The three of us sisters have been saying hello to some big changes recently. We’re heading into Fall at a fast pace and finding ourselves in need of adapting. A few weeks ago Chelsea and Annie both started new jobs. Holly’s kids have started new schools and classes. It’s good to change with the seasons. We move forward with life and discover new interests, new communities and new opportunities!
Sometimes, changes do not slow down. In the midst of keeping up with our regular schedules, we find ourselves in the middle of holidays. Halloween costumes, holiday goodie bags and the latest and greatest DIY projects are all on our priority lists. Our attention is demanded (or at least tempted) at every corner. Are you feeling overwhelmed? This is the part where we remember that it’s good to quite the “busy” and change our pace. This is where Fall baking comes to play. This is where we let the scent of maple become abundant and vanilla become visible in our kitchens – and actually notice it.
Let us bring your minds back to this maple oat bread for a minute. We made that maple bread one cold Sunday afternoon. It’s moist, yeasty and full of maple flavor. When you’re aching for a bread as calming and as sweet as that but lack the time or patience, what do you do?
Say hello to maple muffins. No rising yeast and no kneading dough. These muffins are simple, but they are still a huge shout-out to pure maple syrup and real vanilla beans. They are just as comforting and super enticing being totally vegan! This is a versatile muffin recipe that can be made into any muffin size desired and easy enough to be made anytime.
Once you taste them warm from the oven, your vegan butter melting into their fluffy centers and the scent of maple and vanilla infused into your kitchen, there is no turning back. Step into the changing season with these in hand. Say hello to golden leaves, rain showers, hand-picked pumpkins, daylight savings. This is definitely a good change of pace. Let these muffins welcome you in it.
Maple Vanilla Muffins
Serves: 12 or 24
1 Tablespoon Ground Flax
1/4 cup Applesauce
1 1/2 cups Wheat Flour
1 1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Sea Salt
1/4 teaspoon Cinnamon
2/3 cup Maple Syrup
1/2 cup Almond Milk
1/4 cup melted Earth Balance Butter or Coconut Oil
1 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract
Seeds of 1 Vanilla Bean
Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Line a muffin pan with liners and lightly spray with cooking spray. Combine applesauce and flax in a small bowl. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the wheat, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Make a well in the dry ingredients in the center of the bowl. Slice open your vanilla bean down the center, lengthwise and scrape out all the dark seeds.
Pour the maple syrup, almond milk, oil, extract, applesauce mixture and vanilla beans in the center of the well. Mix into the dry until just combined. Spoon the mixture into the prepared muffin liners. There should be enough batter for about 12 standard sized muffins or 24 mini muffins.
Bake mini muffins at 375 degrees for 7-9 minutes or 12-14 minutes for standard sized muffins.
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Liz says
Just came across your website and this recipe! So excited to try! We can’t do gluten so I wanted to see if subbing the wheat flour for a gluten free flour blend would be ok? My son is allergic to nuts so well so would you recommend rice or coconut milk as a sub? Thanks!
Justine says
do you think this recipe could be converted to a cake? I was thinking of combining this recipe with your chocolate buttercream frosting recipe for my daughter’s birthday. I’m interested in making a vanilla maple cake. Muffins are essentially like cake although I haven’t tried making this recipe yet so I don’t know if it would be cake-like enough, and also, if you would have some idea of a baking time for it if it’s in an 8 or 9-inch cake pan. I would probably double the recipe for 2 baking pans.
Thanks!
Annie says
Hi Justine,
The idea sounds delicious! The flavor of these muffins could definitely be sweet enough with the frosting to act like a cake, but the texture of these muffins is pretty heavy due to the whole wheat flour. This is definitely a muffin recipe! We haven’t tested this recipe in a large dish either, so I couldn’t give you any suggestions or recommended baking times. You could try it out ahead of her birthday and even try using homemade cake flour to lighten the muffins up. You could check out this recipe to try:
http://www.naturalsweetrecipes.com/healthy-cake-flour-substitute/.
If you haven’t seen it, we made another first birthday cake here:
http://www.naturalsweetrecipes.com/healthy-first-birthday-cake/
You could easily frost that cake with the chocolate buttercream frosting instead of the cream frosting and many readers have had success sweetening that cake with maple syrup if you are looking for a recipe using maple syrup as the sweetener. That recipe would work well but not require so many changes. :)
I hope that helps and happy birthday to your daughter!
Justine says
thank you so much! I am comfortable experimenting when cooking so I will likely try to work with one of those cake recipes. I appreciate your suggestions.
Peggy says
Hi! This recipe looks amazing, but there’s one ingredient I am allergic to, Ground Flax Seed. Could I replace this with something else?
Annie says
Hi Peggy, you can omit the flax entirely, these muffins just may be a little more crumbly without it. If you don’t mind these not being vegan, one egg will replace the applesauce and flax. Enjoy!
Peggy says
Thank you! I will try it without any flax. I actually can’t add any egg.. because I’m allergic. Hah.
Jolina says
Wow these look delicious! I just made them and they seem like they turned out great, they’re in the oven right now! Fingers crosses they taste as good as your photos make them look! I love simple ingredients with no refined sugar! Yum! Thanks for posting :)
Annie says
We hope you enjoy them! :)
Kathryn says
I just made these with a couple of smallish modifications (though one of them changed the taste quite a bit, I think!)
I omitted the cinnamon, used an egg instead of the applesauce/flax mixture (I had no applesauce), and added four slices of crumbled up turkey bacon :D They’re fantastic – they taste just like breakfast. The muffin itself is really sweet so the salty bacon helped balance it out for me (i’m not used to very sweet things!). I look forward to making these again, minus the bacon and maybe with just 1/2 cup of maple syrup.
Annie says
Hey Kathryn! Thanks for sharing your modifications! Sounds yummy! Glad you liked them. :)
Laurie says
These were a HUGE hit with everyone who tasted them, people came back begging for seconds (and thirds). I was thinking maybe a hint of some other spice might be interesting but honestly, there were no complains. Even my fussy daughter liked them! Thank you! I blogged them here with links back to you.
Holly says
They are so stinking great! We gobbled up the 10 Annie brought us in about 3 minutes. Only a tiny bit embarrassing!
Gwen says
These look great!
Annie says
Thanks, Gwen! Hope you try them sometime. :)
M says
These look lovely. How delicious are real vanilla beans and maple syrup together? I am excited!
Sarah@WholeAndHeavenlyOven says
I really want to try baking with fresh vanilla beans—it sounds amazing combined with maple syrup! Gorgeous photos and I love the muffin wrappers you used–So cute! :D
Christina @ Pinch of Healthy says
Wow these look amazing. I love muffin recipes with simple ingredients, so will be making these tomorrow morning :)
Annie says
Thanks, Christina! Hope you enjoy them!