Spinach Muffin Monsters!
Ingredients
1 cup soy milk
1 cup spinach
1 cup coconut or raw sugar
1 tbsp flax meal
1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla essence
googly eyes (monkfruit confectioner’s sugar)
dark chocolate chips
Instructions
Pre-heat your oven to 175 degrees C (347 degrees F) and either line your muffin tray with muffin cases or grease with oil.
Blend the soy milk, spinach and vanilla.
In a bowl combine the green soy milk, flour, sugar, baking powder and flax meal.
Pour the batter in the muffins cases and top with the chocolate chips to make the mouth. I recommend putting the eyes on the muffins after cooking so they don't melt.
Bake for 30 minutes and top with the googly eyes.
Ingredient Notes
Powder Sugar (Icing Sugar) – This makes up the bulk of the google eyes. If your sugar is lumpy, sift out the lumps before mixing to ensure you end up with a smooth icing.
Starch – Cornstarch (corn flour in the UK) is cheap and accessible. I’ve also made these with tapioca starch. Tapioca is a great option if you’d like a grain free option.
Water – Mix in small amounts of water at a time. More water will thin out the icing and less water will make it thicker. I find that less is better. If you make the icing too runny it will spread too much as the eyes set.
Vanilla or Almond Extract (optional) – These are simply optional flavours to make the eyes taste a little more interesting.
Black Cocoa Power or Black Food Colouring – This will make the pupils of your edible googly eyes. I made these with black cocoa powder. The dark pigment works perfect in the recipe to create pitch black pupils. Black food colour also works, though it can be more hit or miss depending on the quality of the colouring. Typically black food colouring gel works best.
Ingredients
1 cup | 125 g powdered sugar
1 tablespoon | 9 g corn starch (cornflour in the UK)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or almond extract (optional)
2 tablespoons | 30 ml water
1 tablespoon | 7 black cocoa powder
Instructions
Line a couple of large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicon baking mats. Set aside.
In a a medium sized mixing bowl: combine the sugar, starch, extracts (if using) and water. Mix together into a smooth, lump-free icing.
Scoop out about 2-3 tablespoons worth of the icing and transfer to another small mixing bowl. Add the cocoa powder and mix until the cocoa powder have been completely mixed in. The consistency should be somewhere between an icing and a frosting. You need it to be thin enough to pipe out of a bag. If the black mixture is too thick/stiff, add 1 teaspoon of water to thin it out.
Transfer each mixture into two separate piping bags or plastic sandwich bags.
Snip off the corner of the white icing bag first and pipe out small dots onto the prepared baking sheets. The dots will spread slightly after piping, but not much. Make the white dots no larger than 3/4 cm wide. Feel free to pipe out different sizes - these do not need to be perfectly even.
Once you've pipe out as much of the white icing as needed, snip of the corner of the black icing bag. Pipe out small black dots on top of the white dots to form the pupils. Continue piping until each eye has been filled.
Leave the eyes somewhere to dry where they won't be in the way and let them air dry at least 24 hours until fully hard. Once set, you can carefully remove the eyes from the baking sheet and transfer to an airtight container or bag and store until needed. They will keep for months.
Though edible, these eyes are best enjoyed as decoration. Add to cookies, cakes, cupcakes and anywhere you might want/need edible candy eyes.
Notes
You can use tapioca starch or arrowroot starch for a grain free version.
Regular cocoa powder/cacao powder won't be dark enough to make black.
Black food colour gel can be used instead of black cocoa powder. Mix in small amounts of gel to form your black colour as needed.
