I’ve been baking for years now, but have never tasted any of my baked goods. Until Thursday.
Yep, you read that right. Tray after tray of mouthwatering cookies coming out of the oven, fresh hot aromatic garlic bread, delicious potato knishes…and I don’t taste it. I enjoy them through the enjoyment of my family and friends, but not on my own. It’s kind of sad, really, but I have been dieting longer than I have been baking.
Occasionally, even a hard core dieter needs a dessert, and that’s when I would turn to my local bakery. They sell whole wheat, sugar free, low fat muffins that are… well, ok. Barely. I didn’t buy them often, so I wasn’t all that concerned. Until last week, when I went to buy one and discovered they had raised the price. It was only by a quarter, but that 25 cents was enough to remind me why I don’t like their muffins to begin with.
That was the last straw. I walked out of the bakery and went home to bake my own healthy muffins. After searching the internet for a proper 100% whole wheat, 100% sugar free and honestly low fat muffin recipe, I came up empty. And, being the intrepid baker that I am, I set out to make my own.
Did I mention it was 12:30 AM? Did I mention I was capping off two of the most long and stressful weeks I had ever encountered? Did I mention that I had barely slept the night before? Well, now I did. Yeah, I am insane. But I wanted muffins. And once the idea popped into my head, I knew it couldn’t leave until I knew whether or not it would work.
It did. In the most gorgeously delicious way possible.
If you are trying to shed a couple of pounds, give these muffins a whirl- you’ll thank me later.
Ingredients:
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup (that’s it!) canola oil
1/4 cup agave syrup
2 eggs
1/2 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate flavored Soy Slender soy milk (or skim milk)
1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
18 packets splenda (or the equivilant of 3/4 cup sugar substitutes such as xylitol or truvia)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sugar-free chocolate chips, plus extra for sprinkling on top
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Line a muffin pan with paper muffin liners.
Mix together the applesauce, oil, agave, eggs, vanilla and skim milk/soy milk until well blended. In a small bowl, mix together the flour, cocoa, splenda, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir into liquids just enough to incorporate all ingredients. Gently fold in chocolate chips.
Fill muffin cups until the top. Sprinkle some chocolate chips over the muffins. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.
Best served warm- but try not to eat all 12 straight out of the oven! Stick the leftovers in the freezer and pop them in the microwave to warm up for a quick, last minute treat.
(Slightly based on this recipe by Erin, adapted from The Kitchenarian)
I would never eat this because of my life long fruit celibacy, but they look great! I am Also very impressed with this site, so clean and organized.
Hey Leah,
I forgot about the applesauce in it- use a little more oil instead?
Thanks for the compliments…you don’t usually give ’em so easily!
This is the first of your recipes I did not print out! Agave? Soy Slender? Whole wheat? Sugar free chocolate chips??
But I have to say…those muffins actually look good!
Hehe- we can’t all be naturally skinny! Glad to hear you’ve been enjoying the recipes though.
-Miriam
Wow, great chocolate muffins…and healthy!!!!!! look delicious!!!!! I’m adding to my must try list!!!!!!
Hi- welcome to my blog! Thanks for stopping by. I’m glad you like this recipe, hope you enjoy it!
-Miriam
A blogger and recipe after my own heart! These look totally amazing.
But I can’t believe you don’t usually eat your own baking. Have you ever tried putting carrot into choc muffins? A great way to lower the calories (it’s what I’ve done when I’ve over indulged and need to be good!).
Hi Aimee,
Thanks for stopping by, commenting and subscribing! I’m so new to food blogging, and it’s so nice to have people who like my blog!
It’s pretty tough to bake all kinds of delicious things without tasting them, but I’ve lost almost 80 pounds, so that makes it all worth it.
I haven’t tried adding veggies to my muffins- but I should. I know some people add zucchini with great success too. I love how this recipe came out, and I’m going to use it as a jumping board for other recipes.
-Miriam
Wow! How interesting. I’ll need to be trying these for sure to see how they come out!
I’m really intrigued by this recipe! They really do look good! My mom makes muffins with applesauce instead of oil all the time, and I love the texture that it creates!
Hi Erin!
I’ve always been skeptical of applesauce in baking, but I was pleasantly surprised! Will definitely be trying it again.
Love the idea of a healthy muffin! And a chocolate one at that!
Hi Erin,
Who can go wrong with chocolate, right?!?!
Those are the prettiest healthy muffins I’ve ever seen. I don’t know how you can resist eating your own baked goods.
Thanks Barbara! That’s such a nice compliment.
It’s tough resisting my own baked goods, but it’s easier when you look great and feel great to be motivated.
Beautiful looking muffin. Who said healthy can’t taste good and look good!
I make a banana bread that uses Greek yogurt instead of oil…perhaps you could even replace the little bit of oil in this recipe?
Hi A-
That might work- but I bake non-dairy so I can’t try it. Let me know if you do, though. 🙂 I’d love to hear how it comes out.
Miriam
These look really good for being healthy! i must try these!!
Thanks so much Jeanette! They really are delicious- and guilt free- what could be better?!
I made these this morning and substituted spelt for whole wheat flour and cacao for cocao powder although I did use regular chocolate chips. They are very yummy and my 3 daughters loved them. Thanks for sharing!
Love getting feedback on my recipes! Thank you for the comment. 🙂
They came out good, and best of all they satisfied my need to nosh AND kept me feeling full/satisfied all afternoon (well, I ate mine piecemeal) Thanks! Need more healthy nosh please!
Hi there! I discovered your blog through a friend of mine and wow am i impressed!! I am a huge foodie and love to bake, cook and concoct all sorts of edible creations! In this recipes, you wrote 3/4 c. of sugar substitute. Can use 3/4 c. splenda or do I need to use alot less??
Thanks, I’m glad you like the blog!
If you’re using granulated Splenda, use 3/4 cup. If using packets, you’ll need 18.
Enjoy the muffins!
Any idea on the carb count on these?
Looks delicious. Are you able to give us a gram count on the fat,fiber,carb and protien?
how many calories would u say one muffin would be?
I want to try this, but don’t want to give sugar substitutes to my young children. Would I use 3/4 c. white sugar? Or more agave?
Use regular sugar!
1. Nutritiondata.com or myfitnesspal.com can help with the numbers.
2. I don’t know about getting the agave syrup or soy slender milk. Any ideas on substitutes for either if these that would keep them large?
3. I like vanilla better than choc. Is there some way to make these vanilla w choc chips? Would I just leave out the coach powder?
If you have the time and can also email the answer to me it would be great.
Honey and regular soy milk should be fine.
Don’t leave out the cocoa. Rather, try one of my other healthy muffin flavors!
Hi Miriam!
I tried these today and they were really yummy! Thank you so much! I actually used vanilla rice milk and it was still super chocolatey. Also I got 16 regular-sized muffins out of it. Only thing: 15 min was not enough baking time. I had to bake for 25 min (just fyi). Keep these wholesome recipes coming please!
Hi! Just found this blog and loving it!! I would like to try this muffin recipe but I’m not a fan of agave so I don’t wanna buy a whole bottle of it for one recipe. Any chance I can substitute maybe honey?
Honey should work.
Hi Miriam- I googled healthy chocolate muffins and whose picture looked the best- yours. So I came to your website and thought it looked familiar- yup my classmate from good old BYM. I made them and they are delicious! I love your website.
these came out unreal! – only thing was it needed 20-25 mins =) thanks!
Glad you liked! The bake time can differ depending on the size of the muffins and how full you made them. Glad you enjoyed!
I can’t find soy slender but would still like to keep these sugar free. Any way to substitute for that? Or should I just try a different recipe?
I know this is an old post, but I just found it and made these muffins. I wanted a lighter, healthier version of a chocolate muffin, and these are it! Sometimes the lighter muffin recipes come out with a gummy texture, but these have a great, light texture. Can’t even tell that they’re not the full sugar/oil version of a muffin.
I used regular sugar, but reduced to half a cup, maple syrup instead of agave, unsweetened almond milk, and regular chocolate chips.
Thanks Miriam, this is a keeper!