Recipe for Basic Vegan Muffins

I'm letting you guys in on a heck of a secret recipe, here! Once upon a time, I used to sell these muffins to adoring fans at the local farmers market. Yup!

The basic vegan muffin recipe goes something like this... feel free to embellish/improvise where instructed!

Dry ingredients
- 1 3/4 cup flour (Reduce to 1 1/2 cup if using barley or another 'heavier' gluten-free flour)
- 1/4 cup oat bran (This isn't for health. The bran really helps make the muffins more "together." Oat has a milder flavor than wheat bran.)
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- Spices as you see fit

Wet ingredients:
- 1 cup soy yogurt, pumpkin filling, mashed bananas, applesauce, or food of similar consistency
- 1/4 cup soy, almond, or rice milk (plus a little more if things aren't "wet" enough at the end)
- 2 tbps oil (I prefer walnut oil for flavor)
- Dash of vanilla extract

Instructions:
- Before you do anything, preheat the oven to 350 F
- Now, sift the dry ingredients
- Get them into a good sized bowl, and make a well in the center of the dry stuff
- Pour the yogurt/pumpkin/mash/whatever into the well
- Then add the oil and vanilla
- Lastly the milk
- Start slowly swirling the wet ingredients around, mixing them first, and then beginning to incorporate some of the dry mixture. Do this methodically until everything is mixed together.
- Test your batter -- it should only "just" run off of a spoon -- it shouldn't stick to the spoon too long, and it shouldn't run like water, either. Add more milk as needed.
- Now, stir in whatever crazy things you want for your flavored muffins: walnuts? cranberries? coconut? blueberries? About a 1/2 cup of "stuff" should do it.
- Pour into lined muffin tins, such that the batter just fills the cup, with a bit of a rounded top. You should have approximately ten muffins worth.
- Bake in preheated oven for ten minutes, and then start monitoring your muffins like a hawk. When the tops are plump, and they have begun to "crack" in the center, pull them out! They will still seem a bit soft, but they'll be hot and will continue to bake to perfection on your countertop.

Now, take a bite, and e-mail me to tell me how amazing it was! ;-)