Meatless Mondays: The Best Vegan Pumpkin Muffins Ever

<Meatless Mondays is a national campaign that asks people to cut out meat from their diets one day a week in order to improve personal and environmental health. Change.org provides a seasonal, vegetarian recipe every Monday. For more Meatless Mondays meal options, see here, here, here, here, here, and here.

I have to admit that when October comes around, I get a serious case of pumpkin fever. I can't get enough of it, and I try to use as much fresh, seasonal pumpkin (as opposed to canned) as possible.

This recipe is a slightly modified version of one written by the very talented folks at Post-Punk Kitchen. They have some great vegan recipes, especially for baking, and I recommend you check out their site. These muffins are, in a word, incredible. They are the moistest, tastiest pumpkin muffins I have ever eaten. There are no eggs or butter, and they can easily be made vegan by using non-dairy yogurt and milk (actually, I should say they can be easily made non-vegan by using dairy yogurt and milk). I enjoy using coconut yogurt and milk, but soy milk, rice milk, or almond milk would all work well.

I hate that vegan baking can have the stigma of being bland and tasteless. Oftentimes, I think vegan baking is better than traditional pastries, and this recipe is a great example. Whether you're vegan or not, if you like pumpkin, I think you'll have a hard time not eating all of these muffins at once.

Knock-Your-Socks-off Vegan Pumpkin Muffins
Makes about 12 muffins

1 3/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup pureed pumpkin (canned, or even better, fresh)
2 tablespoons yogurt (non-dairy for vegan)
1/2 cup milk (non-dairy for vegan)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons maple syrup

1) Mix all of the dry ingredients (flour through cloves) in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, mix all of the wet ingredients (pumpkin through maple syrup).

2) Add the wet ingredients to the bowl of dry ingredients and mix well.

3) Pour the batter into muffin trays (with liners if you prefer) , filling them about two-thirds of the way up. Bake in a preheated oven at 400 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out nearly clean.

4) Allow cupcakes to cool, then take them out of the tray and enjoy!

Photo credit: norwichnuts via Flickr