Vegan Carob Muffins

Today is the last day of January, and I am so glad. It's got to be one of my least favorite months of the year, at least on the east coast. But, I have tried to make the best of it, and today I did a pretty good job of that. After brunch at a hipster coffee shop and then art class, I came home and tried to figure out what to do with the carob pods my mom ordered recently. I had never had one before, but they're really interesting. 

This is a carob pod, also known as St. Johns Bread, for anyone who has never seen one before. They're very dark brown, and pretty hard. The cool thing is that they are edible, except for the extremely hard seeds on the inside. They taste really good, sort of like chocolate, mixed with honey and bread.

Carob is used as a substitute for chocolate a lot, and is considered a healthy alternative to chocolate. It doesn't have any of the caffeine that coffee contains, and is naturally sweet, so doesn't have to be paired with as much other sweetener as chocolate does. 

Anyway, enough facts, lets get to the actual recipe. 

Vegan Carob Muffins 

 To break up the pods, which are pretty tough, my mom and I stuck a knife into the pods and then banged them on the counter. There isn't really a correct way to break them (that I know of) so I'd just say that if you are using them, try a few methods and see what you think works best. 

Here is what it looks like all blended up! Make sure you didn't miss any chunks before mixing the powder into the mixture. 

If you follow the recipe above, your muffins will turn out something like this! They aren't the prettiest, but they taste really good, and have a light and fluffy inside. I baked them for a little bit over 25 minutes, and they were a bit hard on the outside. I'd recommend less time than that.

Try them out and tell me what you think! Hopefully the recipe is good. Also, if you don't have any carob, this is a super simple and good recipe for just basic muffins, or a basic recipe to start with! Enjoy:)