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What you’ll need

4 Large or 6 small very ripe Bananas
125g of chopped Dates
2/3c Agave Nectar
2c Flour
50g of Flax Seed Linseed

1/4 cup Soy Milk
1 tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 tsp Baking Soda
1/2c Margarine
Cinnamon, Allspice and Salt to taste

What to do

Mix the flour, spices, salt, linseed and baking soda in a big bowl. In a separate bowl blend the bananas, dates, agave nectar, soy milk, vinegar and margarine. Slowly add the wet contents of the second bowl into the dry contents of bowl one. Mix well.

Lightly grease a muffin tray which will make 12 small or six large muffins. You can use a baking spray or use a paper towel. Smear it in margarine and wipe the inside of the muffin cups. Scoop the muffin mix into the cups so they’re about 3/4 full.

Feel free to get playful with the recipe. When I went to the shops to buy the last remaining ingredients I didn’t have at home, I was hoping to find vegan chocolate chips or carob chips mix with the bananas. Finding none, I picked up some dates instead which worked out a treat. You could try sprinkling dessicated coconut on top of the muffins just before you bake them. You could also try pushing some pineapple chunks into the middle of your muffin drops for a moist yummy surprise. Walnuts are another tasty choice to try mix in. Spice it up, find a taste to suit your mood.

Preheat the oven to gas mark 4, 375F or 190C. Cooking time is 35 minutes. Turn the tray half way through. Use a toothpick to check they’re done. If the toothpick comes out clean that means they’re ready. You may need to adjust the time or the temperature to fit your oven as the first time I tried this recipe the muffins were a bit too hard on the outside and a bit too soft inside.

Notes: If you can’t track down some agave nectar you can replace it with 1c of sugar. The soy milk can be flavoured with banana or vanilla or you can change it up for oat milk or rice milk as you like. You can use either whole meal or white flour.

About veganism

One of the great mysteries of vegan baking is what to do about the eggs. There are plenty of dairy replacements readily available in most supermarkets. However, when it comes to replacing eggs people, especially non-vegans, tend to scratch their heads incomprehensibly. When it comes to replacing eggs you need to know what you want to do with them – bind, leaven or add taste, you’ll also want to think about which part of the egg you need to work with – yolk, whites or the whole egg. Now that you know what you’re looking for let’s look at the options:
1. One small bananas or 1/4c apple sauce or mashed canned fruit: Keep these for the baking as they will change the flavour and sweeten things up
2. 1/4c Silken tofu: Great all rounder as it will adopt the taste of whatever you’re cooking
3. One tbsp linseed/flax seed ground up and mixed with 3tbsp water – simmer to thicken
4. Two tbsp water mixed with 1 tbsp of oil and 2 tsp of baking powder – mixed well
5. If a recipe only needs one egg you can go without altogether if you like just add a few additional tablespoons of liquid – soy milk, water, juice, whatever works, to keep your dish from drying out
6. Egg replacers: The easy option as the box has all you need along with the instructions for use. However, they’re also the more costly option and generally you’ll have something readily available in your house already
7. For savory cooking you can use oats, arrowroot, tomato puree, canned pumpkin, mashed potato, breadcrumbs or cornmeal they all work wonders