Recently, the only vegan muffin in White Rock became unavailable when Small Rituals, a cute local coffee shop, shut their doors. The muffin itself wasn’t fantastic, but if you’ve read the post ‘Vegan in the Burbs’ you’ll understand that I’m in a ‘beggers can’t be choosers’ position out here!

So, to satisfy my addiction, my new holistic nutritionist, Whitney Calibaba, gave me a recipe for vegan chocolate zucchini muffins.  After ample muffin dough and chocolate-chip munching, I’m left wondering if I should leave the baking to Bridget. The recipe called for 12 minutes of baking time. But the toothpick didn’t come out clean until 55 minutes in the oven! I couldn’t fathom putting 1 1/4 cups of sugar into eight muffins, so I put in 1/4 cup instead. I grated the zucchini, but I think they must have meant the smaller gratey thing, because it looks like shredded cheese is mixed in with the chocolate. It said to beat the liquids until frothy, but they were more like…lumpy.

However, to my pleasant surprise, they turned out pretty good. My sister, manager AND non-vegan fiance all said they were delicious. That counts right? With no further ado, here is the recipe:

2½ cups (355 gm/12½ oz) flour (2 cups spelt, 1/2 cup brown rice)
4 tbsp (60 ml) cocoa powder
1/2 tsp (3 ml) baking powder
1/2 tsp (3 ml) ground cinnamon
1 tsp (5 ml) baking soda
1/4 cup (65 gm) butter/ coconut oil
1/2 cup (125 ml) apple sauce
1 1/4 cups (420 gm) natural sugar of choice (I used dark cane sugar and cut to about 1/4 cup)
2 large eggs/ egg replacer (this stuff was weird, but apparently it worked)
1 tsp (5ml) vanilla extract
1/2 cup (125 ml) almond/ hemp milk w/ 1 tsp apple cider vinegar (didn’t have acv, is that why they took so long to bake??)
2 cups (500 ml) grated zucchini (packed)
1/2 cup (125 ml) chocolate chips

METHOD:

Heat oven to 325°F or 160°C.
Line mini muffin tins (I used coconut oil)

Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, cinnamon and baking soda, and set aside.
Cream coconut oil in a large mixer bowl with the sugar and apple sauce, add ‘eggs’, milk and vanilla and beat until smooth and fluffy.
Gradually add the flour mixture, beating until smooth.
Stir in the grated zucchini and the chocolate chips.
Pour into the muffin tins and cook for 12 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Like I said, I cooked them for 55 minutes, so you best be getting your toothpicks ready.