Olive oil, lemon, and butterfly pea dairy-free muffins

Ingredients

• 3 egg whites
• 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 3/4 cup very strong Thé Paon butterfly pea tea (it should look inky)
• 275g sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• zest of 2 lemons
• juice of 2 lemons (amount used will depend on desired colour)
• 200g plain flour
• 100g almond meal
• 6g baking powder = 2.5 tsp baking powder (we use this)
• [ Blueberries are optional ]

Method

The pH of separated egg white is naturally basic. Egg whites can be aged in the fridge for 2-3 days before using to decrease the pH further. This will ensure that your dairy-free muffins are a nice blue colour. Recipe makes 12 muffins.

Preheat an oven to 170°C, and individually line a muffin tray with patty cases or baking paper.

Into a clean bowl add the aged egg whites, olive oil, sugar, vanilla essence, zest, and 1/2 cup of butterfly pea tea. Mix with a spatula. Depending on the pH of your egg whites the batter may turn green (basic pH) or remain blue (slightly basic or neutral). Don’t panic, the colour can be corrected with lemon juice later on in the recipe.

Weigh out the flour, almond meal, and baking powder and combine together in a separate bowl.

Add the these dry ingredients to the green/blue butterfly pea mixture, and mix until just combined. It will be a thick mixture that can be thinned with the lemon juice.

How to make the deep blue colour

The intensity of the blue is entirely dependant on the concentration of the butterfly pea brewed.

If your batter is green, add 20-40mL of the lemon juice to your dairy-free muffin batter. Stir until the mixture becomes blue. Start with 20mL and add more lemon juice little by little to get the desired colour.

If your batter is blue, add 10mL of the lemon juice to your dairy-free muffin batter. This will add purple tones (and flavour) to your mixture, and move it away from a green-blue to a purple-blue when cooked. Keep adding lemon juice little by little to get the desired colour.

Divide the muffin batter into 12 muffins. [ Optional step: add blueberries to the top of each muffin. ] Put in the oven at 170°C for 25 minutes. When cooked, take out of the oven and let sit for 5 minutes in the tray before cooling your dairy-free muffins on a wire-rack.

Tip 1: avoid mixing too much to avoid making a tough muffin (due to gluten activation).

Tip 2: this batter can also be used to make a dairy-free olive oil, lemon, and butterfly pea loaf. To cook, pour into a loaf tin and bake at 170°C for at least 30-40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

Video: Learn how to make these dairy-free butterfly pea muffins