I never shy away from baking for my kids schools when asked.  It is something I love doing – and gives me a great excuse – especially when they are looking for something on a Monday…weeknight baking is sometimes challenging, but I usually find a way to fit it in – while my laptop is on the counter and I am typing emails in between steps.

This one really got me though.  There are some kids in my daughter’s class who are allergic to seeds and nuts – not just a mild allergy either – severely allergic.  I guess there are also dairy allergies in the class, so the teacher just decided to cover all her bases and asked for nut-free, seed-free, non-chocolate vegan muffins.  What fun!  Now we have a challenge.  I combed the internet for the perfect recipe, and found this one from Namely Marly, which I highly adapted to basically a new recipe.

So, as I was making these, my older daughter came downstairs to see what I was doing and if she could help.  I told her I was making a nut-free, seed-free, vegan pumpkin muffins, and she just gave me this look – it was not a look of “Mom, you are the greatest!!”  Instead she went into this…”Mommy, I told all my friends that you are the best baker ever, I can’t bring these in, they will never believe me!”  I told her to trust me, as I cringed inside.  Making muffins without eggs wasn’t going to be pretty.

They came out of the oven, and they actually looked and smelled pretty good.  I couldn’t help but to rip right into one, and aside from the strange silky smooth consistency (probably because without the egg, the ingredients don’t completely bind?), they were pretty good.  So – the next time you get a strange request to make something for school – I highly recommend these – my daughter said they were actually a hit – and for a 4th grader to say that, it means a lot.

Ingredients

• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup rice buttermilk (rice milk combined with 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar)
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup mini-chocolate chips (optional)

Preparation

Heat your oven to 375 degrees F. Spray your muffin pan with vegetable spray or use paper liners.

Combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. In a separate small bowl, add the rice milk and apple cider vinegar. Let this sit for a minute so the vinegar can combine with the rice milk. Next add the pumpkin, vanilla, and vegetable oil. Stir until combined. Add to the flour mixture, and stir until combined. You can also add chocolate chips if you’re in the mood, but those are optional. Be careful not to stir the batter too much. Spoon batter into the prepared muffin pan, until about 2/3 full.

Bake for approximately 20 minutes (for regular muffins) and 10-12 minutes for mini-muffins and let cool for about 5 minutes before diving in.

Makes 12 regular sized muffins or about 3 dozen minis.

For a printer-friendly version, please click here:  Vegan Pumpkin Muffins