It’s the beginning of March…the end of winter here in Kuwait…the summer heat will be upon us soon. Usually this time of year I like to go on a cleanse…avoid certain foods (the usual suspects…dairy, gluten, sugar) and shed the extra weight (3kg!!!) I put on during the cold months. However, since we are currently working on the dessert menu at Crumbs, my usual 3-4 week cleanse is pointless. So in order to lose weight, I’m going old school…and (dare I say it) and following a low-calorie diet!!! I have virtually sworn off calorie counting for years now…it’s just sooooo 90s….or is it 80s? Anyway, won’t go into too much detail as I plan to write about my experience in a future post towards the end of March.

So as part of the calorie restricted diet, I made these low-fat and low-calorie vegan muffins. It was also (finally) my first attempt at using Aquafaba.

If you’re not familiar with Aquafaba, let me explain. Aqua means water, and faba means beans (in Latin). It’s one of those things where the name seems so exciting…while it’s actually super boring. However what it can supposedly do to your vegan baked goods is far from boring! I have only experimented with chickpea water, but supposedly other bean water can also be used. Now I still need more experience with it, but it worked pretty well in this recipe as a replacement for eggs. You can read more about the wonders of Aquafaba here.

If you prefer not to use the aquafaba, then use 2 egg whites or 1 whole egg instead, leave out the cream of tartar, and increase the amount of salt to 1/2 teaspoon.

Other substitutions are brown or date sugar instead of coconut, coconut or vegetable oil instead of the grapeseed, and whole wheat or all-purpose flour instead of the spelt. I would expect any dairy-free milk can be used to replace the almond milk.

These muffins have 165 calories, just make sure to make 12 muffins using a standard size muffin pan. I receommend you try them with some peanut butter and jam. If you use 1/2 a serving peanut butter powder (I bought mine from Save Co., a brand called Chike) and a teaspoon of all-fruit jam like St. Dalfour, then that would be another 50 calories…but so worth it! With some coffee you’ve got yourself the perfect breakfast or afternoon treat.