As I mentioned in an earlier post, I’m trying to include chia seeds in various aspects of my diet. I turned to good ol’ Google to search for a muffin/bread recipe that used chia seeds and came across a recipe on a fantastic blog Peas and Thank You (apparently she has a New York Times bestseller book – do I live under a rock or something?). The thing I liked most about the recipe was it called for ingredients I had in my pantry already – bonus! The recipe also called for coconut oil, another item I’m trying to incorporate into my diet more – double bonus!

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup non-dairy milk
• 1 1/2 tsp lemon juice
• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 3/4 cup unbleached organic flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup chia seeds
• 1/3 cup coconut oil
• 2/3 cup agave nectar and/or maple syrup
• 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 tbsp lemon extract
• 1 tbsp lemon zest

1. Preheat the oven to 325F.
2. Zest one lemon and then squeeze out the juice. Combine the milk and lemon juice and set aside
3. In a large bowl, combine flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt and chia seeds.
4. Measure out the coconut oil into a glass measuring cup – if it is still in a solid state, place the measuring cup in a warm water bath to liquefy it.
5. Mix in the coconut oil, agave/maple syrup, applesauce, vanilla extract, lemon extract and lemon zest into the milk mixture.
6. Gently stir the liquid ingredients into the flour mixture until it is just mixed. At first, I thought it wasn’t going to be enough liquid for the flours, but it does come together pretty quickly.
7. Line or grease your muffin pan and fill each cup 2/3 full.
8. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes – I tested mine at 20 minutes with a toothpick and it came out clean.