Apple Pecan Muffins

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

2 tbsps ground flaxseed (or 3 tsps of Ener-G Egg Replacer)

6 tbsps water (or 4 tbsps water if using Ener-G Egg Replacer)

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/3 cup canola oil

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups peeled and chopped raw apples

1/2 to 1 cup chopped pecans

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease your muffin tins.

In a medium bowl combine flours, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.

In a food processor or blender whip flaxseed (or egg replacer powder) and water together until it reaches a thick and creamy consistency.

In a separate bowl, combine applesauce, oil, sugar, vanilla, and flax mixture. Beat with electric hand mixer or wire whisk until creamy smooth. Add to the flour mixture, stirring until well blended. Do not overmix. Fold in the apples and nuts.

The batter will be thick rather than smooth and wet, but it's okay. If you feel it's too stiff, you may add 1 or 2 tablespoons of water.

Fill the greased muffin tins about 3/4 of the way full. Bake until a wooden skewer inserted into the center comes out clean, about 20 minutes.

Cool in tins for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack.

This recipe comes out of The Joy of Vegan Baking: The Compassionate Cooks' Traditional Treats and Sinful Sweets by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau. I got this cookbook for my birthday but had yet to try any recipes. I was flipping through it last night and had no idea why that was. Everything in this book looks so amazingly delicious and so easy to make. I decided to start with a good ol muffin recipe. Cakes are more involved and I didn't think I could tackle one on a Sunday night after sanding and painting kitchen cabinets and painting a powder room (I've been ridiculously productive this weekend).

So I go through the recipe and get to the part where I add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients...hmm something doesn't look quite right. Since the recipe said it would be thick and I could add a few tablespoons of water I figured I was on the right track. So I added some more water and try to mix it all together but it still seemed a little drier than usual. I molded my batter into my greased muffin tins, threw them in the oven, and sat down to post this. Now as I am typing the ingredients I realize I put 1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour AND 1 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour. That's an extra cup of dry ingredients! No wonder it didn't seem right! UGH! I'm totally striking out lately. I took my muffins out of the oven and they don't really look like muffins. More like balls of stuff. They look a little burnt too. And upon tasting them, guess what, they are really dry. Go figure.

At least my house is filled with the wonderful aroma of baked apples and cinnamon...

Update - I brought my sad little muffins to work today. My co-workers actually ate them. But also advised me to call them muffin shaped scones instead of muffins. Scuffins?