May Cooking Tool of the Month: Microplane products

May Cooking Tool of the Month – Microplane

Yay!! We have a new Cooking Tool of the Month! Microplane is one of my favorite companies for graters, peelers and more. There’s nothing like adding the zest of a lemon or a lime to take a recipe up a notch. Today I show you how to use the zester and the ribbon grater from Microplane. These are the tools I use the most from their collection.

It seems like I’ve been making a lot of muffins lately?! I don’t know why but these ones are super delish! This is what it looks like when you use coconut palm sugar. Since this sugar has not been stripped of it’s nutrients and fiber it has a dark caramel color, which turns baked goods more brown. I don’t mind it at all but if you are serving them to someone who is expecting to see a fluffy, light colored Starbucks muffin then it’s probably best to use a different sugar.

If you use regular cane sugar than you get a muffin that looks like a typical muffin. You could use unbleached white flour, but I definitely prefer whole grain flours. They make the muffin less white but I don’t mind it at all. I made a big batch of these muffins for the Worldwide Vegan Bakesale we had on Saturday and used cane sugar. As soon as I brought them they were gone in a matter of minutes, so I guess they were more tasty than the batch I made for the video.

Coconut palm sugar does have a particular flavor, which I happen to love. Experiment with it and see what you think! Feel free to use whatever granulated sweetener you want for any of the recipes on my website or in Blissful Bites. More than likely you can substitute any granulated sugar one for one. When changing up the flours though you may need to adjust the liquid measurements for baked goods.

(Please click through to the post to watch the video if viewing this in email)

Pear Lemon Coffee Cake Muffins
Makes 6 large muffins

1 cup whole spelt or barley flour
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
Dash sea salt
1 large pear
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons lemon zest
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons unsweetened non-dairy milk
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon lemon extract (optional)

Topping:
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1-2 tablespoons coconut oil or vegan butter

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray muffin tin lightly with cooking spray or use silicon muffin pan. Set aside. Whisk together the first four dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Grate the pear over another bowl to catch all the juice. You want about 1 cup of grated pear and it’s juice. Add in the sugar lemon juice and zest milk vinegar and extract and whisk together until well combined.

Make the topping by mixing all the ingredients together with a fork or your fingers. You want the mix to be sandy and crumbly. I find that coconut oil and vegan butter work best for the topping. Set aside.

Mix wet ingredients into the dry until well combined. Spoon batter into muffin pan until almost full. Sprinkle each muffin with the topping to coat the entire muffin. Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out dry when inserted into the muffin.

Share with us in the comments: Do you have a favorite Microplane product? What are some of your favorite ways to use citrus zest?

Disclosure: I chose to feature Microplane out of my pure love for their products, which I own and use constantly. They are so awesome to provide me with new products to try and we will do a giveaway at the end of the month for all of you! I hope you will consider purchasing these products through the links above, which are connected to my Amazon Affiliate account. The few bucks I make through this program help contribute to running this blog and providing videos and recipes for you at no cost. Thanks!