Vegan Sweet Potato Muffins

I had a few sweet potatoes in my pantry needing to be used, and what better way to use them than turn them into a muffin! I had looked through a few sweet potato baking recipes and decided to create a vegan interpretation. Many people associate "vegan" with "healthy". Although vegan recipes can be just as full of sugar and starch as a non-vegan recipe, they are generally the ones with a smaller fat content, considering that many of the fattier ingredients (eggs, butter, whole milk) are replaced. Here, I replaced eggs with applesauce, milk with soy milk, and butter with either a vegan butter or a vegan margarine. This way, you can eliminate the animal created fats in substitute for a more heart healthy fat. If you want to cut down even more on the fat, you can replace half of the oil with another 1/2 cup of applesauce. In terms of watching one's sugar intake, I used a "no sugar added" applesauce. With the brown sugar, Splenda actually makes a sucralose-based brown sugar that you can use to replace the regular brown sugar. Just make sure you use half of the volume when baking.

Although the mixture may seem a little thicker than your usual muffin mixture (at least it seemed so to me), they turn out perfectly moist, with a nice crispy outside. The sweet potato flavor comes out subtly and mixes wonderfully with the brown sugar.

Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cup bread flour (all purpose flour or whole wheat flour are also good choices)
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup applesauce
1/3 cup canola oil
1/2 cup soy milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/3 cup brown sugar
2 medium sweet potatoes

1. Preheat oven to 350 and grease 12 muffin tins or line with paper holders

2. Peel and cube sweet potatoes. Boil for 20 minutes, or until soft. Puree in food processor until creamy. Set aside.

3. While the potatoes are boiling, mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in a large bowl.

4. In a separate bowl, mix together apple sauce, oil, milk, vanilla, brown sugar, and sweet potatoes. Mix until all ingredients are well incorporated and smooth.

5. Mix together dry and wet ingredients. Whisk until smooth.

6. Fill muffin tins 2/3 full, and sprinkle with strudel topping (see below).

7. Bake for 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cool and enjoy with a big glass of soy milk!

Strudel Topping (optional)

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup all purpose flour

2 tbsp vegan butter or vegan margarine

1. Mix together sugar and flour.

2. Cut butter or margarine into the mixture in small pieces. Mix until clumpy. Use to sprinkle on top of muffin mix right before baking.