Healthy Chocolate Muffins

Wow, it feels like it's been forever since I last posted. We just came out of spring break and are slowly easing back into things with school. When trying to decide what I wanted to make this week I knew that it had to be something easy, delicious, healthy, and convenient. It's currently Thursday and like I said in my first recipe post, we've hit the end-of-week fridge emptiness. What does that mean? Well it basically means that we have a half carton of eggs, some milk, and a couple of veggies in our fridge. So, whatever I was going to make this week had to use limited ingredients. And that's when I stumbled upon Chocolate Covered Katie's Low-Fat Chocolate Muffins. 

I'm a stickler for a good muffin and after eating a really heavy lunch from our favorite local Japanese restaurant, I knew that these light-looking, easy on the stomach treats were going to be perfect if they worked out. And sure enough, THEY DID! These are absolutely incredible and a must-have after school snack, mid-day boost,  and late-night treat. Just a forewarning, they do not taste like a classic chocolate muffin. They are healthy and naturally taste a little different. But, they are divine nonetheless! Here's what you'll need to make them:

1/3 cup milk of choice (I used oat milk) 

2 tbsp yogurt, or sub coconut cream or mashed banana (I used fat-free Greek yogurt) 

3 tbsp oil, or additional yogurt (I just used more fat-free Greek yogurt) 

1 tbsp vinegar (I used apple cider vinegar, but I think that white vinegar would work too) 

2 tsp pure vanilla extract

3/4 cup flour

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt, just over level

1/2 cup sugar, unrefined if desired (I used coconut sugar) 

optional 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips (I just used a couple of Trader Joe's 72% Dark Chocolate chips in each muffin)

1. The first thing you'll need to do is combine your milk, yogurt (or alternative), vinegar, and vanilla extract in a bowl. Now when I first saw that this recipe required vinegar, I'm not gonna lie I was a little weirded out. But, I think the whole point of the vinegar is that once it is given time to sit with the other liquids, it reacts in someway that makes the muffin much lighter and airier. So, I trusted the process. Sure enough, after some time, the mixture got much lighter in weight. 

 2. Next, while the wet ingredients are sitting, start combining your dry ingredients. This is your flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt, and sugar of choice. 

3. After around ten minutes, you add your wet ingredients into your dry ingredients and mix until a batter forms. Mine felt a little too thick for muffin batter, so I just added a little water to loosen everything up.

4. Then, just spoon your batter into some muffin liners, press a couple of chocolate chips into each one (if you'd like), and bake at 350 degrees for about 12-14 minutes. 

5. When they come out of the oven, the chocolate chips will be all melty and the muffin will be wonderfully light and warm. If they are not too hot, I would definitely recommend splitting one open right then, pouring a class of cold milk, and enjoying while they are fresh out of the oven!