PROJECT LIGHT & LEAN: Muffins & Breads Chapter (Decadent Muffins)

Decadent might be a bit misleading of a label. I didn’t know what else to call this group of muffins and decadent was the only word that came to mind. In the context of a cookbook that is focused on low-calorie plant-based recipes, I use decadent to describe chocolate or peanut butter. Like I said in my last review of Happy Herbivore Light & Lean muffins, for all of the recipes reviewed today I used the gluten-free mix that is in the cookbook. Any gluten-free all purpose flour will work though as long as it has xanthan gum or guar gum in it. If your mix does not have either of these just add 1 tsp for every cup of flour you use.

Chocolate Chip Muffins, page 44

 

This was my least favourite muffin recipe. I made them to be a part of our Christmas morning breakfast and unfortunately there were plenty leftover after the breakfast. I think the name of these muffins is a bit misleading because they definitely taste like banana chocolate chip muffins. This is important for me to mention because I know some individuals who have a strong aversion to banana anything so these muffins definitely come with a warning that they taste strongly like banana. I love banana, but appreciate that not everyone does. I also found these muffins to be very dry and dense. I’m not sure if this is a result of making the muffins with gluten-free flour instead of the white whole wheat flour the recipe calls for. These also stuck significantly  to the paper liners I used, so that wasn’t overly fun. My fiance did try one and said it was dry. I tried to make him eat the last two that I didn’t want but he didn’t want them either. Basically , finishing off these muffins felt like a chore and I may or may not have thrown out the last one or two because I just couldn’t do it. I’d love to hear others feedback about this recipe because I can’t help but wonder if I messed up the recipe somehow and that’s why they were so dry and dense. If you’ve made these, let me know your thoughts!

“Cheater” Peanut Butter Muffins, page 43

These muffins were okay. I found the texture to be a bit gummy and I think this may have been because the recipe called for 1 apple. With the apple you chop it and set aside 1 cup chopped and put the rest in the food processor with the other wet ingredients. I must have used an apple that was larger than it was supposed to be and the extra wet ingredient caused the gummy texture. Needless to say, I prefer recipes that give measurements instead of “1 apple”, specifically for baking because baking can be very finicky. If I were to make these again I would just use the 1 cup of chopped apple. To be honest I don’t even remember much about the flavour of these because the gummy texture threw me off so much but they all got eaten so they must have had a flavour good enough to compensate for the texture. My fiance said that these muffins were okay and agreed that the texture was off but he still ate a bunch of them.

Banana Chocolate Chip Scones, page 52

Now, this was a good recipe! These scones were absolutely scrumptious. I wasn’t expecting to like them all that much as scones aren’t really my thing, but these ones surprised me. They were not like a traditional scone in the way that their exterior was harder like a scone, but their center was soft like a muffin. Basically if a chocolate chip scone and a banana muffin had a baby, this is what you’d get. This recipe also came with a recipe for a sugar glaze to put on top if you’d like. I did not use the glaze but the next time I got to a breakfast potluck I would strongly consider making these and I’d add the glaze to give them that extra something. My fiance gobbled these up and said that he liked them better than traditional scones, which he does like. If you have Happy Herbivore Light & Lean, I would strongly recommend giving these beauties a try this weekend. 

That’s all for now, but I’ve got one more post from the Muffins & Breads chapter and it will be focused on the fruity muffins 🙂

xoxo Erin 

Previous Project Light & Lean Review: 

       Veggie Muffins

 

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