These Chocolate Zucchini Muffin sound a little strange, but you’d never guess the sneaky zucchini add. Best of all, these 100 calorie bites are vegan, gluten-free, and almost sugar-free.
This deliciousness took me a week to get right. But when I did… oh lawd they were good!
Judging from the reaction these chocolate muffins got at this week’s dinner party, I found the right combination of ingredients.
Chocolate-y and moist, these are muffins you could chow on for breakfast without guilt.
Why guiltless? Because you would be starting out your day with veggies!
The “secret” ingredient in these is zucchini! Fool your kids, your partner, your co-workers… yourself… you cannot detect a trace of the veggie. I’d put money on it.
I love making these as mini muffins. It makes them perfect for snacking, and they remind me of those trashy-but-delicious brownie bites from the grocery store.
These zucchini-filled treats please basically everyone. They’re vegan, gluten-free, almost sugar-free, and a mere 100 calories! Unicorn brownie bites!
I realize the ingredient list is long, but it doesn’t take much time to throw it together and the end result is well worth it!
Chocolate Zucchini Muffins
- 1/4 C cocoa powder
- 1/4 C coconut flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp guar gum (or cornstarch)
- 2 T Xylitol
- 2 T NuNaturals Fiber Baking Blend (or other sweetener)
- 1/2 tsp instant coffee
- Shake of salt
- 1 flax egg (1 T ground flax + 3 T water)
- 1/4 C unsweetened vanilla almond milk (or other milk substance)
- 2 T coconut oil
- 2 T unsweetened apple sauce
- 1 T almond butter (or other nut butter)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 C shredded zucchini
- 1/4 C chocolate chips
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
Whisk together dry ingredients in a large bowl. Set aside.
In a small bowl mix egg, milk, oil, nut butter, and vanilla until well-combined. Pour the wet mixture into the dry and stir until just combined.
Squeeze out zucchini to remove excess moisture, then add to batter along with chocolate chips. Gently fold to combine – don’t over-mix!
Place 12 muffin liners in a muffin pan (or lightly grease a mini muffin pan) and spoon the mixture into each tin so they are about 1/2 full.
Bake on the middle rack for 10-15 mins, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before serving.
Makes 12 small muffins or 24 minis.
Approximate Nutrition for small muffin: 100 calories, 7.4g fat, 9.5g carbohydrates, 3g fiber, 2g sugar, 1.5g protein
Notes:
- I have tried this with a full 1/4 C of coconut oil (rather than 2 T oil and 2 T apple sauce) and found it to be too greasy, but you could try it either way
- You could also leave out the guar gum; however, it helps the muffins to stay together better (coconut flour can result in crumbly baked goods)
- If you can’t find Xylitol or the Baking Blend, you can use any sugar/sugar-replacer
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Thank you, thank you, thank you for all the Buzz… my “Beefy” TVP Chili made the FoodBuzz Top 9 today!
How do you sneak veggies in?
If you have worked with coconut flour, what’s your favorite recipe?