Muffins – A simple gateway to baking and good nutrition that also makes your kitchen smell great.

You can whip together a batch to accompany a bowl of soup or make a double batch to share with a group. Make them sweet or savory.  My rule is always to use more whole grains in the mix than white flour, whether it’s unbleached wheat flour or white rice flour or tapioca, arrowroot, or potato starch. If your muffins lean on the whole grain side you’re producing a food – a nutrient delivery unit – that even picky eaters will enjoy.

The recipe suggests some variations but you should play with it and learn just how versatile this basic food can be. Use unsweetened applesauce with 1 tsp. of vinegar instead of the dairy or other milks. Add mashed cooked carrots or winter squash as part of the liquid, or grind nuts or seeds to use instead of the wheat germ or bran called for. Nutritional yeast in place of the wheat germ produces a nice savory muffin. Learn about the nutrients in different ingredients (grind some sesame seeds to add calcium) and you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing those little hand-sized yummies are full of really good fuel.

Whole Grain Yummy Muffins

Adapted from The Farm Cookbook edited by Louise Hagler

Yield: 12

Bake @ 400 degrees F – 18 to 25 minutes

2 cups flour

Variations:

1. 1 cup whole wheat, 1 cup unbleached, or, try 2 tablespoons garbanzo bean flour in place of 2 tablespoons of whole wheat flour for a nutty taste.
2. Gluten free: 2 cups sorghum flour, or brown rice, or 1 cup of each to make 2 cups.

1 ½ cups bran or wheat germ, or for gluten free – a mix of ¼ cup garbanzo bean flour, ¼ cup ground pumpkin seeds, and 1 cup of either almond flour or coconut flour

½ tsp. salt

1 ½ tsp. baking soda

2 cups sour milk or yogurt (or use plain  – not sweetened – soy, rice, almond, or coconut milk with 1 tsp. vinegar or lemon juice added)

½ cup honey or other liquid sweetener such as maple syrup or molasses

¼ cup canola or grape seed oil or melted coconut oil or melted butter

½ cup raisins or finely chopped apples

½ cup lightly toasted (350 degree oven-6 minutes) pecans or walnuts

Mix dry ingredients together and make a well in the middle. Pour in all the liquid ingredients, raisins and nuts. Mix together just until everything is moistened. Bake in oiled muffin pans 18 to 22 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

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When my husband discovered gluten was the source of his constant intestinal problems, this recipe was the first one I converted to gluten free grains.

Today’s muffin recipe is a variation on the first and still most versatile muffins I learned to bake from my first cookbook (as you can see, the binding went about 25 years ago so I put it in a 3-ring binder)– The Farm Vegetarian Cookbook, edited by Wendy Louise Hagler. Here’s a link to her website: http://wendylouisehagler.com/the-farm-vegetarian-cookbook/

I don’t know how my evolution as a cook would have gone without this and the other cookbooks produced by Ms. Hagler and others at The Farm who helped pioneer vegan cooking in the U.S. in the 1970s. Since I love cheese and eggs I have never been a vegan but many of our meals over the years have come directly from this book. The Enchilada recipe is reason enough to buy it. My children and grandchildren consider them an ancestral food.; part of their DNA.