Thursday, June 11, 2009

Strawberry Lemon Sunflower Seed Muffins


I made these muffins a while ago when I bought a huge thing of strawberries that turned out to not be really great (which, as some of you might remember, is when I also made the chocolate strawberry loaf). I don't often add berries to muffins because I find they make them so wet, and that's exactly what happened with the first batch I attempted of these. The second batch I used less soy milk and it balanced out a lot better. The taste was delicious, and I especially loved the crunch of the sunflower seeds.

If this sounds good, you might also like:
Whole Wheat Orange Spice Muffins
Chocolate Strawberry Loaf
Coconut Lemon Bundt Cake
Applesauce-Oat Bran Muffins

Strawberry Lemon Sunflower Seed Muffins
Greatly adapted from Vegan with a Vengeance

If you can't get light spelt flour, use light whole wheat flour or another kind of flour. You can use all whole wheat flour instead but the muffin will be a bit denser.

1 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup light spelt flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup canola oil
1/4 cup soy milk
6 ounces low fat vanilla yogurt (use soy yogurt to make vegan)
2 tsp vanilla extract
zest of 1 lemon
1 cup chopped strawberries
1/2 cup sunflower seeds

Preheat oven to 400F. Spray a twelve muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large bolw, sift together the flours, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the maple syrup, oil, soy milk, yogurt, vanilla and lemon zest. Fold the wet ingredients into the dry; halfway through mixing fold in the strawberries and sunflower seeds.

Divide the batter among the 12 muffin cups. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until a toothpick in the center comes out clean.

16 comments:

Steph said...

The wetness drives me crazy! Especially for strawberries, I like to chop them up and add sugar to draw out some of the juice. The muffins looks really good! I've always been interested in trying out an eggless cake/muffin, but worried it might end up with a weird texture.

Anonymous said...

that is such a good idea to use sunflower seeds in these muffins, it must have provided such a nice contrast in texture and flavor!

Lisa Turner said...

I wish I had one of these right now! I'm at work, and ate a rather light dinner.

The Duo Dishes said...

We've never put sunflower seeds in a baked good. Definitely a good crunch and nutty flavor. Lemon zest is a fave.

La Cuisine d'Helene said...

Strawberries with maply syrup in a muffin, sounds delicious.

Amy said...

Mmmm muffins, my favourite food group!

Mermaid Sews said...

Ohh I love muffins, was just thinking it had been too long since I made them. These sound great.

grace said...

sunflower seeds! what an excellent addition! i always seem to have a little bag or two laying around, left over from road trips, and this is a FABULOUS use for them. beautiful work. :)

Justin said...

i'd have to make a special trip for the spelt flour, but these do sounds good.

Maria said...

The muffins look wonderful! I have a bunch of strawberries to use, so perfect timing!

CookiePie said...

Those muffins sound delicious! Perfect with a cup of coffee in the morning. Great pic too!

Hannah said...

I just never think to use sunflower seeds in most baked goods, but it's a great idea! Especially in muffins, I can imagine what a lovely texture they would contribute.

strawberry lover said...

I have tried both of your recipes the one with chocolate and this one, the strawberry lemon sunflower seed muffin. They are really superb and wonderful for high teas, but I have done an experiment with chocolate strawberry loafs. Instead of using chocolate chips and strawberry I used roughly chopped chocolate dipped strawberries and whisk it with eggs and vegetable oil. The new dessert was really lovely. Try it!

eatme_delicious said...

strawberry lover: I'm happy you liked them! Your modification sounds really yummy!!

Krystyna said...

What brand of Spelt flour do you recommend?

I normally use Bob's Red Mill but it's not "light" and other Spelt flours Ive purchased have tasted so vastly different and in the bad way.

eatme_delicious said...

Krystyna: I actually buy my spelt flour from a warehouse so I have no idea what brand it is, sorry. =(