If you’re looking for healthy alternatives for your Easter basket, these vegan strawberry muffins are sweetened with maple syrup and fat-free.
Easter is a few days away, and if you’re as concerned as I am about the amount of sugar your children are eating, you may be looking for healthy alternatives to the jelly beans and vegan chocolate the Easter Bunny usually leaves (at least that’s what he usually deposits in my daughter’s basket).
These tiny strawberry muffins are a very low-sugar option. Sweetened with maple syrup, they contain a fraction of the sugar of normal muffins, even if you use the optional frosting (which, if you’re making them for kids, you definitely should). You can make them even sweeter by adding a pinch of stevia or a few drops of monk fruit sweetener, for sweetness without added sugar.
One word of advice, though: If you plan to put them into an Easter basket, don’t frost them first or you’ll wind up with very sticky Easter grass!
More Healthy Muffins!
If strawberry isn’t your style, check out some of my other low-fat but delicious vegan muffins:
- Sugar-Free (or Not) Peach and Vanilla Muffins
- Cinnamon Swirl Muffins
- Mini Doughnut Muffins
- Banana Date Walnut Muffins
Strawberry Mini Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 cup strawberries whole
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1/4 cup non-dairy milk as needed
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup white whole wheat flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoons confectioner’s sugar optional
- 4 teaspoons strawberry puree or all-fruit spread optional
- a few drops vanilla extract optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350. Prepare a mini-muffin pan by oiling it lightly or filling with paper liners.
- Place the strawberries in a food processor or blender and process until they are pureed. Measure out 1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons of the puree into a small bowl and set aside any remaining puree for another use. Add the maple syrup, non-dairy milk, lemon juice, and vanilla.
- In a medium bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add the strawberry mixture. Mix until just blended–do not overmix. Fill mini-muffin cups with about 1 tablespoon of batter each. Bake at 350 F, checking after 10 minutes. When a toothpick comes out clean, remove and allow to cool completely. Frost if desired (see Notes below).
Notes
Nutritional info is approximate.
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shirley
April 5, 2012 at 2:46 pmHave printed the recipe and plan on making them tomorrow. Thank you so much.
Christine
April 5, 2012 at 4:13 pmThese sound (and look) delicious!! I’m always looking for new ways to bake with less sugar. I’d really like to try these, thanks! Have a Happy Easter! 🙂
SJ Cory
April 5, 2012 at 4:14 pmI don’t have a mini-muffin tin. What would the baking time be for a regular muffin tin? I look forward to trying this recipe.
Susan Voisin
April 5, 2012 at 4:18 pmFor regular sized muffins, start checking at 15 minutes. They shouldn’t take much longer than that.
Tiffany
April 5, 2012 at 4:56 pmI don’t like muffins to be too sweet–that seems more like cupcake territory–so these lower-sugar mini-muffins sound just perfect.
sharon
April 5, 2012 at 6:25 pmGreat to see low sugar options. I am constantly dismayed at the high amounts of sugar used in vegan baking.
Somer
April 5, 2012 at 5:54 pmI love this! I have been trying to figure out what to do for Easter and just bought a bunch of vegan chocolate eggs and candy and was feeling like it’s too much sweets! Now I can just give a few treats and put more of these in the baskets!
Tristen
April 5, 2012 at 6:06 pmThanks for posting this recipe just in time for Easter! I was planning on making chocolate cake (cupcakes) because it’s the only cake recipe I have. Now I can make this strawberry one instead! I already printed it and am looking forward to eating it on Easter instead of the other desserts that will be at our family get together. I hope others in my family try it and enjoy it too! I love bringing healthy alternatives in hopes that they see eating this way is not impossible or tasteless. Thanks again!
elizabeth
April 5, 2012 at 7:29 pmI’ve been using the Nunaturals vanilla stevia and its the best tasting stevia I’ve found.
Anne
April 5, 2012 at 10:58 pmThank you so much! I have been stewing about what to make for Easter dinner dessert for a house full of non-vegans. (They are grumbling about not having ham…) I think this might just be perfect!
Have a great holiday, everyone!
Amber
April 6, 2012 at 2:14 amGood lord, these look delicious. I’ll have to try them out once things settle down a little!
Carl
April 6, 2012 at 7:02 amThanks, Susan. I enjoy your blog and recipes. I am trying to minimize the fat in my diet and you are very helpful. From a culinary standpoint, I, too, like the flavor of maple syrup. However, according to my sources, the main sweetener in maple syrup is sucrose — just like sugar cane or sugar beets. If one is concerned about the toxicity of sugar, one is concerned about the fructose component of sucrose. I would respectfully suggest the consideration of corn syrup as an alternative. See Dr. Lustig on YouTube.
luminousvegans
April 6, 2012 at 7:28 amThese look so amazing and delicious yet the recipe does not intimidate me! Pinnin this so I remember to try it.
Justine
April 6, 2012 at 9:17 amGorgeous photographs!!!
Do you have any suggestions for main dishes for a low-fat vegan Easter dinner?
Ali @ Project Kale
April 6, 2012 at 1:28 pmThanks for posting this Susan – they look awesome! I feel like I am constantly searching for low-sugar vegan baking recipes – or tweaking the ones I find to reduce the amount of sugar. I only use a bit of maple syrup or honey occasionally – so these look absolutely perfect! Thanks again!
Elisabet
April 8, 2012 at 4:12 amHi, we just animated a video for those who want more healthy vegan deserts for easter!
Check it out 🙂
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LIamQPjTVs
Ellen (Gluten Free Diva)
April 8, 2012 at 10:22 amThese look delish! It would be so easy to convert these to gluten free, for sure. I wonder, with the icing, could you use some of the thick coconut cream from a can of full fat coconut milk to give it more thickness? Worth trying, I think. Beautiful mini cupcakes!!!
Karen
April 8, 2012 at 7:40 pmLoving your recipes! I seem to collect recipes in browser tabs for a long time before actually doing anything with them. Today I’ve printed off at least 10 to clear my backlog, several of which were yours. I also do a kids cooking class which I co-opt and modify recipes for. In order to give credit where credit is due, would you mind putting your URL inside your recipes like they do on Skinnytaste.com (http://www.skinnytaste.com/2012/01/brown-coconut-rice-with-cilantro.html)? Not that you should have to compensate for my obsessive recipe inclinations, but if it’s not too much trouble, it’d be nice and would benefit you too. Thanks!
Susan Voisin
April 8, 2012 at 7:50 pmHi Karen, if you look at the last two lines of the printer page, the URL is there and below it has my name and site name. Thanks for wanting to give credit where it’s due!
Kathleen @ KatsHealthCorner
April 8, 2012 at 9:17 pmHow cute! Though, I don’t think the strawberries would make it into the batter is I made them — I’d eat them all before they got a chance! 😉
Christine
April 9, 2012 at 6:20 amJust wanted to let you know that I made these for Easter. They were delicious!! My family really liked them. 🙂
Karly
April 9, 2012 at 10:33 amCould you use these with a cup of blueberries instead? I haven’t yet given my little girl strawberries so i just needed an alternative.
Susan Voisin
April 9, 2012 at 10:40 amYes, I’m sure that blueberries will do. Hope she enjoys them!
Richa@HobbyandMore
April 10, 2012 at 12:36 pmthese sound absolutely droolworthy!
Emily
April 10, 2012 at 5:28 pmI love your main dishes, and thanks almost entirely to you, we’re eating a vegan diet 5 days a week. This recipe is my first foray into vegan baking. Do you not need any kind of egg substitute? If you’re used to “normal” (albeit whole grain) baking, how will the end result be different? Also, I see you recommend KAL pure Stevia elsewhere (I think in the chocolate chia pudding.) Do you recommend one form of Stevia over the other for all-purpose use? I tried Truvia and didn’t like the aftertaste. I’m thinking of trying one of your recommendations, but debating which. Thanks for your time!
Susan Voisin
April 10, 2012 at 6:03 pmHi Emily, the egg replacer is kind of built in to this recipe–The baking soda and baking powder take care of the leavening, and they naturally hold together so no egg is needed. The main thing different about these muffins is the lack of sweetness. If you’re used to very sweet muffins, you will want to add a little stevia.
As an all-purpose stevia, I recommend either the KAL or NuNaturals pure stevia powder. Taste-wise, I think NuNaturals is slightly better; price-wise, KAL usually wins out–plus it comes with a handy tiny scoop for measuring. If you’re afraid you won’t like it, try the NuNaturals. Just be sure to get either their pure stevia extract powder or their No Carbs blend (which isn’t as concentrated because its not pure stevia but has a very good flavor).
Marilyn
April 10, 2012 at 9:14 pmThe muffins sound great, I love your recipes.
Sakina
April 11, 2012 at 12:17 pmHi! I’ve tried this recipe partly because of the gorgeous photograph and I love muffins! I did substitute the syrup for cane sugar (it was not present in my pantry). I used a whole cup of whole strawberries into my batter (blended). Does your recipe say to use 1 cup or 1/3 cup?
For the frosting I used up 6 strawberries combined with 3 tbsp sugar. I heated it to make a sort of jam-like spread. Once it cools down it thickens enough. This also allowed the frosting to taste more like strawberries than sugar. Result: the muffins came out great tasting like strawberries and they look great too. I topped the frosting with a slice of strawberry. Thank you so much for this recipe!
amargrock
April 14, 2012 at 5:54 pmInstead of making muffins my daughter and I made mini donuts with one of those donut makers (like a waffle iron) — delicious!
Vegancouchpotato
April 15, 2012 at 9:57 pmMmmm strawberries! Those look great!
Michele
April 16, 2012 at 8:50 pmSusan,
I doubled up this recipe to make birthday mini bundt “cakes” for my 3 and 4 year olds. The strawberry glaze gently drizzled down the sides, resulting in a beautiful, delicious and healthy treat! Thanks for the inspiration.
whit!
April 19, 2012 at 3:53 pmThese look AMAZING. Any idea if frozen strawberries would work in this? Or how to accomodate them? (I’m in Chicago and the freshies are rather pricey at the moment.)
Thanks, Susan.
Susan Voisin
April 19, 2012 at 3:57 pmJust measure them while frozen and let them thaw before you use them.
whit!
April 19, 2012 at 4:07 pmSounds good. I was concerned about water content for some reason? Paranoia and lack of experience — two reasons, I guess! I’ll let you know how it goes!
Jessica
May 21, 2012 at 4:25 pmThese are wonderful even without extra sweetener or frosting! Have you tried the same recipe with something like banana or blueberries? Would amounts be the same if they would work?
Love your site and recipes!
Susan Voisin
May 21, 2012 at 4:39 pmSo glad you liked them! I haven’t tried it, but blueberries should work exactly like strawberries. Bananas might be different, but it could be worth a try.
Melinda
June 10, 2012 at 7:21 pmMy vegan family LOVED these muffins. I did have to modify the recipe slightly; I used Spelt instead of Wheat Flour to make it gluten-free! Thank you so much for posting, these will be a regular breakfast muffin in our house!!
Susan Voisin
June 10, 2012 at 8:16 pmIs spelt gluten-free? I didn’t know that! I’m so glad it worked out and you liked them.
Caren
June 24, 2012 at 12:54 amI can’t wait to try this recipe!! Although, I like the idea of having strawberry chunks in the batter. Would it change the recipe if instead of pureeing the strawberries I just chop them?? I was just wondering if the purée replaced something important.
Susan Voisin
June 24, 2012 at 8:01 amThe purée is an oil substitute, so if you just chop the strawberries into chunks, your batter will probably be too dry. You could try adding a few extra, chopped strawberries, though.
Jenny
July 6, 2012 at 10:37 pmI made these for a family fourth of july recipie. I added some food coloring to make them more red colored, and madde another batch replacing the strawberry with blueberry(still pureed them, also with coloring, but blue) and they turned out good too. Also made mini banana muffins for my “white”. blue ones actually came out green though. My five year old nephew asked me, “are those zuchhini muffins?”(something like that anyways!) it was funny, they were vey green C:
Jessica
September 17, 2012 at 8:23 pmThese were fantastic. I had a bunch of strawberries to use so I doubled the recipe. I also wanted more of a muffin and less of a cupcake, so I added 1 c. oats and a couple tablespoons of flax meal. Also, only had ww pastry flour so used that. Next time I might add some cinnamon. My husband and I have been enjoying these all week for breakfast! Thanks for the delightful recipe!
Fiona S.
September 21, 2012 at 3:42 amI was looking for cup cakes in Perth then I come across your website and found these mouth-watering muffins. I am not an expert in baking but I can do this recipe. I hope I can do it perfectly because I’m going to try this on Sunday.
Joyce
January 3, 2013 at 12:50 amHey Susan, I tried out your recipe today, but once these muffins came out of the oven, they all just looked sad and dense. I just can’t figure it out! They’re delicious but hard to chew on. Help is much appreciated.
Susan Voisin
January 3, 2013 at 9:12 amI’m sorry to hear that! I don’t know what could have happened. Sometimes variations in oven temperature and muffin size can cause unexpected results. Maybe your oven runs hotter than mine or your muffin cups are smaller?
Nat
April 21, 2013 at 9:53 amLoved these!
They are super easy, quick, and delicious.
Jill
September 7, 2019 at 5:24 amI am late to the party, but I made these some time ago and brought them with me when I was tabling vegan materials at a local college to entice people to come over lol. It worked, and they LOVED these muffins! Mini muffins tend to be a popular food with people because they are not too intimidating. I loved them also, and am actually revisiting this page because I am planning on making these for snacks for this upcoming week. I made them exactly as is, no changes.