Make These NOW

These Vita-Top-inspired chocolate muffins are about to rock your world.

Chocolate and I are buds. We've walked together through many a trial and joy. I love chocolate but the truth is she's not reliable. (And she makes my butt fat.) So in the continuing spirit of responsible consumption (read: I do NOT need to eat every smiling cupcake or cookie that comes my way) I decided to give this flour-free, health-ified chocolate muffin recipe a try.

Please, please make these.

Double Chocolate Chip Muffins

Recipe slightly adapted from Dashing Dish

Makes 12 large muffins or 24 mini-muffins

Prep-time: 10 min

Cook time: 12-15 min

Ingredients

1-3/4 c old-fashioned oats

3 egg whites

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa

1/2 cup unsweetened organic applesauce

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 cup plain low-fat Greek yogurt  I used 0% Fage.

1/2 tsp cream of tartar 

1-1/2 tsp. baking powder

1-1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1 cup hot water

3/4 cup Raw Sugar 

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (OR you could use white chocolate OR peanut butter chips!) I used semi-sweet chocolate chips

*Foil cupcake liners, remove the inner paper lining (paper liners tend to stick to muffins!)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 (12-cup) muffin pans with foil cupcake liners. Set aside.
2. In a blender, (or food processor), mix all of the ingredients together, except for the chocolate chips. Blend until oats are ground and mixture is smooth.
3. Scoop mixture into prepared muffin pans. Gently sprinkle 1/2 of the chocolate chips evenly onto the mixture (set rest aside).
4. Place muffins tins in the oven for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, remove muffins from the oven (but don’t shut oven off), and distribute the other half of the chocolate chips on top of each muffin.
5. Place the muffins back into the oven and bake for an additional 2-5 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. *Note, you could skip this step by putting all of the chips in the batter, and baking the muffins for 12-15 min straight, but this method gives the muffins the traditional ‘VitaTop Muffin’ look with the chocolate chips on top!
6. Cool muffins before removing from pan.

My pans aren't usually so messy but this time I had a little accident while filling...I still can't talk about it.

I'll be honest, I was expecting a healthy chocolate muffin to taste, well, healthy. I had no idea what a batter containing oats, Greek yogurt, and applesauce would be like. NO idea...and I was scared. All my fears were relieved in the first bite though. These were decadent and rich with chocolate flavor. The cake is perfectly moist but not too sweet. I ate one for breakfast, another for a snack, and (oh what's that) another for dessert. Not really...but I could have.

I kid you not, drool is collecting in my mouth as we speak. I'm one of Pavlov's dogs.

I mean come on! 

Please make this simple, better-for-you, chocolate-inclusive recipe. You will be so glad you did.

Side note: It just occurred to me that a chia seed addition to the recipe might also be awesome. Or use quinoa instead of oats? Just some thoughts.

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