Saturday, December 17, 2016

Sweet Ginger Cheese Muffins - Recipe Review

plate of sweet ginger muffins
Sweet Ginger Muffins copyright BuckHawk 


Looking for easy, vegan and gluten-free muffin recipes, I came across a delicious looking sweet ginger one. But, it wasn't completely perfect to go with the soup I was planning for dinner. Therefore, I did the conversions needed to end up with Sweet Ginger Cheese Muffins.

Here I'll tell you about the original recipe along with the changes I made to create my new muffin recipe. Although my recipe is both vegan and gluten-free, I've included the easy changes you can make to convert it to standard diet fare.



The Original Muffin Recipe


gluten free cookbook
Great Gluten-Free Vegan Eats
One of my favorite vegan and gluten-free cookbooks is Allyson Kramer's Great Gluten-Free Vegan Eats from Around the World. In her section titled Tasty Treats from Central and South America, she includes a recipe for Chilean-Style Sweet Ginger Cake. This was the recipe that enticed me into creating my own version.

Sweet Ginger Cake is meant to be a dessert. But, to go with the potato leek soup I was serving, I wanted something a bit less desserty. Ergo, less sugar and sweet ingredients and the addition of vegan cheese shreds and nutritional yeast. The result was a delicious cheesy muffin similar to sponge cake in texture.

Sweet Ginger Cheese Muffins Recipe


Ingredients and directions:
  • 2/3 cup vegan margarine 
  • 1/3 cup raw sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cream these ingredients together until they form a smooth paste. I used my stand mixer for this. It just goes so much faster.

Then add in:
  • 2 teaspoons dried, ground ginger
  • 1/3 cup tapioca flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon xanthan gum
  • 3 teaspoons baking powder
  • 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
  • 2 cups gram flour
  • 1/4 cup honey, agave or other sweetner
  • 1 1/2 cups almond milk
Mix all of this together until you have a smooth batter. Finally fold in 1/2 cup of shredded cheese. I used a combination of Daiya brand mozzarella and cheddar style vegan shreds.

Grease and flour 12 standard muffin cups and divide the mixture among the tins. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until golden brown on top.

Recipe Notes


For those of you who are not familiar with vegan and gluten free cooking, many of these ingredients will sound foreign. But every single one is available in health food stores and online.

If you want to make these muffins in a more conventional way, you can easily replace the vegan margarine for butter, replace both the tapioca and gram flour with all-purpose flour, skip the xanthan gum and replace the vegan versions of milk and cheese with dairy versions.

Nutritional yeast is not like standard bread yeast. It's deactivated and more similar to brewer's yeast. It adds a cheesy flavor and vitamin B12 to anything it's added to. Nutritional yeast is found in a dried version, either flakes or powder. If you don't have nutritional yeast, you may want to add more cheese shreds.

Either way you want to make this recipe, you will enjoy a combination of flavors. Unexpected combination, I agree, but the result will complement soups and stews wonderfully.


Posted by: BuckHawk
Buckhawk

About This Contributor

BuckHawk decribes herself as "Basically a lazy person who prefers the easy things in life." So that's what she writes about. Easy home decorating, easy recipes, easy entertaining. But, she is also a lover of animals, gardening and crafting. You'll find her writing all over the Web, but with Review This Reviews! she has the opportunity to write about all of her loves.




Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN) and/or Esty (Awin) Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”


9 comments:

  1. I love muffins but avoid gluten so this sounds good to me, although I do not avoid butter, I love butter, so will try it gluten free, but full of dairy. LOL

    ReplyDelete
  2. No, I would not think about cheesy and ginger in the same food... but this recipe sounds good. Thank you for the "recipe notes" ... very helpful.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Clever of you to adapt a recipe to suit your palate, Susan. Your 'cheesy' sweet ginger muffins sound good.

    ReplyDelete
  4. With my vegan company coming for Christmas, I was quite anxious to check out this recipe. But, you are right! I got down to tapioca flour and started stressing. By the time I got to gram flour, I wondered if I had left earth. Would you believe I spend 2 hrs. in the health food store just trying to find a few things a few days ago. It is so hard to transition to vegan cooking when all I have ever done was use dairy products for everything. I would love to try your recipe, but I admit, I dread another trip to the health food store. Still, I very much appreciate the recipe!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Where did you find xanthan gum?

      Delete
    2. Fay, give good ole Amazon a try. I'm guessing you will find 30 or more choices. It's a powder that acts similar to a binding agent and helpful when using gluten-free flours. Not required, just helpful.

      Delete
  5. I love any kind of muffin. I don't think I ever had a ginger muffin so this is a must try!! Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  6. Cheese and ginger together sounds very intriguing, I'll have to give it a go although I'll use butter in my recipe :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. These might be something my husband would eat, since he likes to be gluten-free as much as possible. He also tries to avoid cheese. I would never have thought to put ginger and cheese together.

    ReplyDelete

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