Magically Green Vegan Sunflower Butter Muffins
These color-changing, light, moist, flavorful vegan sunflower butter muffins are the perfect way to get in the Halloween spirit, while embracing science! They have a sweet and nutty flavor, sort of like peanut butter, but it’s all from the sunflower seeds instead. The warm smell of them baking is more or less guaranteed* to get your housemates popping into the kitchen to see what amazingness you have cooking. And just wait a day and watch them go a perfectly Halloweeny green inside!
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*Legally, we are not in fact guaranteeing anything. But they do smell good.
The Magic of Going Green
These golden-brown, fragrant, warm muffins are the picture of baked-good wholesomeness, with their delicate, light crumb, sunflower butter flavor, and nutty pistachio crust. Crack them open, nothing special going on here. Just some tasty, delectable, sunflower seed muffins. Go to bed, wake up, grab one for a quick breakfast, and …WHAT??? They’re green inside! Not greenish, but straight up dark green. How the heck does that even happen? It’s the magic of vegan sunflower butter muffins. I’m sure I’m not the only one that finds the color-change delightful. I mean, they turn green! How cool is that? And so versatile- you could call them Monster Muffins for Halloween, Grinch Muffins for Christmas, or make them the night before St. Patty’s day to really have that “top of the mornin'” experience. Okay, so while you’ll get that green effect overnight, I didn’t exactly get mine overnight. I baked at least six different batches of them before I figured out the trick. My first batch didn’t turn green, so I made two other batches, switching from baking soda to just baking powder. But no green. The next day, one of my batches had turned green- no one warned me I would need to wait that long! I didn’t know which one it was! Once I did get the recipe down, I had to try it a few times to make sure it wasn’t a fluke. Which is I guess the reason that it isn’t really the magic of going green, it’s the science- because science is replicable.
The Science of Going Green
The real reason this green effect takes place might seem magical, but the answer is actually firmly grounded in science. My chemistry is a little rusty at this point (not having taken any since I was in high school), so bear with me on this less than thorough explanation. It all starts with chlorogenic acid, which is present in many different beans, vegetables, fruits, nuts, and more, but are in particularly high concentrations in sunflower seeds. That chlorogenic acid is stable in the acidic conditions (like sunflower seed butter, which has a PH lower than 7), but when exposed to a alkaline environment (like baking soda) everything changes. Over time, the chlorogenic acid will start to oxidize, spurred on by the heat from the oven. Your muffins slowly start to green as they cool, and will continue to turn greener for about 36 hours after they bake. Storing them in an airtight container will help to increase the moisture content, which can do more to increase the green oxidation. If you want to learn more about the science, you can check it out here. That paper was written to try and overcome the challenges of industry not being able to sell greening food, but honestly, I think of it more as a feature. I mean, I went through 6 batches of these muffins to reliably get that greening effect! If you for some strange reason don’t want green muffins, you can replace the teaspoon of baking soda with baking powder. The muffins will be a little flatter, but have never greened when I did it that way.
Looking for Muffins? Try one of these vegan muffin recipes!
- Chocolate Beet Muffins (Vegan, Gluten-Free, Oil-Free)
- Vegan Rye Flour Muffins with Raisins
- Savory Herbed Vegan Pumpkin Muffins
- Vegan Blueberry and Pawpaw Muffins
- Black, Bleeding Vegan Halloween Cupcakes
Making Vegan Sunflower Butter Muffins
This is actually a really simple recipe- I made it all in one bowl, with just ten ingredients, not only vegan but also oil-free (it can easily be nut-free too, if you omit the pistachios). Before you get going, make sure you’re oven is preheating and your muffin tins prepped. In order to get the best rise out of our baking soda, you’ll want to act quickly once the wet and dry ingredients mix. First mix all the wet ingredients together, including the all-important sunflower seed butter. Then add the dry, stir to combine, and get them right into your muffin tins. Top them off with a little handful of pistachios, and stick them right in the oven. After they’ve baked all the way through, let them cool. You can eat them right away, but if you want that beautiful, weird green you’ll have to wait until the next day. In my opinion, that’s the perfect time to enjoy them!
Magically Green Vegan Sunflower Butter Muffins
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsweetened sunflower seed butter
- ½ cup sugar
- 1/3 cup unsweetened soymilk (or other plant-based milk)
- ¼ cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- Pinch of salt
- 3 tbsp. shelled pistachios (omit for nut-free)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 357°F (190°C). Grease six tin muffin cups (or you can use muffin liners, if you prefer) and set aside.
- Combine the sunflower seed butter, sugar, soymilk, applesauce and vanilla extract in a large bowl, and stir until well combined. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, and mix again, until there are no lumps and all the flour is incorporated. Separate the batter into the pre-greased muffin tin, dividing evenly between the six wells. Lastly sprinkle about ½ tbsp. of pistachios over the top of each muffin, making sure they’re spread out enough that they stick to the batter.
- Place in the preheated oven for 25 minutes, or until browned and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool, and remove from the tin.
- To get the beautiful green color, wait 12-24 hours and look inside. The center of your sunflower seed butter muffins should have turned a bright, blueish green!
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