Healthy (Chocolate!) Snack!
The colder weather sets in and my body automatically starts craving yummy-ness. We love to bake in our house, so it is usually a baked good that our bodies beg us to feed them! Greer and I made one of our favorite go-to recipes yesterday - Healthy Double Chocolate Zucchini Muffins from one of our favorite bloggers, Ambitious Kitchen. Now note that I 1. despise zucchini and 2. was not super excited the first time I made this recipe a few years back. However, you do not taste the zucchini and even though the batter isn’t the best tasting, the muffins themselves come out OUTSTANDING! It has become one of our families favorite healthy, chocolate baked goods. Made with whole wheat flour and no refined sugar or butter, these puppies are a low-guilt treat! They can be dairy-free, too (if you choose - see notes in recipe below)!
A few things before sharing the recipe:
I usually double this recipe (sometimes even triple) because even though they are not challenging to make, it is a bit annoying to shred the zucchini and get all the ingredients measured. Plus, I usually buy the shredded fresh zucchini from Trader Joe’s and have extra - so you might as well use it! After the muffins are baked and cooled, I then freeze them. Best part is that I take them out of the freezer in the AM, stick them in my girls’ lunches and by the time they eat the muffins at school they are defrosted and moist!
This time I mixed the wet and dry ingredients the night before. I refrigerated the wet ingredients over-night and covered the dry ingredients. This sped up the process of Greer “helping” me make them the next morning. She got to do the fun stuff, like add the dry ingredients to the wet and put the chocolate chips in and on top of the muffins before they baked.
I do not use cupcake liners. And even though I butter or oil the cupcake tins, these muffins still stick pretty well. I would suggest maybe using silicon cupcake liners.
The below recipe has been adapted by Ambitious Kitchen:
Healthy Double Chocolate Zucchini Muffins
Recipe type: Muffins
Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 25 mins
Total time: 35 mins
INGREDIENTS
• 1 1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour or white whole wheat flour
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted and cooled
• 1/3 cup honey or agave nectar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 egg
• 1 egg white
• 1 cup shredded zucchini (about 1 medium)
• 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce (you can also use greek yogurt! I use 0% fage greek yogurt)
• 1/2 cup Almond Breeze Unsweetened Almond Milk (I use vanilla flavored)
• 1/2 cup regular or mini chocolate chips, dairy-free if desired
INSTRUCTIONS
1 Preaheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 12 cup muffin tin with cupcake liners and generously spray inside of liners with nonstick cooking spray.
2 Squeeze shredded zucchini of excess water with a paper towel. This is important, so don’t forget!
3 In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
4 In the bowl of an electric mixer, add coconut oil, honey, vanilla, egg and egg white; mix on medium-low until smooth and well combined. Add in zucchini, applesauce/yogurt, and almond milk; mix again. Slowly add in dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Gently fold in chocolate chips.
5 Evenly divide batter into prepared liners. Bake 22-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted into middle comes out clean. After 5 minutes, remove muffins and transfer to wire rack to finish cooling.
Nutrition Information
• Serves: 12
• Serving size: 1 muffin
• Calories: 160
• Fat: 6g
• Carbohydrates: 25g
• Sugar: 14g
• Fiber: 2.3g
• Protein: 3.4g
ENJOY!
