Awesome Low Fat Vegan Breakfast Muffins

With this whole foods recipe, you can skip the oil, and have delicious nutritious high fiber muffins that won’t go straight to your waist, like store bought muffins can do.

Sweet potato is a nice baking ingredient because it is nutritious, naturally sweet, and full of vitamin A and other important vitamins and minerals.

If you like carrot cake you will probably like these, you may find them to be sweeter than carrot muffins.

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Takes about 1 hour

This muffin recipe takes about an hour to make using a food processor to save time.

They make your home smell wonderful.

I make these muffins weekly, because my daughter likes to eat them for breakfast.

Vegan baking tips – for whole foods plant based muffins

To make whole foods plant based muffins better, try the following techniques:

• Use flax and water instead of eggs.
• Use shredded coconut instead of oil.
• Use apples instead of oil / sugar.
• Heat the soaking flax and shredded coconut / water in the microwave for a bit, to reduce the required soaking time, and make them soft.
• Aerate / whip the wet ingredients at high speed in a food processor, to make the muffins contain more air, and be lighter.
• Use fresh apples instead of unsweetened apple sauce. Fresh apples taste naturally sweeter, and will react more with the baking powder to help the muffins rise.
• Make sure the wet ingredients are totally stirred into the dry.
• Keep the muffin size small, so they cook all the way through.
• Muffin papers are optional.  I don’t usually use them.  If I do, I lightly spray the papers with oil the first time I make a recipe, just so I’m not fighting to peel them off.
• Figure out if you prefer moist or dry muffins, and adjust the cooking time accordingly by 5 or 10 minutes. Longer baking will be drier.
  • One of the challenges of baking with whole foods is varying moisture content of the ingredients.  
  • The apples and sweet potato seem to vary in moisture each time.  
  • This can cause the muffins to be too dry or too wet. 
  • But, it is also what keeps things from getting boring!!  
• Remove from muffin pan quite soon after taking out of the oven – when they are still steaming hot.  This seems to stop the muffins from sticking.
• Use a knife to go around the outside of the muffin, and then pop them out of the muffin pan.
• Cool on a wire rack or towel.
• Once cooled, store muffins under a towel for a bit and then in a covered container.
• Store in the fridge to keep for a week or more.

Add variety to your diet by baking with sweet potato

Have you heard of Okinawa, Japan?  People who live there have one of the longest life expectancies in the world. Okinawans consume more than half of their calories from sweet potatoes, so we should probably eat more too.

Cholesterol free breakfast muffins

No butter and no dairy in this recipe means no cholesterol.  

Animal foods contain cholesterol, so when you eat plant based you are eating cholesterol free.  

This is a major reason why plant based foods are better for your heart, arteries and veins. 

Want to lower your blood pressure, and prevent heart disease and dementia caused by clogged arteries?  Eat low fat plant based. 

Why vegan muffins with whole wheat flour and no-oil?

Whole wheat flour adds fiber and nutrition, and makes a hearty satisfying snack.

There is no oil in these muffins, the whole foods: shredded coconut, blended apples and nuts or seeds replace the oil.

Using whole foods (shredded coconut, nuts, seeds, apples) instead of oil and sugar actually makes baking taste nice!

Those plant based whole foods substitutes have lovely complex flavours that oil and sugar just don’t have.

Admittedly the muffins will be more dense than a commercially baked muffin, but they do not lack for flavour.  The recipe does still have some sugar in it, but less than most muffin recipes, otherwise I couldn’t get my daughter to eat them.   You could play around with the amount of sugar if you like. 

I find these muffins don’t stick too badly in my silicone muffin cups / pans, even if I don’t spray with oil.  

Just be sure to remove the muffins when they are still steaming hot. 🙂

How to make quick and easy healthy vegan breakfast muffins

See recipe below – but here is an overview to help you decide whether you are interested in making these.

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Flax and water as an egg substitute / egg replacer

For this recipe, start by soaking the ground flax, shredded coconut, and water in a little cup or bowl.  This is your egg and oil replacement, microwave for 30 seconds to help the coconut get soft.

No eggs required, you can make muffins without eggs – use ground flax soaked for a few minutes in water instead.

After soaking, follow the tips in the recipe for how to fluff up / aerate the liquids with your food processor, to make the muffins lighter.

Prep whole wheat flour, spices, and baking powder

While the flax/coconut egg replacer soaks, prep the dry ingredients in a large bowl – mix the cinnamon and allspice into your whole wheat flour.

Process wet ingredients in a food processor, whip and fluff it up

People wonder if vegan baking is affected by lack of eggs.  This aerating trick helps make the muffins lighter and fluffier.

Add all the wet ingredients, including the apple slices (these become apple sauce) with peel on (but not the sweet potato yet), to your food processor, and mix on high to liquify and fluff with air.

Then add the sweet potato chunks and mix until they are shredded.

Add nuts or seeds such as pumpkin seeds, walnuts, pecans, or pistachios and process to your size preference.

Recently I made these with pumpkin seeds, which I left whole.

I have also blended the seeds almost into a liquid, when my daughter asked for less chunks. In that case, process the nuts or seeds in the food processor, before adding the sweet potato.  Both variations worked well.

Mix the wet ingredients into the dry.

The whole wheat dough should be quite dry, moisture will come out in the oven

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir together to combine.  The dough should be quite dry, barely moistened, because water will appear when the sweet potato cooks.

Bake and enjoy!

Bake 35 – 40 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.  Use your judgement based on on wet the dough was.

Enjoy these naturally sweet vegan muffin treats!

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