Surprise Muffins! (vegan)

These are the surprise muffins from four years ago - only now vegan! Super yummy, everyone in the house ate them.


Ingredients:
6 Tbsp. Earth Balance or Nucoa
¾ cup (vegan) sugar
2 flax eggs - 1 Tbsp ground flax mixed with 3 Tbsp water each, mixed and set aside
½ cup almond milk
2.5 cups strawberries or blueberries, fresh or frozen (defrosted)
Food coloring, optional
2 cups all-purpose flour
¼ tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. baking powder
strawberry or blueberry jam or vegan kisses/hugs/chocolate


Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Mix in the flax eggs, one at a time, and add the milk.
2. Rinse the berries and cut off the green stem. Mash the berries with a potato masher or puree in a blender. Then stir the berries into the butter and milk mixture. TIP: For muffins with a more pink color, add a few drops of red liquid food coloring.
3. In a separate bowl, sift the flour, salt and baking powder. Stir well. Add the flour mixture to the berry mixture. Use a wooden spoon to stir until all the white disappears.
4. Line the muffin tin with paper liners. Drop the batter from a tablespoon to fill the cups halfway.
5. Add a surprise: an small amount of chocolate or ½ teaspoon of jam. Then spoon more batter to fill almost to the top.
6. Bake until the muffins begin to brown and a toothpick inserted near the center (but not in the Kiss) comes out clean, about 20-25 minutes.
7. Remove the muffins from the tin and cool. 

Other Details:

• Makes 12 muffins. 
• These were originally supposed to be Valentine's Surprise Muffins. You can make these more Halloween-friendly by using a different berry (perhaps blueberries) and/or using food coloring to your preference.