Baking Misadventures

I woke up on Monday with only one goal for the day: to bake something. I don't know why, but every so often I wake up with a persistent urge to bake. It felt like a muffin kind of day, so I chose the Quinoa-Almond Muffin recipe from Veganomicon. Everything seemed to go well and the muffins looked great when I took them out of the oven. I let them cool off and came back an hour later to eat one. That's when I realized something was wrong. When I broke one open they were all gummy inside. Not raw and undercooked, but gummy. I used the toothpick test when they came out of the oven and they definitely seemed done, so I don't think the problem was that they were undercooked. I don't know what happened but I was quite disappointed! To top it off, I burned my hand taking the muffins out of the oven. Failed Baking Attempt #1.

Later that night I decided to try again. I wanted baked goods damn it! I chose brownies this time. The recipe called for mashed banana, so I mushed up some banana in a bowl and set it on the counter. I walked away for 10 minutes. All of a sudden Andrew (who was in the kitchen at the time) insisted I choose another recipe. He also told me to stay where I was on the couch. He was acting weird and making no sense! Then I realized what was up...we had a visitor in the kitchen. It was a big cockroach! And it crawled right into my bowl of bananas! (When it gets really hot here in Charlotte we get an occasional cockroach trying to cool off) Andrew knows that I HATE bugs, especially big ones, which is why he kept telling me to stay away from the kitchen. Once the bug situation was handled and the bananas were discarded I was in NO mood to bake anymore. I was too grossed/creeped out about the whole thing. *shudders* Failed Baking Attempt #2.

After 2 failed attempts I was pretty pissed off, so I tried again yesterday. It was the last attempt, if it didn't work I think I would have given up at that point. I went back to my original plan and chose muffins again. I started off with the Apple-Crumb Cake Muffin recipe from Vegan With a Vengeance, but ended up changing several things. They evolved into Apple Walnut Muffins and were a big success! It took 3 attempts, but I finally got my baked goods :)

Apple-Walnut Muffins

3/4 cup spelt flour
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup apple juice
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup canola oil
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup chopped, peeled apple (about 1/4-inch pieces)
1/3 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line 12 muffin cups with paper or silicone liners.
Sift dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl and make a well in the center.
Mix the orange juice, maple syrup, oil, and vanilla together in a smaller bowl. Add to the dry ingredients and stir to combine. (Stir just until combined, be careful not to over mix)
Fold in the apples and walnuts.
Divide batter evenly among muffin cups. Bake for approximately 18-20 minutes.