100 Calorie Vegan Muffins

I am always a woman on a mission. My ongoing goal is to develop a vegan baked good that is low in calories and fat while still being delicious. My idea is that once I find this perfect baked good, I will be able to open a vegan bakery in the Cayman Islands and retire for the rest of my life. That, or I will be able to eat it for every meal until I get sick of it (which would probably never happen). Last week, my mission was to find a great blueberry bread recipe. I ended up not being able to make it to the potluck where I intended to bring said  recipe, but I still consider last weekend's study in blueberries a success. One might think that I would be sick of blueberries after working with them all last weekend, but the fact of the matter is that I had one more recipe I was dying to try.

I have had a recipe for weight watchers 1-point blueberry muffins for awhile now. I used to make them all the time before I went vegan, so I have been meaning to re-work the recipe to eliminate the eggs and milk. The recipe also calls for vegetable oil, and I wanted to experiment with replacing it with applesauce. This time around, I decided to try using almond milk and complemented it with an almond and date crumble on top of the muffins. I also cut out the sugar from the muffin batter, prefering to harness the natural sweetness of the dates. I used my new favorite flour for this recipe: Arrowhead Mills Whole Wheat Pastry Flour. It's got the fiber of whole wheat flour, but the lightness of a good pastry flour, which leads to delicious and hearty baked foods. The frugalistas out there will be happy to know that it's available in the bulk section of Whole Foods for I believe $1 a pound. Now that's cheap. 

These muffins are delicious and they weigh in at only 99 calories each, with 1.5 grams of fat (from the almonds and almond milk) and 3 grams each of protein and fiber (not bad for a little muffin).

100-Calorie Vegan Muffins

• 1 3/4 c. whole wheat pastry flour
• 2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• ener-g egg replacer for 2 eggs, pre-mixed
• 3/4 c. almond milk
• 1/3 c. unsweetened applesauce
• 3/4 c. blueberries
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 6 dates
• 20 almonds
• 1 tsp. cinnamon

1. Pre-heat over to 400 degrees and line a muffin tin with liners. Because these muffins tend to stick, I also spray the inside of the liners with a little cooking spray. 
2. Stir together flour, baking powder, and salt. 
3. In a separate bowl, combine ener-g, almond milk, vanilla, and applesauce and mix well. 
4. Add all of this mixture to the dry ingredients at once and stir until moist.
5. Fold in he blueberries
6. Drop by heaping tablespoons into muffin cups and bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes
7. Combine the dates (be sure to take the pits out), almonds, and cinnamon in a food processor and blend until it resembles a slightly sticky crumb.
8. Sprinkle the crumble on top of the muffins and then bake for an additional 10 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Yields 12 muffins at 99.3 calories, 1.5 g fat, 3 g. of fiber, 3.1 g. protein.