Banana Wheatgerm Muffins

These are the Banana Wheatgerm Muffins from Veganomicon – pretty much the best muffins I’ve ever made. They turned out wonderfully even and golden; not pretty in the way that cupcakes are pretty, but very cute in a rugged, hearty kind of way! And they taste great – the banana flavour is nice and strong, and the wheatgerm is chewy and satisfying. Very tasty indeed!

The other thing I like about this recipe is that the ingredients are fairly simple and basic, so I’ll be able to make them regularly without having to buy a lot of special items for it. The only slightly unusual ingredient is the apple cider vinegar used to curdle the soya milk; it’s a bit expensive, but I bought a bottle of the stuff a few months ago for a cupcake recipe (I think) and have been wanting to use it up ever since. So these muffins will probably make a regular weekend appearance at our house!

Spiced Apple Sultana Bran Muffins

I love bran muffins, they’re perfect for those times when a flimsy little cookie just won’t do! I’m a big fan of bran breakfast cereals, particularly Sultana Bran, so I’ve been wanting to make sultana bran muffins for ages. These have a generous helping of apple sauce and cinnamon too, so they’re sweet, substantial and spicy!

Ingredients
75g flour
25g wheat bran
1 tsp ginger
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
50g sultanas
150g apple sauce*
200ml apple juice

Makes 8 medium muffins or 6 big muffins

Method

• Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 7/475°F
• Mix the flour, wheat bran, ginger, cinnamon and baking powder together in a big bowl.
• In a separate bowl or a jug, mix the apple juice and apple sauce together.
• Add the liquid gradually to the dry stuff and mix well.
• Add extra apple juice if the batter isn’t runny enough (or water, soya milk, whatever liquid you like!)
• Spoon the batter into greased muffin tins (you can pile it quite high, since these don’t really rise very much)
• Bake for about 25mins (or until a toothpick comes out clean)
• Leave to cool in the muffin tins for about 10mins, then transfer to cooling rack

* I used apple sauce with added sugar – so if you’re using the unsweetened kind, you might need to add some sugar/syrup or extra fruit if the apple juice doesn’t sweeten it enough for you.