Vanilla Earl Grey Mini Muffins

I found these muffins while perusing one of my favorite blogs, Half Baked Harvest, and knew I immediately had to vegan-ize them and make them more to my liking (since I don’t like bananas). I also wanted them to be filling, low fat, and relatively healthy since I knew I’d be eating these babies like popcorn. And I have succeeded! 

But then when I sat down to write this recipe and upload photos for it, I realized I never backed up photos from my old phone (I got a new one last weekend), so I only have one photo of these guys that I had shared on Instagram a few weeks ago when I first made them. OOPS. I’m a mess lately. Oh well, they’re amazing and a photo speaks a thousand words, right? So please, accept this one photo. -_-

The Recipe
You Will Need:

• 1 vanilla bean
• 1 cup unsweetened milk of your choice (I used almond.)
• 3 Earl Grey tea bags
• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 1/2 cups old fashioned oats
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup honey (I eat honey, but if you don’t, use your favorite liquid sweetener – you really need the moisture in these. I didn’t want these too sweet, so this adds just a touch of sweetness. If you want them to be sweeter, add a little more.)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 flax egg

To Make:

• Preheat the oven to 350. Line or spray a mini muffin tin.
• Split your vanilla bean down the center and scrape the seeds out with the back of your knife. (Here’s a step by step how to if this is new for you.) Add the seeds, vanilla bean, and milk to a small sauce pan. Heat to just before boiling (but don’t let it boil!), and then lower the heat to as low as it can go. Add your tea bags and let simmer for 10 minutes.
• In the meantime, assemble your flax egg and let it thicken in the fridge.
• Mix together all the dry ingredients. Once ten minutes have passed, squeeze the excess milk from the tea bags and discard. Remove the vanilla bean. (You can rinse this, let it dry thoroughly, and add to a container with sugar to have delicious vanilla-infused sugar! It’ll keep in your cabinet for a long time and it’s amazing with tea.)
• Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined. It may seem runnier than regular muffin batter, but that’s okay! If it’s thick (the brand of flour and oats affects this), add a splash of milk.
• Pour into muffin tins, filling about three-quarters of the way.
• Bake for 11 – 14 minutes, until the top is firm but bounces back when pressed. Mine were perfect at 13 minutes.
• Let cool for 2 minutes in the tin, then gently remove and let cool completely on a baking dish.
• This makes 24 mini muffins, but I didn’t have leftovers (oops). If you have enough that you won’t eat before they go bad, throw them in the freezer. They freeze beautifully!

These taste exactly like a London Fog latte, which is my favorite hot drink. I also tried making these with three chai tea bags, and I added a dash of cinnamon and nutmeg. Yum yum yum! Baking with tea is my new favorite thing.