Baking vegan is not an easy task. When you have food allergies you have to make some sacrifices. Dairy and eggs are the hardest to bake without. I have yet to have a new allergen-free recipe turn out wonderful on the first try. (Unless you count bread in my bread maker that comes out perfect every single time.) I tried to substitute for the three eggs the recipe called for. Being as I like the flavor of chia over flax, I tried chia "eggs." I had whole chia seeds and no way to grind them down successfully. This led to "eggs" that were too gelatinous for the recipe in question and kept the muffins from baking the way they should have. So, I decided to do a retrial of the recipe to see if the ground chia made a difference. After that trial, I purchased a grinder on Amazon and patiently waited for the mail delivery.
My grinder arrived! I was finally able to try out the Paleo Muffin recipe with ground chia. Let me tell you...the grinder I purchased is heavenly. It took less than 5 seconds to grind 3 Tablespoons of chia seeds. This is the one I purchased. I highly recommend it for spices or coffee. It's powerful, sleek, and easy to clean. (Under $15 didn't hurt.)
The retrial was NOT a complete success, but I definitely saw improvement. The ground chia made a huge difference, but I still ended up baking them for about 45 min and some of the muffins still had a gooey center. I decided to try blueberries this time thinking that they would help with the wetness in the center. They did, slightly. The batter was much fluffier and not quite as thick as my first attempt. Despite the batter not being too wet, they still had problems baking. After they cooled, they set up a lot better and were definitely more edible than the first batch.
My deduction is that a flax or chia egg substitute only works if you have 1 or 2 eggs to replace. I am curious to see what happens if I try it with 2 chia eggs instead of 3 and add maybe a Tablespoon of coconut flour. Coconut flour is known to absorb liquid, even with a small amount of flour. This may help soak up the extra moisture. It's worth a try, right? I also think that using all coconut oil instead of part ghee may have been an issue I need to resolve as well. However, I still need it to be milk and dairy free. Ghee is not something I have tested with my allergies, so I would rather not use it. Finding a substitute for the ghee in the original recipe, though, might make a huge difference.
I am not usually a person that tries to create my own recipe off of another. However, I am determined to get these to work! There is a first time for everything and this first time may just take a handful of trial runs before it comes out perfect. Hopefully, all of you will enjoy the learning I am doing and maybe learn a little something new yourself. Trial #3 in the works.
***These will only last 3-4 days in a sealed container. Today, day 5, I found mold on the bottom of the last muffin. So either eat or freeze them.
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