I always say that it was my baking that wooed Eric hook, line, and sinker.
You might be surprised but, it wasn’t my sarcastic teasing, astounding ability to trip over invisible objects, or occasional snorting when I laugh that wooed him.
Nope.
It was the baking.
[Although, might I add the above mentioned ‘qualities’ grew on him like a bad weed. He now lives to see me trip and snort when I laugh. He is cruel like that.]
Back in high school and university, I used to bake Eric a huge batch of muffins almost every week and he would snack on them around the clock, fueling himself through classes and late night binges of World of Warcraft.
I know. *swoon.
The only difference between now and then is that back then I used muffin mixes from a bag and now I make them from scratch, but in all seriousness, those muffin mixes do make a mean muffin!
However, I learned that making muffins from scratch is much, much cheaper. And quite easy too. :)
The week before Eric proposed to me, I made him a particularly delicious batch of muffins. They had strawberries and banana and a pinch of magic.
From then on, they were called the love muffins.
Upon first bite, they cast a love spell over the person eating them. Use at your own risk….
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15 min
25 min
40 min
9 large or 12 small muffins
Ingredients
- 1 cup whole grain spelt flour
- 3/4 cup unbleached white flour
- 1/4 tsp. Himalayan sea salt
- 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
- 1/2 cup Sucanat (or brown sugar)
- 1/2 cup toasted pecans
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 tsp. aluminum-free baking powder
- 1.5 tbsp. ground chia seed (or flax) + 1/4 cup water
- 1.25 cup almond milk
- 2 heaping tbsp. coconut butter
- 3 tbsp. nut butter
- 2 tbsp. pure maple syrup
- 1 large banana mashed, left a bit chunky
- 3/4 cup strawberries, chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375F.
- Grease a muffin tin and set aside.
- In a small bowl mix the ground chia and water and set aside.
- In a large bowl mix all dry ingredients (flours, salt, cinnamon, Sucanat, pecans, baking soda + powder). Set aside.
- In a medium sized bowl, mix all wet ingredients (chia + water mixture, milk, warmed coconut butter, nut butter, mashed banana, maple syrup). Mix well.
- Add wet to dry and stir.
- Fold in chopped strawberries, reserving 1/4 of them to sprinkle on top of muffins.
- Scoop mixture into muffin tin and sprinkle on remaining strawberries.
- I made 9 large muffins and I baked them for 25 minutes at 375F. Alternatively you can make 12 smaller muffins too. Baking time might need to be adjusted.
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These taste down right dreamy.
Now be warned, the love spell only lasts until the last muffin is consumed! Then, the spell will be broken and your magic carriage will turn into a pumpkin.
But you know what they say, when life gives you pumpkin make scuffins.
Have you ever wooed someone with your cooking or baking? Do you have any signature dishes that make ‘em weak in the knees?
These muffins look so tasty! I have to make them gluten free.
Your blog is my new absolute favorite. I love your writing and the way you talk about your husband. Everything about you and your blog is so charming.
I’ve been meaning to ask – Any update on a possibly gluten free glo bar in the near future? I’m a super sensitive Celiac so I have to have the gluten free oats (can’t have traces of gluten), but I’m dying to try your bars! I read on your site that due to food labeling laws you can’t do it currently so I was also wondering if they were actually gluten free already you just can’t label them as such?
my husband was a starving emaciated vegan when i met him. the fact that i could even make a stir-fry wooed him. he was easily won over.
the muffins look super cute.
Hehe those muffins are so cute!
I used to make my boyfriend Mexican Wedding Cookies all the time. They get better with age, which was great since I had to send them all the way across the country.
Those look like dense, filling muffins. Mmm! You and Eric are adorable, btw.
LOL. Love muffins sound awesome! I haven’t “wooed” anyone yet, but I did bake cookies for somebody I like. And his birthday is this weekend ;)
Those muffins have so many yummy ingredients in them! I am going to seek out some strawberries tomorrow and whip up a batch. Thanks for sharing your recipe. My baking lured my partner too. He pretty much demands a treat every single day!!! It was cookies at first, but now he’s happy with anything. Right now I am writing a vegan brownie recipe book and the amount of brownies he consumes is award worthy! Luckily we are active and vegan or I would have to stop creating new recipes!!!
I don’t think I have ever not wooed anyone with my cooking and baking..I make an absolutely divine roast chicken and it’s so cozy and inviting it just leads to snuggling later..
They sound delicious!! No wonder they wooed Eric ;)
haha, I wooed my hubby with my cooking for sure. When I started hanging out with him he and his roomie ate frozen pizza, chips and salsa and ramen noodles……..that’s it.
I’d like to think my bf likes my baking too–he always seems thrilled when I make anything, so I’m taking that as a good sign! These muffins look great, no wonder Eric proposed :)
I also woo my mom through baking too, but she always responds with “nooo! you’re going to make me eat too much!!!” hehe
I like the idea of strawberries baked into a recipe – they add a really nice texture.
Those look fabulous. I will soon make those decedant looking muffins. I made the scalloped tomato and basil dish, it was good but I am pretty sure mine wasn’t life changing, I think raw sugar I used was to blame.
The strawberries look like they held up really well in the muffins. sometimes they get too mushy.
Such a cute story! The pics are seriously so good Angela! Talk about some strawberries.:) I make reasons to bake every other day and My best recipe is for my husband too, mainly. Every Sunday I make the same batch of cookies for us. I have mastered the recipe to our liking to where they are PERFECT everytime and I have not shared it with anyone for years now. Do you do that, btw? Have one recipe that is just for you and noone else? That is my best recipe, “to make em weak in the knees”, good ol chocolate chip cookies. :)
These look amazing and super yummy. I may just have to try these on my boyfriend… ;)
Does Eric still play WoW? My boyfriend has been playing for years and also does computer stuff for a living. I think they’d be BFFs! ;)
i just love that they’re called love muffins! you just won MY heart with that one :)
Hi! These look great, but what can I substitute for coconut butter?
Wow! Those are beautiful pictures.
My hubby doesn’t admit it, but I suspect my husband got married to me so that he can enjoy healthy home-made cooking and baking every day (I’m obsessed with making everything from scratch – even such things as spice mixes or granola).
I don’t have a special recipe, though my hubby always reminds me how I made him a stew and lamb was tough as anything and he could not eat it (I was just learning how to cook :)))
I vote for a post on picture taking as well!
oh these muffins look dreamy! i love to cook and bake for my H2B! and he defo loves it for sure!
Oh these muffins look so yummy! I will be adding them to my ever-extending list of things to bake. ;-)
Unfortunately, fresh strawberries are already long out of season here, but I guess they would work with frozen ones from the summer, too.
I want to be a good baker, but I don’t know if I have it in me :) That’s why I keep reading foods blogs. Hoping it will rub off on me! The muffins look so fabulous!
whoaaaa those look DANG delicious!! i love the fresh strawbs in there!
Hey Ange, what a heart-warming story! My man especially loves it when I make him potato chips (with garlic powder and nutritional yeast haha) but honestly, he loves everything I put in front of him and I am pretty sure it’s why he loves me as much as he does ;)
btw I tried to share a picture with you on your post about what you would like to tell your younger self, but the link didn’t work
http://img838.imageshack.us/img838/6062/37530143944965617848100.jpg
should be fine now!
xx sabine
I love this story! And the recipe looks very good too…
These are so pretty. I’m sure they’re tasty too. I think my husband wishes I’d woo him with baked goods. But I can’t make them since I’d eat them all at once. My self-control fades when I’m faced with baked goods.
Umm – wow – those sound incredible! They are also beaauutiful!!
Those muffins look seriously DELICIOUS! I don’t know if the boy likes muffins, but maybe love muffins would work with him? lol
How many bananas do you use?
My hubster LOVES muffins. The first year we were married I found a cute little muffin cookbook in a gift shop in Mystic, CT. Every recipe was delish. We started a tradition of homemade soup with homemade muffins once a week. He still talks about that even 27 years later. Thanks to you, I have found a lot of substitutions for making these recipes a little healthier (flax eggs, spelt flour, sucanat, etc.) Thanks for all the great recipes you share.
Where are the bananas in the recipe? I have read it a few times and I don’t see them.
Banana??? Where’s the banana????
These pictures are absolutely amazing! Love the story behind them too. I’m making them today.
This one time in college I had made pot roast for a church function. There were leftovers, and a few days later I added some soy sauce and other seasonings (I originally left the meat bland. It was my first attempt!) and gave it to my husband (then-boyfriend) in a bowl served over rice. The first thing he said after eating it was, “I’M MARRYING THIS WOMAN!”
I cook a lot more often now that we’re out of the dorms and all. And he loves just about anything I feed him. I know he will never leave me, because then I wouldn’t cook for him! ;)
My husband enjoys everything I cook or bake for him. But then he is also the least picky person in the entire world when it comes to food. The kind of person who would eat dinner even if I burned it to a crisp and say “thanks hun.” :)
My husband tells me he was smitten from the moment he met me, and I didn’t really start really cooking until we were together about 8 or 9 months, but I have to say cooking probably has deepened our love! My hubby loves coming home to my healthy meals, and I’ve helped him get over long-held prejudices he’s had to certain foods, like beets and avocado. I also pack our lunches to save money and provide healthy options (I also have lots of food allergies so it’s just easier to pack). I like to experiment with raw and vegan foods and he usually likes what I make.
My husband definitely likes my tacos and my tortilla soup, as well as my salads. I used to work at a salad and sandwich bar at college so I’m pretty good at salads! :-)
these muffins look fab and i love all the ingredients…did you add banana?
Aw, yummm! Really love the photos : )
What an adorable story! you wooed your man… hehe :)
I most certainly didn’t woo my man with my cooking – if anything, his toleration of my mad inventions (pasta with mustard, ketchup, sliced american cheese, soy sauce and onion… it was the worst!) made me love HIM! i’ve improved a lot, thankfully, and as you maybe know, i’m trying to be even better. I love cooking and love together!
Dustin loves applesauce muffins. Which is odd because I stole that recipe from an ex’s mom! :) I have a vegan cookie recipe that he loves and I caught him saying that they were the best cookies ever. When I pointed it out, he denied it, but let’s face it…vegan baked goods are downright delicious.
Before being vegan, I would make Chicken a la range, which is applesauce used in place of water with a box of cornbread stuffing, and wrapped in a chicken breast like a burrito. Bake with butter on top and serve with this homemade orange sauce. It’s divine.
I am wondering where the banana is too :)
Also, any substitutes for coconut butter? Do you also think it would be okay to just leave the nuts out? Thanks :)
Beautiful photography! Your muffins are going to replace my love of strawberry cupcakes! Can’t wait to try them! And happy anniversary!
First of all, I cannot wait to try those muffins! : ) They look DELICIOUS.
Second, I’m just learning my way around the kitchen now, but the boys in my building love it when I cook potatoes. I don’t do anything too special with them, just a little olive oil and some rosemary and bake them for a little bit, but if I make them as an appetizer for a dinner party, they are gone in seconds. Maybe I need to buy more potatoes! No one has fallen in love with me over my cooking yet, but as I said, I’m still learning! :D
As someone who has ALOT of food allergies, especially to lots of artificial foods and colorings, etc, its so great to see people like myself who take pride in the foods they put into their bodies! I love your blog and all your recipes! =) Continue blogging forever!
Fun story! No big deal about the pumpkin, it’s almost that season anyway, after all!
I tried to make these muffins and my husband said they were terrible! Help how do you make them taste good? They kind of tasted salty and I am not sure what I did wrong!
IM SO sorry I forgot to add the banana in the recipe! I’m sure that was it. It has been added now.
I made these without banana and with avocado instead of Coconut Butter and they are delicious still – cant wait to try with Banana!
I love it! It’s like engagement chicken for vegans! (And that engagement chicken totally “worked” for 2 of my friends haha). They look great!
Is it possible to make these without the banana? Any suggestions for another fruit, or if I do just plain strawberry, will the consistency be off? I ask because as much as I love banana, the hubby is unfortunately allergic. :(
*crossing fingers* I can bake pre-mixes, ace that… but this was a hilarious first time bake from scratch. Almost religious asking my cooking angels to gather me some baking angels and please let them turn out… I started to bake until I realized there were no bananas… he he I scooped it out and added them in! Waiting for the time to go off… hoping that I won’t kill them if I sincerely forgot the baking soda :S Oh well! It’s our one year anniversary so regardless I know he’ll appreciate it! Thanks so much for putting up this post :)
Sincerely,
Fanta