These vegan blueberry lemon quinoa muffins are made with hearty quinoa, for a moist, tender and healthy breakfast, snack or light dessert.
Ever make the mistake of popping into a bakery or supermarket on an empty stomach and find you can't resist the urge to grab a muffin out of the bakery case? What happens next? Well, if you're me, you eat the muffin, only to find that you've retained a lurking sense of hunger, yet acquired a weighted down belly and a mouth coated with a dry, sugary taste. You feel like you've just eaten a whole lot of air infused sugar. Not feel good food.
These muffins on the other hand, are absolute feel good food! This was my first shot at baking with quinoa and the result was better than I ever anticipated. If I can predict the future, I'm going to say you'll be seeing a lot more quinoa baking on this blog. What makes these muffins so awesome? They are moist and hearty, more substantial than conventional muffins, but also seemingly (and actually) healthier. Just pick up one of these muffins. It's heavier, but a lot of that weight is moisture, retained by the quinoa. A vast improvement over air infused sugar, if you ask me. I stored these in the fridge for munching throughout the week and they retained their moist, lemony goodness. Do this, pop one in the microwave for a half minute or so when hungry, and you have a satisfying, delicious, healthy snack.
Blueberry Lemon Quinoa Muffins
Ingredients
To Prepare the Quinoa
- 1 cup quinoa
- 1 cup water
- Juice of one lemon about 3 tbsp.
For the Muffins
- 2 cups spelt flour or sub all-purpose
- 1 ½ tsp. baking powder
- ¼ tsp. salt
- ½ cup raw sugar
- 2 tsp. lemon zest
- ¾ cup plain vegan yogurt I used WholeSoy
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- ¾ cup unflavored soy or almond milk
- ¼ cup coconut oil melted
- 1 ½ cups fresh blueberries
Instructions
Prepare the Quinoa
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Rinse quinoa under cold water in a strainer for about two minutes.
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Bring water to boil in medium saucepan.
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Add lemon juice and quinoa. Lower heat and simmer, covered, for 15-18 minutes, or until all liquid is absorbed.
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Let sit about five minutes on the stove, covered, then remove lid and allow to cool a bit while you begin preparing your other ingredients.
Prepare the Muffins
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Preheat oven to 350.
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Line 16 muffin tins with papers.
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In large mixing bowl, mix flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Add 2 cups of your cooked quinoa (you should have a little extra) and mix until well blended.
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Now add zest, yogurt, vanilla, milk and coconut oil. Stir just until blended.
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Fold in blueberries. Spoon evenly into muffin tins.
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Bake 25-30 minutes.
These look AMAZING Alissa!!! I can't wait to try them. We need to help you get pinterest on your site for people to easily pin your recipe photos! Check out this article. http://www.kevinandamanda.com/whatsnew/tutorials/add-a-pinterest-mouseover-button-to-your-blog-images.html
Thank you! Please let me know how they turn out if you do try them!
I've been meaning to add pinterest buttons (along with a few other updates). Thanks for the link! It will definitely come in handy and the buttons will definitely be appearing soon!
Just made this.It tastes phenomenal!
Nice! So glad they worked out for you! Thanks for letting me know!
Can you use something else in place of the yogurt?
Try making vegan buttermilk - just add a teaspoon of vinegar or lemon juice to a liquid measuring cup, then fill it the rest of the way with non-dairy milk, until you've got 3/4 cup total. Some types of milk might curdle (soy usually does), but this shouldn't affect the recipe.