Due Date Mini-Muffins

Today is my due date.
but...
Baby is not here yet.

I've been anxious, bored, and restless since I stopped working. I've been preparing for this date and here we are; no baby yet.

There are thousands of lists with things to do to prep for life post-baby. Since I've never had a life post-baby before I had no idea which were useful and which were eccentric.

We installed the car seat base, that seemed vital. We attached the co-sleeping bassinet straps. We washed tiny socks, gowns, and swaddling blankets in scent free detergent. We have 100 cloth diapers ready to go, plus one poor stuffed lion whose been wearing our practice folds. We spent way too much money on an adorable handmade stuffed fox that I love and will probably not let my son touch until he stops drooling.

What am I forgetting? Nourishment! It's not recommended to do a lot of cooking right after your baby is born. Probably, if you have an amazing community of people around, they will bring you food and delicious meals. My plant based diet can be challenging for folks so I decided to prep food for myself. In the freezer right now we have a lentil loaf and mashed potatoes, chili, shepherds pie, spinach lasagna, strawberry chia breakfast bars, and carrot walnut breakfast bread. ... keep reading for a mini-muffin recipe...


My freezer overflows, especially since soy crumbles were buy one get one free this week and I had to find space for a few bags.

Baked goods are a really great thing for my family to have on hand since they don't require heating up or stirring or anything at all really. I decided to use today to make some mini-muffins. Simple, quick, light, and perfect for friends stopping by to meet the baby... if he EVER decides to be born.

I used Kathy Patalsky's recipe as a starting point. The original recipe says it makes about 15 regular sized muffins. I got about 48 mini muffins.

I lightly sprayed my mini-muffin pan with canola oil spray and pre-heated my oven to 375.

Mix the dry ingredients:
1 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup all purpose unbleached flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Then, Mix the wet ingredients:
1/4 cup agave nectar
1/3 cup maple syrup
2 tbsp sugar
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup almond milk
5 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2-3 tbsp Flax seed mixed with 1/4 cup warm water and let sit to form flax egg.
1 mashed up banana

Spoon the wet into the dry and lightly stir until batter forms.

Then the fun part! I wanted to make different flavors and use up some of the frozen fruit that was taking up valuable space in my freezer.

I scooped about 3/4 tbsp of batter in each muffin well.
After filling the muffin pan with batter I sprinkled tiny frozen wild blueberries on top of 12 of them and pushed them into the muffin with a toothpick. It sounds like a lot of work but it wasn't.
Then I pushed a frozen raspberry into the middle of 12 more. I chopped up some frozen peaches and pushed those pieces into 12 muffins as well.

Lastly, I mixed chocolate chips into the remaining batter in the bowl, and filled the last 12 muffins with the chocolate chip batter.

Doing the flavors this way was a lot easier than having 4 bowls and mixing fruit/chocolate into 4 sections of batter, plus I feel like I had less waste.

I baked them for 9-12 minutes, until they were browned, puffy, and looking delicious!

I sampled one of each muffin (to make sure my guests would like them) and they really turned out amazing! The batter is lemon-y in that it tastes very fresh and sharp, not like I made lemon chocolate muffins. A non-baker probably wouldn't taste lemon. The vanilla makes it feel almost like yellow cake mix. They are light and fluffy, a very easy sell to a non-vegan or non-health food eater. I love my dense spelt carrot walnut breakfast bread but it seems very "granola" next to these beauties.

I think this container should last us at least 2-3 days, although I doubt they'll make it into the freezer. You think our baby will make before we eat all of these? 

What do you like to make when you have spare time? Do you ever keep food in your freezer? 

Happy Eating!