Baking in the Storm...

New England has been rainy for the past few days (the first real rainy days of this long summer, finally an excuse!) and so I've found myself indoors with relatively little to do. As my mother was asking me to bake more of the peach muffins I made a week or so ago, I decided last night (at about 9pm for whatever reason) to whip up a batch of muffins. Sadly, I find myself without the delicious peaches I had had for my last batch. Skimming through my beloved "The 100 Best Vegan Baking Recipes" I found a tantalizing recipe for French Toast muffins. Dense, sweet, and aromatic they came out terrifically. I did make some additions, however, to the recipe (largely because I couldn't run to the store at 9 to buy the maple extract called for and maple syrup itself wont work in place). So here it is, late-night French toast in a muffin cup.

Mmmm... French Toast but in a muffin shape

French Toast Muffins (with Maple crumble)

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flower

3/4 cup Graham (or other whole) flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

2 tbsp Vital Wheat Gluten

1/4 cup Wheat bran

9/16 (1/2 cup + 1 tbsp) agave nectar

1 1/4 cups milk (soy etc, otherwise if you prefer)

1/3 cup oil

1/2 cup + 2 tbsp plain fat-free yogurt (6 oz - a small container's worth)

1 1/2 tsp maple extract**

1/2 tsp vanilla*

1/2 cup baking raisins (the soft sort - golden or red)

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Topping:

1/2 cup oats

2 tbsp maple syrup

1 tbsp brown sugar

Cinnamon to taste

*/**If you don't have maple extract, don't use maple syrup - it doesn't work that way. Add more vanilla extract (maybe 2-3 tsp vanilla? More was good).

Preheat oven to 350, and either lightly oil or preset with baking cups, a muffin tin (6 extra large muffins, or 12 more normal ones).

Combine flour(s), baking powder, salt, cinnamon, bran, and gluten in a large mixing bowl. Whisk together agave, milk, oil, yogurt, and vanilla in a separate bowl.

Add dry (although I did this backwards) to wet ingredients and mix very lightly. Add raisins and finish folding. Remember to mix as little as necessary or the muffins will be flat, overly dense, etc...

Spoon the batter evenly into the muffin cups so that they are nearly full. Combine topping ingredients and spread over filled muffin cups, evenly coating the muffin-caps.

Bake for 18-20 minutes (longer for extra-large muffins) testing with a toothpick (careful not to over bake - they seemed to bake more quickly than I anticipated in my beloved, old, non-convection oven).

Store covered in a dry place, room temperature. They're dense and sweet but very moist, so watch out for spoiling in rainy (like it is here...) weather.