Guest Post - Emma From A Splash Of Vanilla...

Hi all!

I'm Emma, an Australian food blogger who writes a blog called A Splash of Vanilla.  I'm mostly health conscious but have a sweet tooth so my blog has quite a few recipes for cakes and sweet things (particularly for someone who claims to be health conscious!).  I'm always thinking up healthier recipes for sweets so when Jen told me she was interested in an animal friendly recipe for a guest post, I thought of these lovely little lime and blackberry cakes I posted a while back. I know American readers have beautiful berries and limes in their part of the world and thought they'd be appreciated, particularly since these muffins are kind to animals as well.  They're great warm from the oven with a cuppa!

Oh and because I’m not vegan nor do I have anywhere near a complete understanding of the vegan lifestyle (and the sugar issue is an important one), here are some links which might explain things a bit better than I can:

Grassroots veganism
Vegan nutritionista  
Panela organic cane sugar

Thanks so much Jen! :)

Recipe for blackberry lime muffins:
3/4 cup non-dairy milk (I used oat milk)
1 tblspn white wine vinegar
1 cup white self-rising flour
1 cup wholemeal self-rising flour
1/4 tspn baking powder
1/4 cup raw caster sugar (for vegans – organic cane sugar)
Pinch salt
1/2 cup grapeseed or macadamia oil
1/2 cup organic light agave syrup
3 small limes, finely zested
1 tspn pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups blackberries, fresh or frozen

Preheat oven to 350F.  Line a 12 cup muffin tin with 9 medium sized cupcake/muffin liners (I used the tall muffin liners, if you use smaller/shorter ones, you might need 10).  In a medium to large jug, add the milk then vinegar and allow to sit for 5 minutes.
Sift flours, baking powder, sugar and salt into a large mixing bowl.
Add the oil, agave, lime zest and vanilla extract to the milk/vinegar mixture and whisk until combined.  Add liquid ingredients and blackberries to flour and fold gently until just combined.  Spoon into cases and bake for 25-30 minutes or until tops are light golden brown and spring back when pressed.  Make sure to turn the muffin tin around after about 18 minutes so they brown evenly.
Allow to sit in tin for 5 minutes then move to cooling rack.

Makes: 9-10

Note:  These freeze well; wrap individually and tightly in plastic wrap then defrost at room temperature and microwave at medium/high temperature for 20 seconds or so.

Emma's blog is just so darn lovely that I oooh and ahhh every single time I read it.  Please stop by and take a gander, eh?  And I'm so happy that she agreed to share her delicious recipe with us.  Yummmmmy!  -  Jennifer