water mixed and set aside 3-5 minutes to thicken)
• 1 cup fresh blueberries (you might be able to use frozen, but I haven't tried)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 500 (yes, 500) degrees F. Line a muffin tin with 6 liners and set aside.
2. Mix your flax egg in a small bowl and set aside. Then, in a large liquid measuring cup add the milk and vinegar and set aside to "curdle." This makes a version of buttermilk. Let set 3-4 minutes. 
3. Meanwhile, in a mixing bowl, combine the flours, sugar, salt, and baking powder. Whisk until it looks homogenous. Now gently stir in the blueberries. 
4. In a bowl, combine your egg, milk, extracts and oil. 
5. Add the wet bowl to the dry and stir until just combined. Some chunks are okay!
6. I used a 1/4 cup scoop to fill the muffin papers 3/4 of the way full. Then put them in the oven on the middle shelf. Once you close the door, turn the temp down to 400 degrees F.

7. Bake about 18 minutes, until the edges are lightly browned and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. You know that, though. Let them cool about 5 minutes otherwise you'll burn yourself on those hot blue orbs. Not that I'd know anything about that.......