Whole Foods Chocolate-Zucchini Muffins
The longer my family lives a plant-based lifestyle, the more committed I become to eliminating processed and refined food. As I’ve previously posted, I am constantly tweaking recipes to see if I can make them a wee bit healthier. One of the easiest ways is to replace the sugar with dates. I mentioned some of my successes in my The Sugar Problem: What’s the Sweet Solution? post. The original Chocolate-Zucchini-Banana Muffin recipe, while delicious, doesn’t need sugar–it tastes the same when made with dates!
I love to make these as mini-muffins, keep them in the freezer, and use them as the “dessert” in my daughter’s lunch for the local Mother’s Day Out program. Banana, zucchini, applesauce, and dates–oh, ya!
- 1 + ¼ cups whole-wheat flour
- ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa
- 1 + ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 ripe banana
- ½ cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1 cup lightly soaked, pitted dates (Sun-Maid sells bags by the raisins in the grocery store)
- ⅓ cup warm water
- ¼ cup non-dairy milk
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup shredded zucchini (or yellow squash)
- ¼ cup vegan chocolate chips (like Ghiradelli Semi-Sweet)
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a food processor, blend banana, dates, water, and applesauce until smooth, stopping to scrape the sides a few times. Pour this mixture into a large bowl.
- Add the milk, vanilla, and zucchini. Stir well.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon.
- Add the dry mixture into the wet mixture in 3 batches, stirring until just combined.
- Fold in chocolate chips.
- Spoon into greased 12-muffin tin until cups are ¾ full. Bake for 18-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
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