Vanilla Muffins {Soft & Fluffy}

Is Vanilla the boring option? Certainly not in these little light and fluffy delights. Make yourself, sorry, the kids a batch of these Vanilla muffins and see for yourself. I've added some whipped cream on top dusted with a little cinnamon for extra showiness: Put a tray of these out next time you have guests over and watch them disappear!

Vanilla Muffins

Well hello friends! Happy New Year!

After stuffing ourselves over Christmas and then having a 'light' few days, today felt like the right time to make some muffins and these Vanilla muffins won the day. And anyway, they taste super light and fluffy.......

Vanilla, vanilla, one of the world most loved flavors. From ice creams to just about anything else, vanilla features heavily, almost everywhere. And for good reason since this yummy spice is a bakers staple, and these vanilla muffins are one of the kids favorite ways to eat it!

Being a soft and fluffy muffin, these are a real treat. To clean these muffins up a little I've used coconut sugar instead of refined sugar and so you get a deeper, warmer flavor than you do with regular white sugar. I've also used some Greek yogurt to keep these really moist. I'm already thinking about turning this into some kind of beautiful, delicious birthday cake...maybe another week!

I don't usually add a topping to muffins and while I know all those beautiful cupcake stores that have sprung up everywhere in the last few years are piped to perfection with icing in every color imaginable, for these vanilla muffin delights, I do like to throw caution to the wind and pipe them with cream. Yep, I know not's not sweet like pink icing but it adds a touch of the indulgent, so whip up a bowl and enjoy every bite!

What's In These Muffins

Like most muffins these are made with mostly store cupboard or fridge staple foods, flour, baking powder, coconut sugar, butter and eggs etc...with the exception of the Greek yogurt which I don't always have to hand. And the cream. While I usually have some cream hanging about for soups and sauces, heavy cream isn't somethig I have all the time, so that's an extra too.

Vanilla Bean Paste

I seem to get through masses of vanilla bean paste. Luckily they sell it locally to me or I'd have to be placing huge orders with Amazon, but it's so good, if you're still using vanilla extract then I urge you to try this, it's a game changer!

Greek Yogurt

Greek yogurt keeps these muffins moist and light and fluffy, so while you don't have to add it into the recipe, your muffins will thank you if you do. I use full fat Greek yogurt, and you can buy individual little pots if you don't use it that much, so you don't waste a huge tub.

Coconut Sugar

Coconut sugar is still sugar. When we started eating Clean we didn't give up sugar, simply because to give it up completely would have meant we wouldn't have been able to keep eating this way up. It just wouldn't have been sustainable for any of us.

So the compromise is to use sugars that are unrefined. Yes, they're still sugar, but it's unrefined and in the case of the other sweeteners I use (honey and maple syrup) they do also have some other benefits ton them, so they're not totally empty calories.

Cinnamon

I keep a big jar of cinnamon in the kitchen and use it liberally. In this recipe there is a little in the whipped cream topping, to add some flavor and it goes really well with the vanilla muffins. You can of course leave this out if cinnamon isn't your thing!

Flour

You can use whatever Clean unprocessed flour you happen to have in your kitchen. Wholemeal will give you a slightly heavier muffin. I've used white spelt flour here because I happened to have some, but Einkorn or Buckwheat are also good and work well.

The only flour I wouldn't recommend is a grain flour. Using a grain flour would make these 'bitty' and far to heavy for muffins.

Whipped Cream Topping

You can pipe or plonk the whipped cream on these. I decided to go fancy and get a piping bag out and make these look a bit special, but you can also use a knife to swirl the cream onto these.

If you're making these ahead of time, I'd recommend not adding the cream until just before you want to serve them. Once you've put the cream on top, pop them into the fridge for 10 minutes to let the cream firm up a bit, which makes eating them easier :)

Storing

You can store the muffins without the cream topping for 3 days in an airtight container in the cupboard.The Greek yogurt keeps these really moist, but you can soften them back up again by giving them 20-30 seconds in the microwave before you eat them. This won't heat them up, just soften the sugar and makes the muffins super soft again.

You can also freeze these muffins, minus the cream, for up to a month. Once you've baked and cooled the muffins pop them in the freezer. To defrost these leave them out on a plate for a few hours to thaw, and then microwave them for 30 seconds to take the chill off them.

More Clean Eating Muffins

• Healthy cinnamon muffins
• Fresh cherry muffins
• Warming pear muffins
• Blackberry and apple crumble muffins
• Oat bran blueberry muffins
• Breakfast egg muffins

How To Make Vanilla Muffins

Ingredients

• Muffins
• ¼ Cup Butter Salted, Melted
• 1 Cup Flour Spelt, Buckwheat or Einkorn
• 1 tsp Baking powder
• ¾ Cup Coconut sugar
• 3 tbsp Greek yogurt Full fat
• 2 Eggs Whisked
• 1-2 tsp Vanilla bean paste Or extract
• Topping
• Heavy cream Enough for how many muffins you want it for
• 1 tsp Cinnamon For in the cream and to dust them with

Instructions

• Heat your oven to 190° and line a 6 hole muffin tin with muffin papers
• In a large mixing bowl beat the eggs and sugar with electric beaters until the mix is light and fluffy. Add the Greek yogurt and combine
• Add in the vanilla and melted butter, then mix with the beaters to combine
• Add the baking powder and flour and using a wooden spoon, gently mix until all flour is combined, try not to over mix the batter
• Divide between the paper cases and bake for 12-15 minutes until fully cooked and then remove from the oven and allow to fully cool
• While the muffins are cooling, using your beaters whip the heavy cream until it starts to thicken. Then add 1 teaspoon of cinnamon if liked! Continue to beat the cream until you get the thickness you like. I like to whip it so I can pipe it!
• Pipe the cream onto the muffins and dust with a little extra cinnamon
• Serve!

Vanilla Muffin Recipe