Vegan Raspberry Lemon Muffins

These vegan raspberry lemon muffins are soft, tender, and fluffy. Their moisture comes predominantly from applesauce and their sweetness from coconut sugar and pure maple syrup. 

Sloane loves muffins.

Something about peeling back the parchment liner and tearing off little bits of fluffy muffin satisfies her independence and entices her tastebuds.

Constantly reminding me, "I do it myself, momma" in moments when I've clearly forgotten the particulars of her muffin enjoying experience and attempted to assist beyond the handoff.

As I sit here typing this now, she's over my shoulder saying, "All these pictures making me hungry for a muffin..." Both a casual declaration and her cute way of nudging me to take her downstairs so that we can grab one of these raspberry lemon beauties off the counter.

"We'll get one very soon," I assure her.

And we will. 💗

How to Make Vegan Raspberry Lemon Muffins

If you've made my cranberry orange muffins or blueberry muffins, you'll notice this recipe follows a similar theme to those two.

You'll start by preparing a flax egg.

Whisk together a tablespoon of ground flaxseed with two tablespoons filtered water and let it stand for five minutes, or until thickened. This takes the place of an egg and helps bind together the muffins.

To the flax egg, you'll add:

Unsweetened applesauce
Coconut sugar
Coconut oil or expeller-pressed grapeseed oil
Maple syrup
Lemon zest
Lemon juice
Vanilla

Give it all a good whisk and set aside.

In a larger bowl, you'll whisk together the dry ingredients, including spelt flour, almond flour, baking soda, baking powder, and sea salt.

Give that a good whisk, too.

Then, add the wet to the dry and stir until no flour patches remain.

Add a heap of fresh raspberries (thawed frozen will work in a pinch, too), and gently fold them into the batter.

The finished batter is quite thick and fluffy, and so I find it's easiest to use an ice cream scooper to scoop the batter into the muffin pan.

I also like to top the muffins with a couple more raspberries before baking, but this is totally optional. Slivered almonds would be pretty, too.

Pop the pan in the oven and bake for 22ish minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into one of the muffins comes out clean.

Let the muffins cools in the pan for a handful of minutes and then carefully transfer them to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

Now, you have a choice. You can either enjoy the muffins as is in all their bare, raspberry dotted glory.

Or you can up the ante with a drizzle of lemon icing.

The lemon icing is super, super simple to make and adds that extra something special, so that would be my vote.

But if you're looking for a less sugary treat, go on and skip it.

This is one instance where Sloane actually prefers the muffin to the icing, so you have her vote of muffin-loving confidence to encourage you forward should you choose the latter.

How to Make Lemon Icing

If you opt to make the lemon icing, you'll simply whisk together a cup or two of powdered sugar with a tablespoon or two of fresh lemon juice.

If you have Meyer lemons on hand, they make a particularly tasty icing.

Once you have a thick but drizzle-able glaze and the muffins are cool, generously drizzle the top of each.

Give the glaze a good 10 to 15 minutes to set, more or less depending on how much liquid you used.

Finally, enjoy.

I hope you enjoy these vegan raspberry lemon muffins as much as Sloane and I do.

They're:

Sweet.
Citrusy.
Nutty.
Moist.
Wholesome.
Sweet.
Jammy.
Delightful.

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5 from 2 votes

Vegan Raspberry Lemon Muffins

These vegan raspberry lemon muffins are soft, tender, and fluffy. Their moisture comes predominantly from applesauce and their sweetness from coconut sugar and pure maple syrup. 

Servings 12 muffins

Author Ashley Melillo | Blissful Basil

Ingredients

Raspberry Lemon Muffins

• 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed
• 2 tablespoons filtered water
• ¾ cup unsweetened apple sauce
• ⅓ cup coconut sugar
• ¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon melted virgin coconut oil (substitute grapeseed oil for a non-coconutty taste)
• ¼ cup pure maple syrup
• Zest of one large lemon
• 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 ½ cups spelt flour
• ½ cup fine almond flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder
• ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1 cup fresh raspberries or thawed frozen raspberries, plus a handful more for topping

Lemon Icing (Optional)

• Vegan powered sugar
• Fresh lemon juice

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a muffin pan with parchment paper liners.
• In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the ground flaxseed and water. Let stand for 5 minutes to thicken. Then, whisk in the apple sauce, coconut sugar, coconut oil, maple syrup, lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla. Set aside.
• In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the spelt flour, almond flour, baking soda, baking powder, sea salt.
• Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and use a large wooden spoon to stir until just combined (read: no flour patches remain). Be careful not to overmix—spelt has a delicate gluten structure, so overmixing will result in dry, crumbly muffins. Then, gently fold in the raspberries. The batter should be quite thick and fluffy.
• Divide the batter equally among the 12 muffin liners. (Since the batter is quite thick and fluffy, an ice cream scoop is great for this job, but you can also go the double-spoon route.)
• Garnish the top of each with a couple more raspberries. Press down lightly to ensure they stick to the batter.
• Bake for 20 to 24 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.
• Cool for 5 to 10 minutes in the pan, then carefully transfer to a wire cooling rack and cool completely.

For the Optional Lemon Icing

• Add a cup or two of powered sugar to a medium mixing bowl. Add a couple teaspoons of fresh lemon juice at a time and whisk, adding more lemon juice and whisking until the desired, drizzle-able consistency is reached. In a pinch, you can use filtered water instead of fresh lemon juice for a plain glaze.
• Drizzle the icing over the cooled muffins and let stand until the icing sets.

Storage

• Store the muffins in the refrigerator for up to 1 week or freeze for up to 1 month.