No-guilt chocolate chip muffins

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 from Dashing Dish 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

1-1/2 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. I would recommend using mini-chips as they distribute more evenly in the batter and don't fall to the bottom of the tins. 

*Foil cupcake liners, remove the paper liners as they tend to stick.)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 (12-cup) muffin pans with liners. Set aside.
2. In a blender, (or food processor...I used this immersion blender). Combine all ingredients except chocolate chips and blend until mixture is smooth.
3. Scoop mixture into prepared muffin pans and sprinkle 1/2 of the chocolate chips evenly into the tins. Stir gently with a toothpick or leave alone (chips should settle slightly).
4. Place muffins tins in the oven for about 10 minutes then remove them from the oven (but don’t shut off) and sprinkle other half of the chocolate chips on the top.
5. Place the muffins back into the oven and bake for an additional 2-5 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
6. Cool muffins before removing from pan.

*This post contains an Amazon.com affiliate link which means that Amazon offers me a small commission on products sold through their affiliate links, at no additional cost to the reader.

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.


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