Anytime is chocolate muffin time. Seriously! A quick and easy snack, muffins are a glorified bake and take dessert in my household. It's portable, it's portion controlled and who doesn't love chocolate?
This recipe for chocolate applesauce muffin was borne out of an apple overdose, of which a wonderful jar of applesauce was made. Just peel, core and quarter the ripe apples, pop them into a slow cooker, and cook on low for 4 - 6 hours, depending on the quantity. Stir sometimes. Done. No sugar and no spice required, as it will mostly be an ingredient in baking.
A wonderful (partial) replacement for oil or butter, you can usually substitute it by 1:1 in muffins, cakes or quick breads. It works like fat in baking by hindering the complete absorption of flour into the wet ingredients, avoiding a tough and rubbery texture of your baked good. Kinda like magic ... a boon to health conscious bakers. 'Wink, wink'
So next time your apples are on the verge of being tossed into the compost bin, please make applesauce. You not only extend the life of the apple, you get healthful treats and bakes, but more importantly, you avoid food waste ... Score!!!
So you don't have applesauce now, and neither do you have ripe apples in order to make this chocolate applesauce muffin. Now what? Well what you do have is an inspo, maybe also a primer for healthful substitutions. And an enticing photo of a chocolate muffin to remind you about the magic of applesauce, and that you don't need all that oil and/or butter to make a fabulous baked good.
Ingredients:
75g (3/4 cup) Dutch-processed cocoa
150 g (1-1/4 cup) all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 eggs, at room temperature
150 g (3/4 cup) granulated sugar
150 g (3/4 cup) light brown sugar
60 ml (1/4 cup) vegetable oil
60 ml (1/4 cup) applesauce
2 tsp vanilla extract
175 ml (3/4 cup) buttermilk, at room temperature
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 175C or 350F.
2. Line 2 muffin pans with paper cases.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together cocoa, flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
4. In a large bowl, beat the eggs and the sugars until light and fluffy.
5. To that, add the oil, applesauce and vanilla extract, beating until well incorporated.
6. Fold in the flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with the buttermilk in 2 batches. Begin and end with the flour.
The resulting batter will be a bit runny, but that's ok.
7. Fill the paper cases up to 3/4th full, then bake for 15-20 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
8. Remove from the oven and let rest in the pan for 10 minutes, before removing them to cool completely on a wire rack.
I guarantee that if you have kids in the vicinity, they'll all be lining up in the kitchen now ;)
Enjoy!
This recipe for chocolate applesauce muffin was borne out of an apple overdose, of which a wonderful jar of applesauce was made. Just peel, core and quarter the ripe apples, pop them into a slow cooker, and cook on low for 4 - 6 hours, depending on the quantity. Stir sometimes. Done. No sugar and no spice required, as it will mostly be an ingredient in baking.
A wonderful (partial) replacement for oil or butter, you can usually substitute it by 1:1 in muffins, cakes or quick breads. It works like fat in baking by hindering the complete absorption of flour into the wet ingredients, avoiding a tough and rubbery texture of your baked good. Kinda like magic ... a boon to health conscious bakers. 'Wink, wink'
So next time your apples are on the verge of being tossed into the compost bin, please make applesauce. You not only extend the life of the apple, you get healthful treats and bakes, but more importantly, you avoid food waste ... Score!!!
So you don't have applesauce now, and neither do you have ripe apples in order to make this chocolate applesauce muffin. Now what? Well what you do have is an inspo, maybe also a primer for healthful substitutions. And an enticing photo of a chocolate muffin to remind you about the magic of applesauce, and that you don't need all that oil and/or butter to make a fabulous baked good.
Ingredients:
75g (3/4 cup) Dutch-processed cocoa
150 g (1-1/4 cup) all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 eggs, at room temperature
150 g (3/4 cup) granulated sugar
150 g (3/4 cup) light brown sugar
60 ml (1/4 cup) vegetable oil
60 ml (1/4 cup) applesauce
2 tsp vanilla extract
175 ml (3/4 cup) buttermilk, at room temperature
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 175C or 350F.
2. Line 2 muffin pans with paper cases.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together cocoa, flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
4. In a large bowl, beat the eggs and the sugars until light and fluffy.
5. To that, add the oil, applesauce and vanilla extract, beating until well incorporated.
6. Fold in the flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with the buttermilk in 2 batches. Begin and end with the flour.
The resulting batter will be a bit runny, but that's ok.
7. Fill the paper cases up to 3/4th full, then bake for 15-20 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
8. Remove from the oven and let rest in the pan for 10 minutes, before removing them to cool completely on a wire rack.
I guarantee that if you have kids in the vicinity, they'll all be lining up in the kitchen now ;)
Enjoy!
