Martha’s Vineyard “Hippie” Molasses Muffins

Amarante

Thu, Apr 11 2024, 1:26 pm

This is a healthier version of the classic Morning Glory Muffin. It was quite good and really just as healthy as many other breakfast foods one might eat.

There is an egg free version but since no one in my house is vegan or allergic to eggs, I just used eggs.

I had no idea about the background of the muffin - found it interesting that something I thought had always been around was actually "invented" but then Ruth Wakfield invented chocolate chip cookies which are called Toll House Cookies because she owned the Toll House Inn locate in Massachusetts. She partnered with Nestle who started selling little chips of chocolate in bags in 1939 which is why they call them Toll House Cookies but the rest of the world has to call them just plain chocolate chip cookies.

Martha’s Vineyard “Hippie” Molasses Muffins

Excerpt From: Joan Nathan - My Life in Recipes

I played with the Hippie Muffin a bit, to make it less sweet and not so gigantic—one of my pet peeves being immense muffins and bagels. You can use any type of nut and dried fruit you have on hand; in the summer, swap zucchini for the carrots. This recipe is as free and forgiving as I always imagined a hippie to be!

One more trick: I prepare the batter at night and keep it in the refrigerator in the muffin tin, so that all I have to do in the morning is bake the muffins. I also try to freeze a few, so they all don’t get eaten at once.

Makes 12 regular or 32 mini-muffins

2 medium carrots, scrubbed
1 medium apple, unpeeled
½ cup (70 grams) roughly chopped walnuts or pecans
½ cup (80 grams) raisins, chopped figs, or chopped dates
½ cup (25 grams) flaked coconut (preferably unsweetened)
¼ cup (35 grams) sunflower seeds
2 large eggs, or ⅓ cup reduced aquafaba (see note)
⅓ cup (79 ml) vegetable oil, plus more for greasing
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ to ¾ cup (170 to 255 grams) molasses (to taste)
2 cups (250 grams) unbleached all-purpose flour
2¼ teaspoons ground ginger
1½ teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon kosher salt

1. Cut the carrots into quarters, and pulse them in a food processor fitted with a steel blade to grate them, taking care not to pulverize them into tiny bits. Measure out 1 cup, and put that into a large mixing bowl. Do the same with the apple, and add it to the same bowl. (You can also grate them with the large holes of a box grater.) Add the nuts, dried fruit, coconut, sunflower seeds, eggs, vegetable oil, vanilla, and molasses, and stir just to mix.

2. Gently stir in the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt; do not overmix. Cover the bowl, and store the batter in the refrigerator until you’re ready to bake (up to 12 hours).

3. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees, and grease the wells of a regular 12-cup muffin tin (or a 24-cup mini-muffin tin). Mound the batter into the wells so that it’s just under the rims (you may have to do this in batches, or use more than one tin). Bake for 20 to 25 minutes (for regular) and 12 to 14 minutes (for mini), or until the muffins are dark brown and pretty firm to the touch, rotating the pan halfway through to ensure even baking. Let the muffins cool in the pan for 2 minutes before removing them to a cooling rack. Repeat to use the remaining batter as necessary.

Note You can make the muffins vegan by using aquafaba, the liquid from cooked chickpeas. As I learned in Zsu Dever’s book Aquafaba, it’s best to reduce the aquafaba before baking with it, to take out some of its water content: set a strainer over a liquid measuring cup and strain the beans. Note the amount of liquid, then pour it into a medium pot and cook until it’s reduced by one-third. Let it cool before using it. “Substitute ⅓ cup of aquafaba, whisked for several minutes until frothy, for the two eggs in this recipe.