Stollen Muffins (Vegan)

Stollen muffins - these easy vegan Christmas muffins are full of festive flavours, with dried fruit, spices, marzipan and almonds.

They are soft, moist and fluffy, simple to make and perfect for snacking on during the festive season.

These vegan stollen muffins are a quick and easy way to get all the flavours of stollen - the traditional German Christmas bread, without the hassle of making dough and waiting for it to rise.

The muffins are soft, moist and fluffy, flavoured with spices, orange and almond, and packed with dried fruits, nuts and chunks of marzipan.

They freeze well so are great to have to hand to snack on around Christmas time!

Ingredient Details:

Yogurt: The yogurt helps to keep the muffins nice and moist, with a light, fluffy texture. I use a soy yogurt but any kind will work; ideally it should be unflavoured and unsweetened however (vanilla is fine though).

Milk: You can use any kind you like but it should ideally be unsweetened and soy milk is best as it has the highest protein content.

Sugar: I prefer to use light brown soft but caster or granulated sugar is fine too.

Oil: Any neutral flavoured oil will work, I use olive or sunflower.

Plain flour: Plain (all-purpose) flour is best. I haven't tested these gluten-free.

Baking powder and soda: Using both baking powder and bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) will give you the best rise and texture. Don't swap one for the other, you will not get the same result.

Vinegar: This reacts with the bicarbonate of soda to help the muffins rise and give them a light texture. I use either apple cider vinegar or white wine vinegar. You can also use lemon juice instead.

Vanilla and almond extracts: Extract is better than essence and you can also use vanilla bean paste.

Spices: It wouldn't be a festive muffin without some warming spices. I use mixed spice, cinnamon and cardamom. You can swap these for other spices as you like. If you can't get hold of mixed spice then any sweet spice blend such as pumpkin spice is fine.

Ground almonds: I believe that in the US this would be called almond flour rather than ground almonds. They add flavour, moisture and a nice texture to the muffis.

Marzipan: Most shop bought marzipan is vegan friendly but do check the packet just in case.

Orange zest: This is optional but adds lots of flavour so do use it if you can. You could also use 1 teaspoon of orange extract instead.

Dried fruit and nuts: I used a shop bought mix of raisins, sultanas, currants and candied peel but feel free to vary this to suit you, dried cranberries would work very well. For the nuts I used flaked almonds but chopped ones would also be fine, as would any other kind of nut.

How To Make Stollen Muffins:

(Full measurements and instructions can be found in the recipe card at the bottom of the page)

Step 1: Whisk together the flour, ground almonds, sugar, baking powder and soda, spices and a pinch of salt in a large bowl.

Step 2: Add the milk, yogurt, oil, vinegar, vanilla and almond extracts and orange zest, Stir with a balloon whisk until just combined.

Step 3: Add the cubed marzipan, dried fruit and flaked almonds and gently fold through.

Step 4: Divide the batter between 9-10 muffin cases, filling them right to the top.

Step 5: Bake at an initial high heat for five minutes then turn the oven down and bake for a further 18 minutes until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Top Tips:

USE SCALES. As with all of my baking recipes I really do recommend using the metric measurements with a digital scales rather than the cup conversions. Cups are a wildly inaccurate measuring system and you will get far better, more consistent results using a scale, not to mention that it is also easier and less messy than cups!

Don't over-beat the batter as that can make the muffins tough. Just stir the mixture with a balloon whisk until no dry streaks remain, a few little lumps is fine.

For nice tall, bakery-style muffins, fill the cases all the way to the top. This recipe makes nine rather than twelve muffins as we are making them a little bit bigger. You can make ten to twelve slightly smaller ones if you prefer though, bear in mind that smaller muffins will probably bake a little quicker.

An initial blast in the oven at a high heat helps to create a nice domed top; we then turn to oven down to ensure that they cook properly in the middle.

To make sure that the cases don't stick, use good quality ones and allow the muffins to cool completely before eating them, they are more likely to stick when they are warm. You can also spray the muffin cases with baking spray or oil, or bake the muffins straight in a well greased non-stick muffin pan.

FAQ's:

More Vegan Muffin And Mini Cake Recipes:

• Vegan chocolate chip muffins
• Vegan double chocolate muffins
• Vegan stollen bars
• Vegan pumpkin muffins
• Vegan blueberry muffins
• Vegan lamingtons
• Vegan jaffa cakes
• Chocolate cupcakes for two
• Vegan red velvet cupcakes
• Vegan madeleines

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