Applesauce Muffins

Last weekend was brutally cold here, so I settled in the kitchen Saturday afternoon and made these muffins. Part of the goodness is due to the homemade applesauce I made a couple months back - it really is fantastic, if I do say so myself. This recipe is an adaptation of the applesauce-oat bran muffin recipe in Isa Chandra Moskowitz' and Terry Hope Romero's fabulous Veganomicon.

3/4 cup soy milk
1/2 tsp. apple cider vinegar
1 cup applesauce, preferably Mike's Homemade Applesauce, available in my kitchen
3 tbsp. canola oil
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 cup wheat germ
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 350 F, and grease a 12 muffin tin with vegan margarine or canola spray.

Mix soy milk and apple cider vinegar, and let sit for a minute to curdle - the result is pretty neat, and buttermilky. Add applesauce, canola oil, and sugar, and stir up.

Mix dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Fold the whole mess up, and mix until just combined - don't overdo it, because the texture will suffer.

Distribute batter evenly among the muffin cups. Bake for about a half hour - they're done when you can insert a fork and pull it out clean, without anything sticking. Just keep an eye on them in the last 10 minutes or so - you want them nicely browned, not burned...but I probably don't need to tell you that.