Bakery-Style Berry Muffins

Happy MoFo hump day everyone!

I’d planned on making a little Indian-inspired feast for my boyfriend and me, but then I didn’t feel very well all day and around dinner time I realised I wasn’t really inspired or motivated to do a lot of cooking. So I guess I’ll make samosas another day. Meanwhile, have a muffin! These are the Bakery-style Berry Muffins from Vegan Brunch and they are a favourite of mine. I used a little whole wheat flour (which I think always makes muffins just a little tastier) but other than that I stuck to the recipe, which is perfect. The mixed berries ensure that each bite is slightly different from the last and I especially love the huge chunks of juicy strawberry you occasionally get. The cake batter itself is really good, too – I love baked goods that use soy yoghurt. They might not be the healthiest of brunch items, but if you’re looking for a delicious & quick breakfast recipe I’d definitely recommend these muffins!

Burgers and Muffin Tops

When I came home yesterday after spending the weekend with my parents, I wanted to make a meal my boyfriend and I would both love: veggie burgers!

What I liked most about this meal was that it gave me the opportunity to try three recipes from other bloggers; the Spicy Cajun Lentil Patties from Heathen Vegan, the Burger Buns from Have Cake, Will Travel, and the Marvellous Mayonnaise from Graasland. I also chose to make these burgers because I really wanted to try out this nifty burger shaper my Mum gave me:

Just scoop the mix into the mould, press down, and there you go, a perfect patty!

Of course it’s not that hard to shape veggie burgers by hand, but using this tool is a quick way to get the patties perfectly round. And it’s fun!

I think I added a little too much of the lentils (I forgot to measure them after cooking) because I got a few extra patties out of the recipe, but they’re delicious so I’m happy to freeze the leftovers! I made sure to finely chop the mushrooms so my boyfriend would eat them, and it worked – he loved these. Now I’d really like to make other mushroom/lentil burgers like this one, too.

The burger buns were perfectly soft and fluffy and yummy, although I’m glad I cut down on the sugar because they were almost too sweet for me. Next time I make the buns I’m also going to add the cornstarch wash Celine recommends. I’ve never made bread with such a wash before and I’d love to try these buns with sesame seeds!

The mayonnaise recipe is something I’d made before, and it’s one of my favourite homemade mayos. I was so excited the first time I made it and it started thickening as I added the oil (this had never worked for me before). I’m glad to have such a tasty and cheap alternative to store-bought vegan mayonnaise!

Our breakfast this morning was really good as well. I made the Caramel Apple Muffin Tops from 500 Vegan Recipes and although I made a few substitutions, they turned out so delicious! I loved the crunchy top combined with the sweet caramelised apple pieces. Sadly we already ate all of them, but I can’t wait to make them again. I think these would be great on a cold winter morning.

Sunny Picnic Food

Last Thursday, we decided it was a perfect sunny day to spend relaxing at the park. It was a little last minute so I didn’t have the time to put together a real picnic, but we had some leftover pizza dough which was just enough for two yummy focaccias.

I topped mine with garlic, herbs, onions, olives, and a new (to me) vegan pizza cheese  – Wilmersburger Pizzaschmelz – which I’ll write more about in a later post. We used the dough recipe from Nonna’s Italian Kitchen and it is absolutely the best pizza dough I’ve ever made. I’m going to try to have a batch of the dough around as often as possible, because I love being able to whip up pizza or focaccia whenever the need arises!

Along with the bread, I also made us a batch of muffins. I wanted something summery and fresh, so a lemon flavour was perfect. I made the muffins using this recipe for Lemon Thyme Quickbread, which I’d made and loved before a few years ago. Apart from changing the recipe to turn it into muffins, I also used this clever shortcut to replace the soy yoghurt in the recipe. They turned out just as delicious as I remembered! Hopefully it won’t take me another three years to make the recipe again.

Here’s a closeup of my muffin! That first bite was as much as I could eat before I was confronted by a big white goose who really wanted me to share. He almost scared me off with his loud hissing, but we decided to stay and watch the little goslings. Cute!

Apart from eating, reading, and lying in the grass, we also managed to explore the park a little. We paid a visit to the Japanese garden, which is apparently only open to public during a few weeks each year. It was very pretty, so I’m glad we were able to see it before it closed!