Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

Muffins are probably one of my favorite things to bake for several reasons.  First, you can enjoy them throughout the day.  Muffins are great for breakfast, snacks, or dessert.  You can also crumble a muffin and add it to a yogurt bowl.  You can even add different toppings to muffins like peanut butter, jelly, icings, or other frostings.

Second, they freeze well.  If you live alone and can't eat them all or want to make a double batch so you have some already made for in the future, you can just individually wrap them in saran wrap, put them in a ziplock bag, and keep them in the freezer.  Then you can take one out the night before to thaw, or if you want one immediately you can simply reheat it in the microwave or oven.

Third, you can easily get some fruits and veggies from muffins and this recipe is one example of how to get some veggies into your muffins using zucchini.

This recipe was adapted from Happy Herbivore.  I made some changes to the original recipe to make them gluten free.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp oat flour
• 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp sorghum flour
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 1 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 banana, mashed
• 1/2 cup raw sugar
• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1/4 cup almond milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup shredded zucchini

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F and prepare muffin pan with paper liners.
2. Whisk together flours, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a medium bowl.
3. In a small bowl, cream banana with the raw sugar and applesauce.
4. Stir in almond milk, vanilla extract, and zucchini.
5. Add flour mixture to wet ingredients in small batches, stirring until just combined.
6. Spoon batter into prepared muffin pan and bake for about 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Of all the muffin recipes I have made, these are by far my favorite.  They were moist, soft, and cake-like and even though they are chocolate, they have banana and zucchini, no oil, and only 1/2 cup sugar, so they can definitely be enjoyed at any time of the day with no-guilt.

This recipe makes 12 muffins.

Based on using Bob's Red Mill brand for the oat flour and sorghum flour and original Silk PureAlmond Milk, 1 muffin yields approximately 98 calories and 3g protein.