Yoghurt and Fennel Muffins - Eggless Baking

It’s been over three months now that my oven is not working properly. The door has come off and  all the air is coming out of it resulting in extreme heated Kitchen and undercooked food. I haven’t tried any baking in OVER THREE MONTHS !!! And I am going crazy without it.. Not that I bake very often, but the absence of it is annoying to an extent I poked my neighbours if I could bake some stuff at their home. Yes, I actually did that last weekend when I was sick of looking at the falling door and waiting for a person to come and look over it. It’s really  hard to find a good one here who lends reasonable service and can come over the weekend.. Weird rules and weirder people welcome you when you stay in a foreign land.

Anyway, so I was craving for muffins or anything which is sweet and baked  that day.. I went to my neighbours home ( who are our friends, not the closest Pal though ) and asked them if I could use their oven for a quick bake, am sure the lady wanted to kill me with that stare but she being a good English woman offered me Tea instead and allowed me to barge in her kitchen for an hour. I would never have done that for her, the sneaky possessive being that I am for my kitchen. We chatted while these muffins were getting cooked and I got to know that she owns a bakery herself where she sells all sorts of breads etc over weekends.. I was so glad I literally could have started dancing on her table… which I didn’t do.. I swear !

I was afraid and embarrassed both at the same time after knowing that she is a baker herself and here I was with my silly batter getting transformed in her oven. Thank fully the muffins came out al-right and I could feel that satisfaction lingering inside.. The recipe is really nice, being taken from a small pocket book of baking. A moist, crumbly healthy yogurt muffin recipe that is not overtly sweet. Yogurt and Fennel both are already contributing to the nutritional factor of this yummy Muffin already I still added flaxseed for added oomph to the already healthy morsel. The best part is that it is so simple to make and you can add nuts or other healthy toppings to your liking.

Lately I have started using Yoghurt a lot in my food, from baking to usual meals. Using Yoghurt in baking is an easy and sure shot of filling the dish with goodness and moisture. Here are some easy guidelines for using yoghurt in baking, if you haven't done that before: 

• When a recipe calls for butter, replace half the butter with half as much yogurt. For instance, instead of 1 cup butter, use 1/2 cup butter and 1/4 cup yogurt.
• When a recipe calls for shortening or oil, replace half the oil with 3/4 the amount of yoghurt  For example, instead of 1 cup oil, use 1/2 cup oil and 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons yoghurt.
• Substitute yogurt cup for a cup of sour cream in recipes.
• Yogurt can even replace some of the water or milk in a recipe. Start by substituting 1/4 of the liquid with yogurt. The result will be creamier and more flavourful.

Am sure you will start including yoghurt in your bakes now that you are aware of the ways of doing that.. For those who already are ahead in this, please suggest some other ways if not mentioned above already :)

What you need ?

• 1/4 cup  Vegetable Oil
• ½ cup   Granulated Sugar
• 1 1/2 cup  Yogurt
• 2 tbsp Fennel Powder
• 1 tsp  Vanilla Extract
• 1 tsp  Baking Powder
• ½ tsp of Baking soda
• ¼ tsp of Salt
• 1 ½  cup  All Purpose Flour
• ½ cup  Gram Flour
• 2 tbsp of Flaxseed powder

How to Make ?  

• Preheat the Oven to 170 degrees, line a muffin tin with liners and set aside.
• In a large bowl, mix together the flours, fennel powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt and set aside.
• Take flax seed meal and 6 tablespoons water. Whisk them together and let the mixture sit for about 5 minutes. It will get gummy, just like eggs. 
•  In a large measuring cup or a bowl, whisk together the Flaxmeal mixture and oil till it gets fluffy. Add Sugar and whisk for another 2-3 minutes. Add yoghurt and vanilla essence and mix everything up again final time. 
•  Pour wet ingredients into the dry and fold gently until they are all incorporated.
•  Divide the batter in the prepared muffin tin till 3/4 of the Muffin depth. 
•  Bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until fully cooked through and golden brown. 

My Notes: 

• Since these muffins have yoghurt  they tend to et harder when kept at room temperature sometimes. Just micro them for 30 sec before serving and they are as fresh as ever.
• For the topping, I have just mixed Butter with Sugar and sprinkled some chopped Almonds on top. You can skip it totally if you wish, the muffins are sweet enough on their own.
• Eggs can be used in this recipe, by replacing Flaxmeal.. Just take 2 Large eggs instead beat them and whisk them together with Oil and Sugar in step 3. Then proceed as stated in the recipe. 

Goes to Kalyani's Magic Mingle of this month - Yoghurt and Fennel Combo