YAY for Muffins

Alrighty. So last night might not have been my brightest moment. I was working in mens and a group of about 7 guys and one girl came up to me. They asked me if we have bright orange shirts and of course we don't. We talked for a while and they were all really nice guys. They asked me if I could drive them to Walmart to get orange shirts and I told them sure (they said they would pile into my car like Mexicans). Yeah, I know. They are strangers and such but do I give a damn? No. haha. When my managers saw all of those kids, I told them I was giving them a ride to Walmart and they went nuts. "No, Joanna!! I will not allow that!!! You are too valuable and you don't know what they could do to you!" They all went on and on about it, so when it was time to go out to my car, they made someone walk me to my car. And of course, the boys were outside waiting. Just great. So obviously, nobody would let me drive them to Walmart, but I didn't think it was that big a deal. Maybe I'm just used to picking up random guys and taking them places. haha

Anyway, here's the recipe for today. It's muffins again!! I love MUFFINS!!! Woohooooooo. It's Cinnamon Cornmeal Muffins from Dreena Burton's Cookbook. I actually forgot half the flour and the baking soda and used almond extract instead, but they were still AMAZING. I've posted the original recipe just in case you want to make them Dreena's way because there's probably more ingredients that I forgot, too. haha I didn't even throw the cinnamon in until the whole mixture was mixed. Let's just say botching a recipe can lead to a beautiful creation. The tops of these muffins were really mushy... I LOVED that. I've never had a mushy muffin top, but I hope to have many more of them : )

Here's the recipe:
Cinnamon Cornmeal Muffins

1/2 cup vanilla soy milk
1/2 fine cornmeal
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup kamut flour or more whole wheat flour (i forgot this)
2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
couple pinches sea salt
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp pure vanilla extract (or almond extract-so good)
1 1/2 tbsp canola oil

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a medium bowl, combine soy milk and cornmeal to soak while you prepare the other ingredients. In a large bowl, combine all other dry ingredients. Mix well. To the soymilk/cornmeal mixture, add maple syrup, applesauce, and vanilla or almond extract. Mix together well, then add to dry mixture. Stir through then add canola oil just as mixture starts to come together. Spoon into a lined or lightly oiled muffin pan and bake for 16-19 minutes, until golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Makes 8-9 muffins.

Note: If using whole wheat flour instead of the kamut flour, the muffins will bake faster so check the muffins at 16 minutes to avoid dry muffins.