First things first: these are the most chocolatey, scrumptious, tender-crumbed chocolate chip muffins you could possibly make.
They have many virtues but just because they are good doesn’t make them any less indulgent.
For a start they’re vegan so you don’t need eggs (which are in short supply in some places at the moment), they only need 75g flour (also hard to come by) and the recipe makes 6 small muffins (so hopefully avoiding food waste and the temptation of chocolate chip muffins lasting for a week!)
These came about because I bought some coconut yogurt (made from coconut, not coconut-flavoured dairy yogurt) a while ago, hoping to wean myself off my favourite Greek yogurt but couldn’t quite get into it so I thought I’d try to bake with it.
I use coconut yogurt and coconut oil for these muffins but my 3-year-old loves them which goes to show that they don’t taste remotely of coconut.
(I was actually disappointed that the flavour of coconut didn’t come through as I liked the idea of a Bounty-style muffin so I’ll have to revisit them at some stage ….)
I haven’t tried making them with dairy yogurt yet but I’d hazard a guess that it would work just as well. However, the starting point for this recipe was my little light yogurt cakes so if you have a small pot of natural dairy yogurt and want guaranteed success, check out that recipe instead.
Note: You can use decaf coffee if you want to avoid the caffeine.
You’ll need a muffin tin and paper muffin cases
Ingredients
- 75g plain flour
- 25g cocoa powder
- 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 60g dark muscovado sugar
- 1/4 cup (60ml) coffee, cooled
- 40g coconut oil
- 1/2 cup (120g) coconut yogurt (unsweetened)
- 1/4 cup (50g) dark chocolate chips (or chopped dark chocolate)
Makes 6 small muffins
Method
Turn your oven on to 170°C and pop 6 paper muffin cases into a muffin tin.
In a bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder and bicarbonate of soda with a whisk.
In a separate small bowl, weigh out the sugar and pour the coffee on top. Stir them together. This should help get rid of any lumps in the muscovado sugar.
Measure out the coconut oil and melt it if it’s solid. (I pop it in the microwave for 45-60 seconds).
Now pour the coffee and sugar mixture and the coconut oil into the bowl of dry ingredients and add the coconut yogurt. Use the whisk to bring them together until you have a smooth batter.
Finally, stir in the chocolate chips.
Spoon or scoop the batter into the muffin cases and bake for 20-25 minutes, until the top of a muffin spring back when touched.
Keep the muffins in an airtight container for a couple of days or so. (They’ve never lasted longer than 2 days in my house so I can’t tell you exactly when they go past their best!)