Maple Glazed Apple Cider Muffins (Vegan)

Sometimes the best recipes come from random things sitting in the fridge or pantry. Day after day I was opening my fridge and staring straight at an opened bottle of apple cider. The unfiltered kind from the bottled juice section at Trader Joe's, not the the sparkling variety. I don't like to give my family too much juice and had only bought this for a recent brunch. Finally I pulled it out determined to make something delicious out of it, and these muffins are the result. Just the right sweetness, so much warmth from the cinnamon, and a happy burst of maple glaze right on top!

These muffins are ridiculously easy and just SO. MOIST. They literally melt on your tongue. I credit that to the amount of juice used in the recipe. When you pour your batter into the cupcake cups you'll feel like its almost soup-y. Have no fear, that translates into softness! The brown sugar gives a lovely hint of molasses and of course contributes to the perfect texture in these gems. You'll notice there are no eggs..you don't need them! This recipe is developed for maximum fluffy texture, and eggs are more useful when you're aiming for a dense treat. We make up for the loss of moisture with more liquid :) The vinegar helps the muffins rise but I promise you can't taste it, don't leave it out!

Yields 15 muffins

Ingredients
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-2 1/4 cups flour

-3/4 cup granulated sugar
-3/4 cup brown sugar

-1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

-3/4 teaspoon salt

-1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
-1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
-1/4 teaspoon cloves

-1 1/2 cups apple cider at room temperature (can also use apple juice) *If not room temperature, microwave for 30 seconds or so. Do not let the liquid get hot*

-1/2 cup vegetable oil

-1 1/2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

-1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

*Optional: 1/2 cup dried raisins or chopped walnuts/pecans

Glaze
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-1 tablespoon maple syrup (sub apple cider/juice if you do not have maple syrup)
-1/4 cup powdered sugar (you may need an extra tablespoon)

Instructions
----------------

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees

-Line a cupcake pan with liners or spray cavities with a non-stick cooking spray. 

-In a large bowl combine the flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. Mix together and set aside.

-In a medium bowl combine the apple cider juice , vegetable oil, vinegar and vanilla.

-Add the wet (apple juice mixture) ingredients to the dry (flour mixture) ingredients and stir until well blended. Add optional raisins or chopped nuts.

-Fill the lined cupcake cavities 3/4 full and bake on a lower middle rack in oven for 18-22 minutes (mine were perfect at 20) or until a few moist crumbs stick to a toothpick inserted in the middle of a muffin.

-Remove the muffins from oven and allow to cool.

-While the muffins are baking, in a small bowl blend together the apple cider and powdered sugar mixture. I use a mini whisk to get a smooth texture. If the glaze is too runny, add a little bit more powdered sugar.
-When the muffins have cooled, dip the top of each muffin into the glaze and hold upside down while the extra glaze drips off back into the bowl. After I dip all the muffins, I like to re-dip each muffin again after the glaze has set a bit for a nice thick coating.  Allow glaze to harden and serve. Store extra muffins tightly covered at room temperature for 3-5 days.

-Enjoy!

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Try these other treats!

 Cardamom Date Tart

Vegan Orange Poppy-seed Muffins

 Walnut Baklava

Carrot Cake Muffins + Brown Sugar Cinnamon Cream Cheese Glaze

I realize things have been getting a little dessert-heavy around here....I'm not sure if I should apologize or accept your thanks?? As far as I'm concerned, if it's sweet, tastes good and IS good for you, then I've done the world a favor with each additional recipe! I'm often part of discussions about whether it is more satisfying to indulge in a few bites of something decadent or enjoy a whole slice of a wholesome treat that may be compromised on flavor. Here's my take: I'd rather eat a cookie and feel like I ate dessert for breakfast than a lumpy bowl of oatmeal. If I've already made the treat, they'll last a couple days and that means less prep time. When I'm in a rush I can eat a muffin on the go, as its a little hard to drive and eat a bowl of oatmeal.  So the reality is that I'm treating these sweet delites as breakfast, not dessert, and in which case its a win-win.  Want the decadent stuff? One of my fav's are these red velvet cheesecake brownies!

My new secret ingredient in baking is molasses. It adds such a depth of flavor, color and moisture to these muffins. I've been throwing it into my banana bread and muffins too and I'm really in love!

Another trick up my sleeve in this recipe is homemade buttermilk. I love what it does for baked goods but I feel pressured to keep baking whenever I have an opened carton in my fridge. Turns out this little homemade version is even better because I can control how much lemon to add and determine how thick my buttermilk gets. I've found 1 tablespoon of lemon juice per 1/2 cup milk to give me the nice thick consistency I like.  It's VERY simple to prepare: the first thing you do when you start baking is mix your milk and lemon juice in a cup and leave it aside for at least 5 minutes. Go about your business preheating the oven and mixing the other ingredients and when you're ready for the buttermilk, give it a quick stir and use it. That's all.

A third bonus I have for you today is if you're out of applesauce, all you need to do is finely shred an apple! You don't even need to peel it first (but I hope it goes without saying that the apple needs to be washed...). Using shredded apple (aka quick applesauce) helps add moisture to the muffins and allows us to remove fat. It doesn't do much for flavor, so don't worry, this is a carrot muffin through and through.

I like to keep my muffins on the counter and the glaze in the refrigerator and frost my muffins right before serving. That way my muffins stay extra moist on the countertop and the glaze stays fresh in the fridge :)

Makes 12 muffins

Ingredients
---------------
-1/2 cup milk
-1 tablespoon lemon juice
-1 1/2 cups shredded carrots
-1 medium apple, finely shredded (1/2 cup)
-1 egg
-1 tablespoon vanilla
-1 teaspoon molasses
-2 tablespoons coconut oil
-3/4 cup brown sugar

-1 1/2 cups flour
-1 teaspoon baking soda
-1/4 teaspoon salt
-1 tablespoon cinnamon powder
-1 teaspoon ground ginger
-1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
-1/4 teaspoon cloves
-1/2 cup raisins
-1/2 cup shredded sweetened coconut

Optional:
-----------
-1/2 cup chopped nuts (I love using pecans)
-2 tablespoons flax seeds

To make
-----------
-Mix milk and lemon juice and set aside.
-Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and line a cupcake pan with 12 liners. I also coat my cups with non-stick cooking spray, just in case.
-Mix together the shredded carrots, shredded apple, egg, vanilla, molasses, melted coconut oil, and brown sugar until well incorporated.
-In another bowl mix together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon powder, ground ginger, nutmeg and cloves.
-Slowly mix the dry ingredients into the wet, stirring only until they are mixed together. Do not over beat your mixture or your muffins will be dry.
-Stir in raisins and shredded coconut. Add optional nuts or flax seeds.
-Scoop 1/3 cup of muffin batter into lined cupcake pan and bake in a preheated oven for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out with a few crumbs attached. Remove from the oven and cool on a cooling rack.
-Store muffins tightly covered for up to 1 week. Move the the refrigerator after 3 days.



Brown Sugar Cinnamon Cream Cheese Glaze
----------------------------------------------------

Ingredients
-------------
-8 ounces softened cream cheese
-1/2 cup white sugar
-3/4-1 cup brown sugar
-1 teaspoon cinnamon powder (use up to 1 tablespoon)
-1/2 teaspoon vanilla

To make
-----------
-Mix the ingredients in a bowl until smooth and creamy. I usually do this by hand but you can also whip them with a stand mixer. Taste and adjust cinnamon content and brown sugar to desired sweetness.
-Store extra glaze in the refrigerator.


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Vegan Orange Poppyseed Muffins

You want a bite of this.

These are fun muffins that feel like a baking experiment. I'm always intrigued with vegan recipes, and back when I first started making these 5 years ago, quality, simple vegan recipes were just starting to emerge. The first time I made them I followed the cookbook instructions and made a cake...and it would not set. The flavor was delicious so I tried again two more times and got the same results...a runny cake that stayed liquid in the center even after baking 3x longer than instructed. After the third failed attempt I switched these to muffins and victory was achieved ;) 

Took these to a play-date and went home with none ;)

These have held their own through the years and these little muffins have developed quite a following among my taste testers. I like to introduce this recipe in my cooking classes for beginning cooks and young children learning to bake because of the weird use of apple cider vinegar and the healthy inclusion of turbinado sugar. No cracking of eggs, no mixer required and these muffins are mixed, baked, cooled and glazed in under an hour! What surprises me every time is how much KIDS love these muffins. I even bake these for them when they're sick for a sweet dose of vitamin C ;) It's totally worth noting that I'm not a huge fan of citrus desserts but make a happy exception for these muffins!

Slightly adapted from Alice's Teacup cookbook.

Makes 16 muffins

Ingredients

--------------

-2 1/4 cups flour

-1 1/4 cups turbinado sugar

-1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

-3/4 teaspoon salt

-1 tablespoon poppy seeds (optional)

-1 tablespoon chia seeds (optional)

-1 1/2 cups orange juice (fresh tastes awesome, but refrigerated from concentrate also works)

-1 1/2 tablespoons orange zest

-1/2 cup of melted coconut oil (or vegetable oil)

-1 1/2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

-1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Orange Glaze

-----------------

-1 tablespoon orange zest

-1 tablespoon orange juice

-1/2 teaspoon vanilla

-1/2 cup of powdered sugar

To make

------------

-Preheat oven to 375 degrees

-Line a cupcake pan with liners or spray cavities with a non-stick cooking spray. 

-In a large bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, poppy seeds and chia seeds. 

-In a medium bowl combine the orange juice, zest, coconut oil, apple cider vinegar and vanilla. If the orange juice is cold and causes the coconut oil to harden microwave the mixture for 30 seconds until the coconut oil is in liquid form again.

-Add the wet (orange juice mixture) ingredients to the dry (flour mixture) ingredients and stir until well blended. 

-Fill the lined cupcake cavities 3/4 full and bake on a middle rack in oven for 13-18 minutes (mine were perfect at 15) or until a few moist crumbs stick to a toothpick inserted in the middle of a muffin.

-Remove the muffins from oven and allow to cool.

-While the muffins are baking, in a small bowl blend together the orange zest, juice, vanilla and powdered sugar mixture. I use a mini whisk to get a smooth texture. When the muffins have cooled, dip each muffin top into the glaze and hold upside down while the extra glaze drips off back into the bowl. I like to dip each muffin twice for a nice glazed coating.  Allow glaze to harden and serve.

-Enjoy!

Cooled down and ready to be double GLAZED!

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Please, help yourself :)