This is what happens when you bake blueberry muffins after midnight. . .

I’m an early bird! I always have been. At college parties, I was yawning by 12 a.m. Now, I’m typically asleep by 10 p.m., but when your raging sweet tooth switches on, you find yourself making vegan blueberry muffins that morph into vegetarian blueberry muffins in a matter of seconds! Well, maybe you don’t. Here’s how I did.

So I was awake around 11:30 p.m. watching the Georgia-Kentucky game not because we live in Georgia, but because I had fallen asleep earlier on one of two shows I watch currently – Fixer Upper. (Finding Your Roots is the other). New episodes of Fixer Upper air Tuesday nights, but someone how I manage to watch it and fall asleep before the big reveal! Anyway, when the action-packed game went into over time, I decided I could get the muffins in the oven within five minutes. A raging sweet tooth can make you delusional that way!

I took a trusted recipe from the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book 12th Edition that I bought approximately 12 years ago and substituted ingredients in an effort to make vegan blueberry muffins. Instead of cow’s milk, I used coconut milk. Instead of using eggs, I used what I consider liquid gold – aquafaba (garbanzo bean water). And yes, we’re Georgians who are also Falcon fans. My husband left the Falcons cupholder on the counter and in a 12 a.m. stupor, I photographed the cupholder instead of moving it.

I substituted coconut sugar for regular granulated sugar. Other ingredients you’ll need to make the muffins are baking powder, flour, salt and oil.

In a bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Make a well in the center for the wet mixture.

In another bowl, combine the coconut milk, oil and aquafaba. Then pour the mixture into the well you made in the dry ingredients.

After combining the dry and wet mixtures, add the blueberries. Note: Don’t try this at home – one of the things that happened, because I was baking blueberry muffins after midnight is that I forgot to add the blueberries despite the fact that I had been popping them into my mouth throughout this process. I had 10 of these filled BEFORE realizing I had forgotten to add the blueberries, so I decided to push 3 blueberries into each one!

It was well after 12 a.m. when I faced a dillema – do I make the streusel topping or not? So the conversation that took place in my head went something like this:

“Make the streusel topping.”

“I don’t feel like it!”

“You know the topping will take these muffins to the stratosphere. Make it!”

“OK.”

So I made the topping, which included combining flour, coconut sugar, cinnamon and butter. Yep, you read right – butter. Another thing that happened because, I was baking blueberry muffins after midnight is that instead of getting the sleep required to have a fully-functioning mind, I didn’t even notice that I had used regular butter until I was eating the YUMMY muffins!

I ate 2 of these in bed as I watched an episode of Fixer Upper that I had seen in its entirety earlier that night – NOT the one I fell asleep on earlier. These yummies made me feel better about missing the reairing of the episode I fell asleep on.

The only lesson I learned from this twilight-zone experience was that I need to purchase some vegan butter or make my own. Nevertheless, if my raging sweet tooth calls again at 12 a.m. for me to get out of bed and bake, I will answer the call and do it again!

Vegan Blueberry Muffins

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup coconut sugar
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt (I used pink Himalayan salt).
3 tablespoons aquafaba (garbanzo bean liquid)
1 cup coconut milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil

Streusel topping (optional)
Combine 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour, 3 tablespoons coconut sugar and 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon. Cut in 2 tablespoons vegan butter until mixtures looks like coarse crumbs. Add 2 tablespoons chopped nuts.

Instructions

1. Grease 12 muffin cups or line with paper bake cups.
2. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Make a well in the center of the mixture for your wet mixture.
3. Combine aquafaba, coconut milk and oil. Add to center of flour mixture. Mix until just moistened and add blueberries.
4. Spoon batter into muffin cups, filling each halfway.
5. Sprinkle streusel topping on the batter in muffin cups.
6. Bake at 400 degrees for 18-20 minutes.

Enjoy!

P.S. You might be wondering why a vegan has regular butter in her fridge? I’m the only vegan in our family. My mom and brother have been vegetarians for years. Miranda, our 7-year-old Baby Love, was born a cross between a vegetarian and a vegan. She’s always hated eggs. She prefers veggie burgers over hamburgers and covers her eyes when we walk past the meat section in grocery stores. My husband, Nick, and 8-year-old son, Elijah, still eat meat with the exception of beef and pork. They are transitioning SLOWLY but surely to veganism – at least that’s what I tell myself!

As for me and my butter-eating episode, I accidentally fell off the wagon, but I jumped back on!

And please, pardon any typos. I was CRAZY sleepy when I got up this morning!

Thanks, SO much for reading!