orange, date, and walnut polenta muffins

I’m really enjoying these weekend baking sprees I’ve embarked on recently. I finished my last scone for breakfast this morning so I knew this afternoon I’d need to work on something else to get me through my breakfasts next week. I was planning on making those amazing avocado, blueberry, orange muffins again, or modifying my orange, cranberry, ginger, avocado scones, but my avocados weren’t ripe enough yet so I had to scratch that idea. I saw some recipes a while back for polenta cake that I filed away in my head for later use, which got me onto my polenta dinner kick recently. I decided to check google to see if there was such a thing as polenta muffins, and eventually settled on orange polenta muffins.

At this point, I’m not sure it’s possible to go wrong when you bake with oranges — with the scent of the batter while you’re mixing it and the aroma that wafts from the oven while they’re baking, how could they possibly taste anything but amazing? I was a little concerned when I removed them from the oven because they looked like they might be very dry, but they were anything but! They’re slightly sweet, tangy, with a hint of savory from the different spices. Very satisfying and definitely a great breakfast option!

You could easily adapt this to your taste by substituting the spices, fruits, and nuts for almost anything you want (although I think I hit the jackpot with my choice of spices)! I think it could be really good with peaches or blueberries–I’m not sure I’d want to sub out the orange. That’s the major key to the success of this recipe. I may try it using avocado instead of the oil next time, if I have a ripe one on hand. All in all, a successful rainy day baking adventure!

orange, date, and walnut polenta muffins

adapted from Orange Polenta Muffins

ingredients

• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/3 cup coconut oil
• 1 1/2 cups almond milk
• 2 oranges, finely diced (including peel)
• 1 cup dates, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup walnuts, finely chopped
• 1 cup quick cooking polenta
• 1 cup spelt flour
• 1 cup wholewheat pastry flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp cardamom
• 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

directions

1. Preheat oven to 395˚F. Line 18 muffin cups with paper or silicone liners.
2. Mix the brown sugar, coconut oil and almond milk together in a large bowl and let sit while you prepare the other ingredients.
3. Sift all the dry ingredients into another bowl.
4. Add the oranges, dates, and walnuts to the wet mixture, then add this to the dry ingredients. Fold together gently until mixed.
5. Divide between the 18 muffin cups. Bake for 20 minutes until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Leave in the muffin tray for 5 minutes before placing on a wire rack to cool.

ginger peach muffins

This is the recipe I’ve been waiting for. As soon as I read this in the Forks Over Knives – The Cookbook the other night, I was chomping at the bit to make it. The only problem was that I didn’t have my grinder yet to grind up the flax seeds to make the flax egg. I’m not comfortable enough with baking yet, let alone vegan/plant-based baking, to make a substitution on my own. So I patiently bided my time until the UPS guy delivered my grinder. Thanks to Amazon Prime, I only had to wait two days, but it was a very long two days.

These muffins are amazing. Chock full of peaches, lots of spicy ginger, warm and gooey. I made one modification to the recipe, one that I was confident would improve upon these muffins. I grated a thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger and folded it in with the peaches. I think it gives it an extra kick and takes these muffins over the edge. I might even like this better than the peach and ginger pie I made a few weeks ago — it’s a close call. The ginger-peach combination is really quite a perfect match!

 

ginger peach muffins

from Forks Over Knives – The Cookbook

ingredients

• 1 cup unsweetened plant-based milk (I used almond milk)
• 1 tbsp ground flaxseeds
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 2 1/4 cups spelt flour
• 3/4 cup dry sweetener (I used raw cane sugar)
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 4 medium peaches, peeled, halved, pitted, and cut into 1/4-inch slices (about 2 cups)
• thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger, grated (optional)

 

directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with silicone liners or have ready a nonstick or silicone muffin pan. (Mine made 18 muffins, filled to the brim).

2. In a large measuring cup, use a fork to vigorously mix together the milk, flaxseed, and vinegar. Mix for about a minute, or until it appears foamy. Set aside.

3. In a medium mixing bowl, sift together the flour, dry sweetener, baking powder, salt, ginger, and cinnamon. Make a well in the center of the mixture and pour in the milk mixture. Add the applesauce and vanilla and stir together with the milk mixture in the well. Incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients in the well just until the dry ingredients are moistened (do not overmix). Fold in the peaches (and grated ginger, optional).

4. Fill each muffin cup all the way to the top. Bake for 24 to 27 minutes, or until a knife inserted through the center comes out clean.

5. Remove the pan from the oven. Let the muffins cool completely, about 20 minutes, then carefully run a knife around the edges of each muffin to remove.