What's better than warm and toasty blueberry muffins? Lemon blueberry muffins. Seriously, if blueberry muffins have been made sans lemon, someone's missed the point. So, what's better than scrumptious lemon blueberry muffins? At first glance you might shout, "Nothing! Obvs." but let me assure you that these lemon blueberry muffins flecked with oats and hints of hazelnut...are of a higher order.
These little vegan darlings are tart (like me)! Just how I like them. If, however, a sweeter muffin is desired, scale back the lemon juice or replace it with orange juice and/or add additional sugar. However, I think you'll find that the sweetness the blueberries lend make the perfect mouth-watering combination of sweet and sour.
These are the perfect to-go snack, breakfast or even a light dessert. They also stood up to conventional muffins (made with milk, eggs, and butter), and I received many compliments from unassuming non-veganites. I'm secretly creating unknowing vegans, one muffin at a time. I'm like a vegan superhero with yummy muffins as my weapons, protecting the dairy cows and chickens! Okay, that got weird and doesn't make much sense...thankfully these muffins do though.
Lemon Blueberry Oat Muffins
Inspired by Vegan Yumminess
Makes 12 muffins
- 1 flax egg (1 Tbsp. ground flax seed & 2 1/2 Tbsp. cold water)
- 1/2 cup vegan margarine
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup erythritol (or additional sugar/sugar substitute)
- juice from 1 lemon (about 1/2 cup)
- 1/2 cup hazelnut milk (or other dairy-free milk)
- 1 Tbsp. cornstarch
- 1 1/2 tsp. hazelnut kahlua (or vanilla extract/other liqueur)
- 1 tsp. lemon zest
- 1/2 tsp. pink Himalayan salt
- 1/2 cup quick oats
- 1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
- 1 Tbsp. baking powder
- 1/4 cup chopped toasted hazelnuts (optional)
- 3/4 cup blueberries
- brown sugar for sprinkling
The first thing on the agenda is to make the flax egg. Place 1 Tbsp. of ground flax in a small bowl and slowly whisk in 2 1/2 Tbsp. of cold water. Place in the refrigerator for at least 15 minutes to allow it to gel. Meanwhile, spray a muffin pan with cooking spray or insert paper liners and preheat the oven to 400 F.
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Soften the margarine and add it to a large mixing bowl. Next, add the ingredients only through and including the salt and mix thoroughly. Add the flax egg and mix to combine.
In a separate, large bowl, whisk together remaining ingredients excluding blueberries, hazelnuts and brown sugar. Next, add the dry ingredients slowly to wet ingredients and mix until just combined, adding the blueberries and the hazelnuts afterward.
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Divide the yummilicious batter equally into the muffin pan. Sprinkle the tops with brown sugar and bake at 400 F for about 20 minutes or until edges become golden. Transfer muffins to a cooling rack. They should be stored in the refrigerator, if you have any leftover.
Oh you tart little muffins. You are so yummy and refreshing. A perfect spring snack.
