Do you know the Muffin Pan?

As the old children's rhyme (did not) used to say:

Do you know the muffin pan?
The muffin pan?
The muffin pan.
Oh do you know the muffin pan
that makes such yummy treats?

So, despite the rising temperatures I was determined to try out some new muffin shaped recipes in my new muffin pan. Chocolate Covered Katie is one of my heroes. She makes healthy, decadent, low fat, lower sugar treats--many of which can be gluten free. When I saw this recipe for Hummingbird cupcakes I knew we needed to try them. http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2014/03/24/hummingbird-cupcakes/

Despite growing up in the Deep South, I had never heard of Hummingbird Cake before but apparently it is the most popular recipe ever to have come out of  Southern Living Magazine.

click to enlarge.

Why is it called Hummingbird cake? There are several theories.

1) it makes you hum with pleasure when you eat it

2) it is as sweet as the juice you put  in a hummingbird feeder.

3) as it contains pineapple and banana and the original recipe *may* have come from Jamaica  it is named after a type of hummingbird found there

The original recipe called for 1.5 cups of oil. Southern Living has made it slightly healthier (but not much) and Chocolate Covered Katie has made it *very* healthy.  

CCK frosts hers with cream cheese frosting but we feel that soy cream cheese is highly processed and rather expensive so I used this for my topping to make it truly decadent--a coconut brown sugar crumble: http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/coconut-muffins



I also used Tate and Lyle brown sugar with stevia in the actual cupcakes so I could use as half as much sweetener (although she only calls for 1/3 of a cup plus 1 TB sugar) as I knew I was also using sugar in my crumble topping. Mine had a total of 1/2 cup refined sugar overall. 

I also thriftily puréed the leftover tinned pineapple and juice and froze them in ice cube trays for future sorbet when the weather gets beastly hot. Pineapple sorbet--bonus! 

Later on for dinner I whipped us up some mini crustless quiches! My mum laughed on the phone when I said I was making quiche without egg or cheese. I used to make tofu quiche sometimes but it was a bit expensive and laborious and took ages to cook. This was a game changer. 

The secret ingredient? Chickpea flour. Naturally gluten free this stuff is inexpensive and high in protein and fibre. 8 grams protein per quiche and 7.2 grams fibre for the basic batter not counting vegetables!!  I used this recipe to make my quiches. http://powerhungry.com/2015/01/chickpea-flour-quiches-vegan-grain-free-gluten-free/

First I sautéed some thinly sliced onion and mushrooms as well as some roasted red pepper from a jar that I needed to use up. I put a little in each greased muffin cup along with some leftover coconut bacon I had. Bacon not pictured as I only remembered it after I took the photo and was too lazy to do another.

 Then I poured over the batter.

Then I baked it in a hot oven as per directed. I was pouring with sweat when they came out but it was oh-so-worth-it. 

I let them cool 15 minutes and then they popped right out of the pan. Thank you oil! 

We had them with a massaged kale salad which was lovely. Also, there were leftovers which we polished off for breakfast the next day and I can attest that they were just as good on the second day. Bonus! 

In the future I might add some cheesy flavoured vegan nutritional yeast and some herbs or finely chopped spinach. 

We would definitely use this muffin tin in the winter for more savoury dishes. I am picturing individual servings of things like nutroast or "meatloaf" frosted with mashed potatoes. 

Plus all the cupcakes I can get down my greedy gob.

Obviously.