Filed under: Food
Jassy Davis
This week's recipe is proof that vegan baking can be just as indulgent and delicious as the regular butter-and-eggs kind. Because vegan cakes and bakes don't really have much of a reputation. Jokes about cakes so heavy you can use them as doorstops and pastry so tough it can double as grouting abound. But, although it's harder to whip up a fluffy sponge without the aid of whisked eggs and dairy, it's not impossible.
These muffins are based around one of my favourite flavour combinations - chocolate and hazelnut. I'm a fiend for Ferrero Rocher and, because I'm impressionable, I've always associated the heavenly taste of hazelnut-spiked chocolate with luxury. If Nutella-filled balls of wafer are good enough for an ambassador's party, then it's a set of flavours I'm happy to see grace any occasion. Using it in these muffins immediately lifts them out of the bland and everyday, and makes them special.
To this classy mix of chocolate and nut, I've added pears. They're a natural match with hazelnuts and cocoa-rich chocolate, with the added benefit that the puréed pears act as a replacement for eggs. Here, the fruit purée helps bind the ingredients together, as well as adding sweetness and keeping the muffins moist.
In place of milk I've used soya milk. If you prefer, you could swap it for almond milk and keep the nut theme running throughout the recipe.
These muffins are best eaten warm or cold - not hot - on the day they're baked, but they will also freeze for up to 3 months. Defrost and warm through in a low oven for 10 minutes before serving.
Vegan pear, chocolate and hazelnut muffins
30 minutes to prepare, 30-35 minutes to cook
Makes 9
Cook's note: Dairy-free; Egg-free; Suitable for vegans
150g hazelnuts
400g pears, peeled and roughly chopped
125g wholemeal self-raising flour
2 tsp baking powder
50g soft light brown sugar
100g 70% cocoa solids vegan chocolate, chopped
75ml sunflower oil
150ml sweetened soya milk
Preheat the oven to gas mark 4/180°C/fan oven 160°C. Line deep muffin tins with muffin cases or squares of greaseproof paper (if you're using the paper, grease the tins with a little sunflower oil).
Place the hazelnuts on a baking tray and toast in the oven for 10 minutes, shaking the tray occasionally, until the skins are flaking. Rub the skins off and place three-quarters of the hazelnuts in a food processor. Blitz to make a fine powder. Roughly chop the remaining hazelnuts and set aside.
Heat three-quarters of the pears in a pan with 2 tbsp water, covered, until they're soft and pulpy. Purée with a handheld blender and set aside.
Sift the flour into a mixing bowl and tip any bran that gets caught in the sieve into the bowl. Sift in the baking powder. Stir in the sugar, ground hazelnuts, the remaining chopped pears and most of the chocolate.
Whisk the sunflower oil and soya milk into the pear purée and stir this into the dry ingredients. Divide the batter between the muffin cases and scatter over the remaining chopped hazelnuts and chocolate.
Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden and firm to the touch. Serve the muffins warm or cold.
