Flax “Egg” Jammy Muffins #recipe from Molly MacRae

 

Here’s a kitchen experiment I’ve been meaning to try for at least ten years—substitute flax “eggs” for real eggs in baking. What kept stopping me? Fear of wasting good ingredients for mediocre results. But now, with egg prices what they are, I decided I shouldn’t be chicken. I should do the experiment, so that you don't have to waste your ingredients, and report the results here.

A note about ground flaxseed meal—it’s a good source of fiber and omega-3, the healthy fats found in fatty fish.

Two incentives to try this experiment: 1) I like experimenting with ingredient substitutions. 2) Eggs cost approximately 55¢ each (On 3/6/25, in Champaign, Illinois, a dozen large eggs at our grocery store costs $6.59). A tablespoon of ground flaxseed meal (the amount in one flax “egg”) costs 10¢.

Hypothesis: If flax “eggs” are a good substitute for real eggs in a muffin recipe, then my family will enjoy the muffins and, in fact, won’t notice that I swapped “eggs” for eggs.

Method: Follow the muffin recipe exactly but replace each egg called for with a 3:1 mixture of  water and ground flaxseed meal (3 tablespoons of water plus 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed meal equals 1 flax “egg”).

Conclusion: My family loved these muffins! I’ll be happy to bake with flax “eggs” again.

My next experiment? Replacing the egg whites in meringues with aquafaba. Look for the results in two weeks (3/22/25).

 

Flax “Egg” Jammy Muffins

 

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

16 ounces Greek yogurt (or sour cream)

*2 flax “eggs” (2 tablespoons ground flaxseed meal mixed with 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons water)

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon almond extract (not pictured)

12 teaspoons or your favorite jam or preserves

1/4 cup sliced almonds, more or less (not pictured)

*or use 2 large eggs

 

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly butter 12 muffin cups or coat with nonstick spray.

In a small bowl, mix the flaxseed meal with the water and let stand for 5 to 10 minutes.

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir to blend well.

In a separate bowl, whisk together yogurt, flax mixture, vanilla, and almond extract until smooth. Add to the dry ingredients all at once and fold just until evenly moistened. Batter will be quite thick!

Fill each muffin cup about half full. Make a small hollow in the batter with the tip of a spoon and spoon a teaspoon of jam into each hollow. Divide the remaining batter among the muffin cups. Sprinkle tops of muffins with sliced almonds.

Bake until tops are golden and edges begin to pull away from sides – 20 to 22 minutes. Cool on a wire rack before removing from pan.

 

Coming in June 2025 - with fig recipes!

There’ll be Shell to Pay

Haunted Shell Shop book 2

 

When she’s not selling seashells by the North Carolina seashore from her shell shop, Maureen Nash is a crime-solving sleuth with a ghost pirate for a supernatural sidekick . . .

Maureen is still getting used to life on Ocracoke Island, learning how to play the “shell game” of her business—and ghost whispering with the spirit of Emrys Lloyd, the eighteenth-century Welsh pirate who haunts her shop, The Moon Shell. The spectral buccaneer has unburied a treasure hidden in the shop’s attic that turns out to be antique shell art stolen from Maureen’s late husband’s family years ago.

Victor “Shelly” Sullivan and his wife Lenrose visit the shop and specifically inquire about these rare items. Not only is it suspicious that this shell collector should arrive around the time Maureen found the art, but Emrys insists that Sullivan’s wife is an imposter because Lenrose is dead. A woman’s corpse the police have been unable to identify was discovered by the Fig Ladies, a group who formed an online fig appreciation society. They’re meeting on Ocracoke for the first time in person and count Lenrose among their number, so the woman can’t possibly be dead.

But Lenrose’s behavior doesn’t quite match the person the Fig Ladies interacted with online. Now, Maureen and Emrys—with assistance from the Fig Ladies—must prove the real Lenrose is dead and unmask her mysterious pretender before a desperate murderer strikes again . . .

Pre-order There'll be Shell To Pay from an independent bookstore through Bookshop.org, or from Barnes & Noble or Amazon, or ask your local library to get it.

In the meantime, you can read book 1 in the series - Come Shell or High Water - or any of my other books.

 

Writing as Margaret Welch

The Boston Globe says Molly MacRae writes “murder with a dose of drollery.” She’s the author of the award-winning, national bestselling Haunted Yarn Shop Mysteries and the Highland Bookshop Mysteries. As Margaret Welch, she writes books for Annie’s Fiction. Her short stories have appeared in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine and she’s a winner of the Sherwood Anderson Award for Short Fiction. Visit Molly on Facebook and Pinterest and connect with her on Instagram or Bluesky.