Dune: Spice Muffins

Dune recipe #1

For my first Dune recipe, I knew I must make something with “spice” involved. If you have read the series, you know how vital the element/drug known as spice is to Arrakis (aka the desert planet Dune) and the people of the empire. These muffins may not be as addicting as the real spice, but they are pretty close.

He glanced up at her. “Can you remember your first taste of spice?”

“It tasted like cinnamon.”

“But never twice the same,” he said. “It’s like life — it presents a different face each time you take it. Some hold that the spice produces a learned-flavor reaction. The body, learning a thing is good for it, interprets the flavor as pleasurable — slightly euphoric. And, like life, never to be truly synthesized.” — Dune, Book 1

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour

• 1.5 cups brown sugar

• 1 Tbsp pumpkin pie spice OR:

  • 2 tsp cinnamon

  • 1/2 tsp ground ginger

  • 1/2 tsp nutmeg

  • 1/4 tsp ground cloves

• 1 Tbsp baking powder

• 1/4 tsp. salt

• 1 can pure pumpkin (15 oz)

• 1/3 cup vegetable oil (or melted coconut oil)

• 1/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce

• 1/3 cup plant-based milk (I used unsweetened almond milk)

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• Powdered sugar (to sprinkle on top)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and grease or line a muffin tin (makes 12 muffins).

2. In a large mixing bowl, mix together all dry ingredients until well combined.

3. Slowly mix in pumpkin, oil, and apple sauce until a thick batter is formed.

4. Slowly add in milk and vanilla extract until just combined.

5. Scoop batter into muffin cups until evenly distributed.

6. Bake for about 20-25 min until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Let cool.

7. When cool, and sprinkle powdered sugar over muffins.

8. Enjoy!