if i remember correctly, i never had muffins in japan. i’m sure muffins are available, but it never occurred to me to eat them.
soon after i moved to canada, i realized there were muffins all over. at my ESL school in vancouver (a decade ago), a teacher introduced tim hortons as a part of canadian culture. not so much in saskatoon but in ontario, there’re tim’s at every corner. tim’s here, tim’s there. it’s hard to ignore.
the muffins that i’ve seen so far are huge, greasy and too sweet. i can feel my body expanding with every bite. i couldn’t help thinking about the calories in them. some of them have more than one meal’s worth. i don’t have the courage to eat the whole muffin. the part i like is the edge, the crunchy part. the spongy part, not so much. i don’t like to waste food so i don’t buy muffins at all.
but i like the idea of muffins. freshly baked food always adds a touch of warmth at a morning table.
so i made these petit apricot muffins with soy milk. i didn’t use too much sugar but the sweetness of the dried apricots is enough for me. i used vegetable oil but they didn’t end up very greasy. so, if you like less-sweet muffins, try this:
(ps. i’m not against tim hortons though. it’s nice to see canadian stores doing very well among the other american competitors. especially after laura secord chocolate was bought by american companies despite her effort…)
recipe: apricot muffins with soy milk
- 1 1/3c all-purpose flour
- 3/4c rolled oats
- 1/8c brown sugar
- 2tsp baking powder
- 1/4tsp sea salt
- 1 beaten egg
- 3/4c organic non-sweetened soy milk
- 1/4c vegetable oil
- 1c diced dried apricots, mixed with flour to prevent them from sinking in the batter
- a dash of vanilla essence
- 1 tbsp sesame seeds
- in a medium mixing bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, apricots, and salt. make a well in the center of the flour mixture; set aside.
- in a measuring cup combine oil, milk, vanilla essence and beaten egg. add egg mixture all at once to flour mixture. stir just until moistened (batter should be lumpy).
- add oats to the mixture. — this will prevent the muffins from getting mushy.
- spoon batter into muffin cups. bake in a 400c oven for 18~20 mins or until golden brown.
- cool in muffin cups on a wire rack for 5 mins.
bon appetit!
