Recently I’ve been messing around with a lot of healthy recipes in the kitchen. Since i’m in culinary school now, there is no question that we use an absurd amount of butter, oil, cream and salt in almost everything we cook. Chef will say, and add “a little bit of buttah” (french accent included) and he slaps a huge dollop of butter right in the pan. It would make your heart stop sometimes. And I can’t not eat what we make. Especially because I have to taste, and taste, and taste as I go, like any good chef should; which is probably why I gained a solid 5 pounds in my first month and a half of school. YIKES. So, I’ve been trying to at least keep it light at home to balance out the glutinous grub we prepare at school.
These muffins definitely do the trick. They are super light, without compromising on flavor. And it amazes me that they don’t have any flour in them. You still get a little after taste of artificial sweetener, but that is to be expected when your working with things like truvia, stevia and splenda. One day maybe those sweeteners will really taste like sugar. So if you aren’t a fan of that taste, I would say replace half of the artificial sugar with regular sugar, to still keep the recipe low in calories but more natural in taste.
With this recipe I was able to make 16 muffins, which makes each 76 calories a pop. HELLO! You definitely can’t beat that! You can eat two of them! Even 3. It also makes an excellent snack during the day when your looking for something more indulgent than a plain old granola bar. I found this recipe from a blog called Dashing Dish. For some reason, she calls them triple chocolate muffins, even though there are only 2 types of chocolate (cocoa and the chips). I also assume her muffin tins are bigger than mine as well, because I was able to produce 16 perfectly sized muffins from the recipe, rather than 12, which made these lower in calories per muffin.
- 1¾ cup old fashioned rolled oats (or quick)
- ½ cup liquid egg whites
- ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- ½ cup unsweetened apple sauce (or one single serving container)
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- ½ cup non fat greek yogurt (I used Fage 0%)
- 2 tsp. vinegar
- 1½ tsp baking powder
- 1½ tsp. baking soda
- ¼ tsp. salt
- 1 cup hot water
- ½ cup splenda (or other sugar substitute)
- ½ cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
- Preheat the oven to 350 F
- In a blender or food processor, blend all of the ingredients (excluding the chocolate chips) until smooth and lump free
- Fold half of the chocolate chips into the batter
- With a cookie/ice cream scoop, fill cupcake liners about ¾ full.
- Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and sprinkle the remaining chocolate chips on top. Put the muffins back into the oven for 3 minutes more.
- Let the muffins cool completely before transferring to a plate or rack
Looks so AMAZING!!!!! And you don’t even have to feel bad about eating them… 😉
I am seriously craving one of these chocolate chip muffins right now.. and the best thing about them is how healthy they are! Thanks for the great recipe!
Is it 1/2 cup of Splenda or 1/2 of a packet? There wasn’t a measurement listed. These look really good, so I want to be sure I’m making them correctly! 🙂
Hi Rebecca! It’s actually 1/2 cup of Splenda. You could also try 1/4 cup of regular sugar and a 1/4 cup of Splenda, if you aren’t a huge fan of that artificial sweetener taste (although, of course that would change the calorie content a little!). I made the correction in the original recipe. Thanks so much for noticing the mistake!
Thanks so much! These look delicious!
hi! These look yummy and I want to make them, but the sodium content seems really high? Is there a mistake with that number?
Thanks!
Hi Becky,
The amount of sodium is correct because it’s necessary for leavening. I did a little research and apparently potassium bicarbonate is a great alternative for sodium free baking if you want to give that a try instead. You could also try beating and egg white until it has reached soft peak stage and fold it in (and for increased stability you can add a touch of cream of tartar). I haven’t tried any of these methods, but I would love to know if you do and if they are successful!
– Suzie
I think she means the 3000 plus my listed her muffin in the nutritional analysis….that is not correct.
You are definitely right, thank you for pointing that out. It’s way too high. I think when I originally did the calculation it was for the entire recipe rather than per serving.
What flavor of yogurt do you use? Plain?
yes, I just used plain but i’m sure vanilla or chocolate would be delicious as well!
Can I just use whole eggs instead of egg whites? Thanks! 🙂
I’ve never tried the recipe with whole eggs, but you could try subbing the whites for one egg instead and see how it turns out. However, that will change the nutritional value somewhat (but probably not by too much)
Thank you so much for this recipe. It has saved my husband and I many late night trips to the store for those junk food cravings. 10/10 would recommend! 🙂
you are so welcome! Thank you!
Hey I love the recipe but I don’t use splenda can I use honey or maybe fruits instead ??? thank you for your time..
These look awesome! what kind of vinegar is it that you use?
I think that would be a delicious substitute. I would try both! pureed raspberries would be delicious, or bananas for volume. Let me know how it turns out! I might want to test out my own version now that you mention it…
I use regular white distilled vinegar
what if i don’t have ready apple souce where i live do i have to use it? or what can i use istead of honey?
If you have maple syrup (preferable high quality) that would be a delicious alternative. You could also try using mashed pineapple or banana. Just remember any changes will alter the nutritional value of the recipe somewhat. Let me know what you end up doing and how to turns out!
I was wondering if I could use sugar in the raw instead of splenda. I know it will change the nutrition value but maybe not by much right?
you can definitely give it a try! I’m trying to steer clear of using stevia these days myself, so I might give it a try as well. Let me know how it turns out!
I have both powder and liquid stevia … Would these be suitable alternatives? How much would I use?
I don’t have a ton of experience with stevia. However, I do know that liquid stevia is incredibly strong, so I would ere on the side of caution and perhaps look up some conversions online? Hope this helps!
Hi. Instead of 1/2 cup or splenda, what are some other sugar substitutes? Does honey count? and if so how much would I use?
Hi Georgie, I’m sure honey would be fine. I think a 1/4 cup of honey would work, but I’ve never done it personally so I can’t make any promises. I’m trying to use more natural ingredients these days myself so let me know how it turns out! (it’s also important to note that Splenda is much sweeter than regular sugar so you might want to adjust for that as well)
You may find this article helpful as well: http://www.thekitchn.com/4-rules-for-successfully-swapping-honey-for-sugar-in-any-baked-goods-230156
I loved these! Made them toady 4/1/17. I send the Splenda blend which is part Splenda part sugar. I beat the egg whites with cream of tarter. I used half quick and half old fashioned oats. My husband and I loved them! Because I beat the egg whites it made the volume larger. So I got more than 16 muffins.
We absolutely make these again!
These are a staple in my Sunday meal prep. A must have at our house.
hi i really like this recipe. i just wanted to ask why do u think my muffins rarely rise? my first try of this recipe was amazing, yummy fluffy-a bit crumbly- dark chocolate muffins……even when i omitted the choco chips….but 2nd try was awful , they tasted like cooked weird sour batter cups, no rise just awful and had to throw them ALL….then 3rd try for which i had to muddle up some courage and time came to be not bad, some rose and some didnt as tho they had decided not to rise or something…..why is this happening even when im following the recipe to the T….? can you help?
Thank you for sharing this! Definitely going to try this one! I’m pretty sure my kid’s going to love this! Love it!
These look so good! I will be making these on my birthday soon. Thank you for sharing this recipe!
I made these muffins today and one thing I changed was using 1/2 cup of sugar instead of splenda. This is becoz when I first made using 1/4 and they weren’t sweet enough for me. I halved the recipe. Otherwise you’d have to use 3/4.
And I also used 1 whole egg and half an egg white instead of just egg whites , and added 1/2 tsp of coffee to the hot water.
The muffins (which I made a little larger) baked well in 15-16 minutes and I just ate some crumbs, they seem to taste good too.
I don’t know if this blog is deserted now but I love this recipe. And the pics too. And this time I followed the recipe to the T mostly so now my muffs look so much like your pics. Also I think the quantity of the cocoa is a bit too much. If someone is using Dutch processed cocoa powder, then 1/2 cup is sufficient. Just my opinion 🤗