Celery Muffin Challenge!

One day back in March or April (it's been a while now, can't remember), it occurred to me that a celery muffin might be a good idea. Apparently, however, I was in the minority with this thought since most people I mentioned it to just laughed or looked at me like I was crazy. Kim, however, liked the idea and when we began discussing celery muffins we discovered that our visions were quite different. There stood the birth of our culinary challenges.

My intention was to make a sweet muffin that had celery instead of fruit or nuts. Kim's intention was to make a savory muffin, something you could eat with a meal. We decided to bake our muffins and bring them to work, to see which ones people liked more.

Kelley's Celery Muffins
I tried three different combinations with my muffins. Since these were going to be sweet, I decided to try adding some peanut butter, seeing as peanut butter is often eaten with celery. The first muffin was just a plain, sweet muffin with a coarse celery puree mixed in. The second muffin was the same thing, but with a dollop of peanut butter in the middle. The third muffin had the peanut butter blended into the batter.

After taste-testing all three, the results were surprising. I was sure that the one with the peanut butter mixed in would be the winner, but in fact it was pretty gross. The one with the dollop of peanut butter inside was pretty good, but the dollop was too large and overpowered the muffin a bit. Yes, it turns out that the plain celery muffin was the best. I baked all the rest of the muffins this way, and enjoyed them. I brought a bunch of them over to my parents and they loved them, too! They're gently sweet, with a nice little bit of crunch, and a hint of spice that leaves you curiously pleased. Oh, and they are also gluten free, of course!

Kim's Celery Muffins
Unfortunately, Kim hasn't made her celery muffins yet. Which is a bummer because I was really looking forward to trying them! Boo. :(