Sourdough Apple Cinnamon Caramel Muffins (Vegan)
Servings: 8 servings
Calories:
These Sourdough Apple Cinnamon Caramel Muffins may be vegan but yet are very close to what you enjoy at your local coffee shop but they are whole food plant-based. These are dairy-free, oil-free, no eggs, and made with whole-grain spelt flour and almond flour. They can't be any more healthy!
Print Recipe
Equipment
- Bowl Medium
- Bowl Small
- 12 cup Muffin Pan with 8 paper liners
Ingredients
- 1 cup spelt flour 128g OR regular all-purpose flour works too (see notes below for gluten-free version)
- ½ cup superfine blanched almond flour 56g (See NOTE)
- 2 tablespoons potato starch 20g OR sub with 3 tablespoons cornstarch (24g)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon fine salt
- 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ lightly packed cup 95g light brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons molasses
- 1 teaspoons vanilla extract 10g
- ¾ cup Sour Dough Starter Discard 140g or plant-based plain yogurt
- ½ cup plant-based milk can replace with water or juice of choice
- 1 cup mashed ripe bananas
- ½ cup chopped walnuts
- Tubino sugar for sprinkle on top ~ 2 tablespoons - optional
Instructions
- Preheat an oven to 425°F degrees and lightly spray a muffin pan for 8 muffins. This number ensures they are nice and tall and resemble close to a bakery-style look. I typically always use liners for muffins, but you can lightly spray the pan with nonstick spray if you use it. This makes the muffins bake up better and creates that beautiful dome top. Using liners will not bake up the same way, but will still be delicious, so use the liners if needing to 100% avoid any oil.
- To a large bowl, add the spelt flour, almond flour, potato starch, baking powder, chopped walnuts, sugar, salt, ginger, and cinnamon. Whisk very well until no lumps remain. Whisk in the brown sugar briefly.
- In a smaller bowl, combine mashed bananas, plant-based milk, chai seed egg, sour dough starter discard, plant-based sour cream, molasses, and vanilla.
- Pour over the dry ingredients and stir with a spoon until just incorporated and smooth. You want to avoid over-mixing the batter so the muffins don't turn out too tough from the gluten.
- Divide the batter in 8 muffins. The batter will fill up high and is how you will get beautifully shaped dome muffins.
- Bake for 10 minutes at 425℉. Reduce oven to 350℉ and bake for another 15-20 minutes until a toothpick is clean. They have risen high and have a dome shape. Each batch I did was perfect at 25 minutes but that is my oven.. Let cool 20-30 minutes. If you sprayed the pan, then you should be able to gently rotate the muffins to release them.
- Enjoy!
- Keep them stored at room temperature in a sealed container. The crunchy topping will soften overnight some.
Notes
USE A SCALE: When baking, for accuracy, follow the gram weights listed, since we all measure differently. This greatly improves your chance for success and lessons room for error. You never need cups or to compare them to the weights, just use the scale and bowl and make sure to hit zero before adding each ingredient. My recipes are well tested specifically using my exact weights and your results will turn out as mine this way.
ALMOND FLOUR: It's crucial to use superfine blanched almond flour because it is what makes the muffins light and fluffy. If it isn't fine, you will end up with more dense/wet muffins.
GLUTEN-FREE VERSION: To make these gluten-free, you will still use the same amounts of almond flour given, but sub the 1 cup of spelt flour with 3/4 cup (96g) superfine oat flour and 1/4 cup (40g) brown rice flour. Instead of potato starch, you will sub with 4 1/2 tablespoons (36g) cornstarch). The reason you are using more cornstarch here is because oat flour can make things gummy and cornstarch helps to bind them (since no gluten) and make them fluffy. Everything else is the same. The batter is more runny than the spelt version, therefore divide the batter into 10 muffins instead of 9. The batter will fill up high in each muffin tin, this is normal, and you will end up with tall muffins. Check the muffins at 20 minutes for a clean toothpick, but they may take a couple of minutes longer, due to oven variance. Remember to use fine flour (I use Bob's Red Mill oat flour) for the best fluffy results. If you grind your own sift it well.
