Decadent, healthier chocolate chip muffins have a hidden ingredient that kids won’t notice – zucchini! You won’t believe that these muffins contain no refined sugar or oil!
Do you know someone who struggles to eat their vegetables? I certainly do. She’s 5 and pretends like she rules the house. While Addie is a good eater overall, she doesn’t like to eat her vegetables at home. She knows that we have a pantry full of other snacks and food. At school, she cleans her plate. If she doesn’t eat what she’s given there, then she goes hungry. Smart girl. Maybe a little too smart.
We received a plethora of zucchini in recent CSA delivery. We grilled one for dinner, I made our favorite eggless chocolate chip zucchini muffins with another, and still had more zucchini to use up. Addie was so enamored with the previous zucchini muffins that she got a bit feisty when I told her that there was zucchini in them. “There is no zucchini in there, Mommy!” OK, whatever you say.
We ate that last batch of zucchini muffins so quickly that it was time to bake up another. Because I ran out of coconut oil, I tried to find another recipe. This one only included 2 Tablespoons of oil, so I replaced it with some unsalted butter.
These muffins looked more like chocolate muffins, so I knew Addie would love these. My little chocoholic-in-training didn’t even notice that there was zucchini in these. And you know what – neither did I. The cocoa powder disguised the zucchini almost perfectly that one would think that these were just full-fat double chocolate muffins.
These healthier muffins were nice and springy and did not produce any crumbs when bit into. Each bite contained lots of chocolate flavor from the chips and cocoa. I seriously would not guess that these were healthy or full of zucchini. This is a recipe that is definitely here to stay.
Double chocolate zucchini muffins
Ingredients
- 1 and ¼ cup white whole wheat flour can substitute all-purpose
- 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 Tablespoons coconut oil I ran out and subbed with 2 Tablespoons of unsalted butter
- 1/3 cup honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 egg
- 1 egg white
- 1 cup shredded zucchini about 1 medium, squeezed to drain out liquid
- ¼ cup unsweetened applesauce
- ½ cup milk of choice
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
- Generously grease a muffin pan and set it aside (I used a silicone muffin pan and did not grease it).
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a large bowl if using a handheld mixer, beat the coconut oil, honey, vanilla, egg and egg white together on medium speed until well incorporated, about 2 minutes.
- Add the zucchini, applesauce and milk and mix well.
- Turn the mixer down to low and slowly add the dry ingredients. Mix until everything just comes together - do not over mix.
- Turn the mixer off and fold in the chocolate chips by hand.
- Transfer the batter into your prepared muffin pan and fill each one about 3/4 full. If desired, add a few more chocolate chips on top for a prettier muffin.
- Bake in your preheated oven for 22-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow the muffins to cool before serving.