Orange Poppy Seed Muffins

I adore muffins, but my relationship with muffins only goes so far because, I despise heavy and stodgy muffins. The trick in making a good muffin that is light in consistency and texture and heavy in flavor is to use a light hand in mixing the batter and making sure to allow the batter to just fall off your spoon and into the muffin tin (or paper). The flavors are totally dependent on using fresh ingredients and allowing your mix to have a good amount of acid present to compensate and balance the starch and sugar in the muffin.

These vegan muffins are amazingly light, and I owe that to the use of aquafaba, an ingredient I am using increasingly in my vegan baking projects. I use my own aquafaba made from chickpea water, but you can also use the liquid from canned chickpeas. Just make sure there isn’t much salt (or other ingredients) in the chickpeas you buy and then reduce the liquid by 1/3 before whipping it.

Yield: makes 12 large muffins