A Dish Full of Delish - Vegan Muffins

These muffins are so good that even my non-vegan, carnivorous man requests them - daily. We love them. They are a perfect grab-n-go breakfast, a not "tooooo" unhealthy dessert, or an afternoon snack. I have made them for friends, family, co-workers, etc., and trust me, they are a hit! (The recipes have been adapted from several vegan and non-vegan cookbooks since most usually involve eggs or egg replacers, and I never have that stuff on hand). Each recipe makes 12 muffins.

Banana Muffins

pictured with chocolate chips

Ingredients:

• 3 very ripe bananas
• 1/4 cup oil or vegan margarine, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 cups flour (I use 1 cup wheat/1 cup white)
• 1 t. salt
• 1 t. baking soda
• 1 cup chopped walnuts or dark chocolate chips or 1/2 cup each!!! (optional)

Preparation:

Pre-heat oven to 360 degrees (which I've now learned is 182 Celsius!)

In a large bowl, mash the bananas with a potato masher or fork until soft. Add the oil or vegan margarine, sugar and cream together. (*Note: If the bananas are super ripe - especially yummy - you really can use let sugar because the bananas are much sweeter, but experiment with this. Trust me, you'll want to make these many times). 

Add to the first mixture the flour, salt, and baking soda. Mix it all together!

Grease or line a muffin pan, and fill each muffin about 2/3 full with batter. Bake for about 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean.

Lemon Poppyseed Muffins

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour (I use 1 cup wheat/1 cup white)
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 t. salt
• 1 t. baking powder
• 5 t. poppyseeds
• 3/4 cup soy milk
• 1/2 cup canola oil or Vegan margarine
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 2 T. lemon zest
• 2 t. pure vanilla extract

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, poppy seeds, and salt.  Make a well in the center and add milk, lemon juice, oil, zest (make sure you get both tablespoons worth of zest because it really does make the muffins so refreshing), and vanilla.  Mix just until all wet ingredients are moistened.  

Grease or line a muffin pan, and fill each muffin about 2/3 full with batter. Bake for about 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean.

Well, enjoy!! :)

award winning sweets - count me in!!!

Over dinner the other night, my guy's brother enlightened us on Belfort's hidden gem - Pâtisserie KLEIN. Apparently, the grandfather, his son, and now, in its third generation, Stéphane Klein, have all been France's champions in creating art with chocolate and sugar. This barely recognizable little shop features some of the most beautiful and tasty creations. Now, I have been eating my fair share of sweets in recent weeks but Klein's candies and chocolates, as anticipated, were on another level.

my love's afternoon treat

mmm.. mine, the house specialty

cherries, lemon cream, and whipped cream

all chocolate with caramel, mousse, and biscuit

 We truly loved our afternoon treats. You can see they are very small (as are most portions in France compared to the US), but I swear, I couldn't finish mine in one sitting. It was so rich. My love, on the other hand, did not have a problem polishing off his Toyko-themed treat while saying, "Mmmmm" with every bite!

Klein's charges top dollar and people come from all over the world for 2, 4, 5, or 6 day classes on everything from pastry making to sugar work.  The classes start at €1500 which is over $2000 right now. I guess it is a small price to pay when you're learning from France's best!

The best part for us is - Klein's is located right next to the hotel! How did we not know about this place before!?