'ROTS N RAISINS

This recipe has sat like a turd, unloved and overlooked, in my copy of Vegan With a Vengeance for about the past year and a half. The reason for this is that I don't really like raisins all that much, and c'mon, carrots in muffins? You're gonna put carrots in something that's not carrot cake? Dude. Let's just say, much like the banana wheat germ muffs of yore, these were totally not the prettiest girls at the party, and the carrot-raisin combo just seemed inherently gross and lame to me. WELL, just throw that preconceived carrot-raisin disdain right out the window, people! Because you need to DAIN them! These were so good. I finally got around to baking them the other day, when I woke up to a beautiful sunny morning and a near-barren, breakfastless pantry. Since the talented and awesome-seeming author of said cookbook hyperbolically praises these muffs for their ability to wake and revive even the crankiest, most sleep-lovin'-est people, and that would definitley be The BF and myself, I thought, let's do this. Good idea, self!

Carrot-Raisin Muffs
[from Vegan with a Vengeance [with my notes like this]]

Makes a dozen teeny weeny muffs

1/2 cup raisins

1 1/2 cups flour [I used my bestie, whole wheat pastry flour, with awesome results]

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground or freshly grated nutmeg

1/4 sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup rice or soy milk

1/4 cup canola oil

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 cups grated carrot [I used storebought, pre-grated 'rots - see below - but I bet sucking it up and grating two cups of carrots would make for a super-moist, nommable muffin. That said, I would probably never get my shit together to grate two cups of anything, so, meh I guess]



Preheat the ov to 400 degrees. Lightly grease a muffin pan with canola oil or Earth Balance.

Soak the raisins in hot water. Set aside. [This, for me, is what really made these bad boys more than just edible, which is generally how I feel about crap with raisins in it. The hot water gets all up in there and softens the raisins, so they're sweet and juicy and actually good-tasting. Don't skip this step, or your muffins will be total losers!]

While the raisins are soaking, sift together your dry ingredients [and by sift you mean, scramble them all together with a fork, right? Because that's what I did.]. Make a well in the center and pour in your soy-or-rice-milk, canola oil and vanilla extract. Mix it will a wooden spoon, real gentle-like, so it's just barely combined:



Then, fold in your carrots. [Now, when you do this, it's going to seem like, holy shit this is a lot of carrots is this seriously how much the recipe calls for but, just, sssh... sssh... don't worry your head about it. It's gonna work out great!]

Drain the raisins and fold them in too.

Bake for 18-22, until a toothpick blah blah blah comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.



By the way gang, I always thought the wire rack was some stupid kitchen-gadget nonsense, but I've recently acquired one and don't know how I've survived this long without it. First of all, they're cheap, like five bucks, and second of all, when you take something out of the oven, it's hot! That means, it's still baking. Even if you transfer your baked goods to say, a plate, the lack of ventilation traps in the heat, and the moisture that's given off from the heat, and can cause everything from toughness to mushiness to sogginess, depending on the sitch. Before I had one, I used to be a bum and try to balance everything on an all-the-way opened veggie steamer, but let's just say that was not so optimal. Anyway, if you're looking to expand your baking-supplies arsenal, I highly recommend picking up one of these bastards.



Oh, and the money shot. Toast, butter, and nom...