Vegan Wholemeal Breakfast Muffins
Start off the day the right way with these Vegan Wholemeal Breakfast Muffins. They are the perfect portable breakfast that tastes good too!
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Muffins for breakfast
Everyone says that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It’s become such a cliche! Now I’m sure there’s some scientific basis for saying that. But for me its the most important meal because it means I’m not hangry (hungry/angry) for the rest of the day!
In this day and age, where we are all rushing from one place to the next, it’s not uncommon for us to grab our breakfast and go. It can even be quite tempting to pick up something to eat at the same time as grabbing a latte to go. Blueberry muffins, lemon and poppy seed muffins, sit in the counters next to the till tempting you to give in to a morning treat.
There’s nothing wrong with having something sweet for breakfast (I’d pick a sweet breakfast over a savoury one any day of the week). But, why buy a sugary muffin when you can eat a healthier one that you’ve made at home!
Muffins made better
One of the biggest differences between these muffins and those you’ll find in a coffee shop is that these are made with wholemeal flour. Coffee shop and store bought muffins are often made with white, plain flour.
I like to use wholemeal flour in this muffin recipe for two reasons. The first is that its more nutritious! It is rich in vitamins as well as riboflavin, folate and it has more iron, calcium, protein, and other nutrients than white flour does.
I also like to use wholemeal flour because I think it just tastes better. Because, lets be honest, white flour doesn’t really taste of anything! By using wholemeal flour you get a sweet nutty taste which really adds to the flavour of the muffins.
Of course the cinnamon, blueberries and maple syrup also make these muffins delicious too!
Vegan baking principles
As well as being made with wholemeal flour, these breakfast muffins are egg and dairy free. They really are good for you!
Baking without egg and dairy is not always easy. But, so long as you think carefully about why eggs or dairy are needed in your recipe you can then adjust your ingredients list to use alternatives that achieve the same thing.
Substitutes
Ordinarily a muffin recipe would include eggs, butter and buttermilk.
The eggs in the classic recipe are there to provide lift – to help it rise and to create delicate air bubbles throughout the cake. We can achieve this by adding bicarbonate of soda to the dry ingredients. This then gets activated when you add the wet ingredients (including apple cider vinegar) and mix. You will notice that little air bubbles immediately start forming. As the batter cooks into cake, these air bubbles get trapped.
The butter in a muffin recipe is there to add richness. You can use vegan butter if you wish but I prefer to use oil. This gives the same well rounded flavour but I think makes the muffins that little bit lighter.
Last but not least we have buttermilk – this is usually used to create a really moist, tender crumb. Buttermilk can be substituted by adding acid to cows milk. The good news is that it works the same with plant based milks! That’s why this recipe starts by adding apple cider vinegar to soya milk. The acid not only reacts with the bicarbonate of soda but it reacts with the soya milk too!
If you want to know more about substituting eggs and dairy in vegan recipes then check out my big vegan baking guide.
Whether or not a recipe is vegan, I think it’s also important to play around with flavours and textures. I love the spicy notes of cinnamon with the sweet juicy blueberries. I also love the soft texture of the muffin contrasted with the crunch of seeds and a sprinkling of demerara sugar!
Vegan Wholemeal Breakfast Muffins
Ingredients
- 225 ml soya milk or another plant based milk
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar or lemon juice
- 225 grams wholemeal flour
- 1.5 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 0.5 tsp cinnamon
- 150 grams blueberries fresh
- 125 ml maple syrup
- 60 ml vegetable oil (4 tbsp)
- 4 tbsp pumpkin seeds
- 2 tbsp demerara sugar
Instructions
- Pre-heat your oven to 180C / 356 F / gas mark 4.
- Line muffin tins with 12 paper cases.
- Mix together the soya milk and apple cider vinegar then place to one side.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the wholemeal flour, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon and the blueberries.
- Add the oil and maple syrup to the milk and apple cider vinegar and whisk well.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until well combined.
- Divide the mix equally between the 12 muffins cases and sprinkle over the pumpkin seeds.
- Place in the centre of the oven and bake until golden brown and bouncy to the touch.
- Remove from the oven and immediately sprinkle with the demerara sugar then leave to cool.
Nutrition
Storage
This recipe makes 12 good sized muffins and will last for 4-5 days in an air tight container.
More breakfast recipes
To find even more breakfast recipes check out the recipe archive.
A great first post. Simple and delicious and I feel like I could make them right now.
You definitely should!! I likr baking them on a Friday or Saturday so they feel like a real weekend treat which lasts into the middle of the next week! 🙂 Glad you like them
Great recipe! Just to say, you can freeze muffins just in case your parents can’t rescue you from temptation next time 😉 – I make 12 and freeze half for the next week.
Thanks Jess Ive never thought of that!!! Probably a good idea 😉
Also how did you get your recipe in that cute box?! I have the same theme as you and have never used that.
I se google drive and embed it into the posts text 😀 drop me an email if you want some help!