Thursday, September 15, 2011

Vegan Chocolate Peanut Muffins

http://www.divinetaste.com/archives/vegan-chocolate-peanut-muffins/

Vegan Chocolate Peanut Muffins

When my cousin Vedika kept raving about the homemade peanut butter she ate every morning for breakfast during a school excursion in a farm in the rustic parts of Pondicherry, I recalled the chocolate peanut muffins I had made a few weeks ago and thought “she loves chocolate and she loves peanut butter”, she will surely love my chocolate peanut muffins.

These muffins are so easy to make and have great texture and taste. Don’t be fooled by the fact that they are vegan and also without regular butter. Most bakers I come across are skeptical about trying eggless or vegan recipes. I harboured similar notions until they were dispelled after successful results.

If the recipe is right and the ingredients are top quality then one can rarely go wrong, even in baking where precision and exact measurements are a must.

The flavour combination of peanuts and chocolate is phenomenal and the taste of the peanuts lingers for some time. These are ideal for snacks and kids lunch boxes. And these are perfect with your evening cuppa too. Or maybe even breakfast if you are having a bowl of cereals.

The best part of making these muffins for me was the happiness and smile on my sweet little sister’s face.

Vegan Chocolate Peanut Muffins Recipe

I prefer making fresh peanut butter for these cupcakes. If you want to use ready made peanut butter then use 1/2 cup butter and 2 tbsp oil.

Ingredients:

100 gm (1/2 cup) unsalted shelled and skinned raw peanuts
4 tbsp oil (preferably peanut or any other flavourless oil)
a pich of fleur de sel or your favourite salt
140 gm (1 cup) plain flour
30 gm (1/3 cup) cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
90 gm (3/4 cup) jaggery powder or muscovado sugar or any dark soft sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
200 ml (3/4 cup) water

Method:

In a skillet, on a moderate flame, roast the peanuts until golden brown. Alternatively heat an oven to 200 degrees C/ 400 degrees F and roast for about ten minutes or until they darken, shaking them a bit half way through so that they roast evenly.

Allow the peanuts to cool a bit and then place them in a blender with the oil and fleur de sel and process until you get peanut butter. I like it chunky here and so I blend it until I get a smooth butter with chunks in it.

In a bowl, mix in the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda and sieve once to make the mixture uniform. Put in the jaggery or sugar, vanilla extract, water and peanut butter and mix with a whisk or a wooden spoon until well blended.

Heat your oven to 180 degrees C/ 350 degrees F. Place the batter into cupcake liners* and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until a skewer or toothpick comes out clean.

*You might want to use 2 cupcake liners to get neat edges after baking.

Makes 9 medium sized muffins

Filed Under: American, Anniversary, Baby and Toddler Food, Baking Powder, Baking Soda (Sodium Bicarbonate), Birthday, Brunch, Cakes & Cookies, Christmas/Easter, Cocoa Powder, Dessert, Eggless Baking, Family Get Together, Fleur De Sel, Flour (plain), Jaggery, Peanut, Picnic, Potluck Party, Snacks & Small Meals, Vanilla Extract, Vegan Friendly Recipes, Vegetable Oil, World · Tags: ,, , , , ,

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Comments (21 Comments)

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  1. Awesome recipe.. looks tempting :)

  2. Sharmilee says:

    Peanut and chocolate nice combination…looks yumm

  3. [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Pratiba Bhat, Anushruti RK. Anushruti RK said: The flavour of chocolate and peanuts come together in these vegan muffins http://fb.me/RAIN5x9v [...]

  4. I must admit I’m one of those people who is not very confident about a vegan recipe but you are making me believe! Anushruti I love pictures lately. Love the mood, love the focus.

  5. Vedika says:

    Anu akka,
    Fantastic job, well, again! :D
    It looks really heavenly. It tasted even better. :)
    Thanks for everything, again! :D

  6. El says:

    They look great. You’re right about the began recipes but this definitely looks like an exception. Lucky sister too!

  7. Arundati says:

    Hey Anu…great recipe …am certainly going try this one over the weekend. Can I double the recipe for preparing more muffins & if that’s possible then what would the quantity of baking pwd & soda be..We tried the Mango Cheese cake recipe substituting the mango with strawberry puree…it turned out really nice..

  8. anna says:

    Hi anu..i have tried most of ur recipes and they are great. my son cant take peanuts. can i just omit peanut and do plain chocolate muffin…or i need to modify the recipe. thank you

  9. Anushruti says:

    Thanks everybody!

    Vedika: Any time for you!

    El: I’m lucky too, to have her in my life.

    Arundati: You could easily double this recipe. Just double all the ingredients including the baking powder and soda and bake! It’s great that you enjoyed the cheesecake and swapping the mango for the strawberries is wonderful in this season.

    Anna: Thanks. Can your son take in cashews or almonds? If yes, you could replace the peanuts with other nuts. If he can’t take any nuts at all, then yes the recipe needs to be modified a great deal. Let me know if you want that too.

  10. pankaja says:

    looks awesome!

  11. Always love the combination of peanut butter and chocolate…in fact love peanut butter in any form. Recently had Cheezit Cheese and Peanut Butter Crackers on an international flight and i loved it…imagine two tiny coin sized crackers, one caated wth cheddar cheese and one with peanut butter,stuck together to melt in your mouth…cheesy, salty, sweet and everything thats explosive…WOW…Love the clicks.

    Shobha

  12. urhegde says:

    hari is a lucky guy to get al this
    did he like this particular thing
    luvto u hari
    ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,pls pass it on

  13. Laya says:

    Dear anushruti,
    I love ur blog for the pics . Since u attempt great deal of Indian veg cooking, I was wondering if u could try out ant share a recipe for authentic hyderabadi biriyani . Cheers and keep up the fantastic work
    Laya

  14. manya says:

    I was goin through this recipe and it really sounds nice.
    Can i make this in a normal baking tin instead of individual cups. My husband’s b’day is coming so i want to make this for him and i want it cake like.

  15. I have found that vegan bakes are great for those who enjoy natural flavors of food. I make these two and can vouch that they taste awesome:)!

  16. hey, stumbled across your website recently and I love the recipes and especially the pictures! great going girl :)
    I jus baked some chocolate chip muffins recently –http://theweekendepicurean.blogspot.com/2011/03/whole-wheat-chocolate-chip-muffins.html
    am dying to try out more variations. so this recipe is bookmarked now, esp since i prefer eggless and non-butter options :)

  17. Manya says:

    hi Anushruti…i asked you abt baking this as a normal cake but got no response, anyway i did tk a chance a bake in a cake tin since i had no cup cake moulds. It turned out well but the center was a little sticky and how refused to become firm…is this cause i used a tin???Plz plz reply…..cause the cake was yummy and i want to make it for another get together next week….

  18. Anushruti says:

    Manya: I’m sorry if I didn’t respond to you earlier. I have not tried baking this whole, but from what you are telling me, I think you should increase you baking time by 10 to 15 minutes more for the cake to cook properly. Then you won’t have a problem.

  19. swetha says:

    hi….just one doubt can i use plain or powdered sugar instead of jaggery..will the muffin come out well if i try to change this..plzzzzzzzzz reply…

  20. Anushruti says:

    Swetha: Yes you can!