Delicious Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

Who does not like muffins?

For a lot of us, muffins or any other sweet bread treat is a comfort or social type of food. They are puffy, they are sweet and they suit fantastically good with your coffee or tea!

But, what we also know is that traditional sweet bread treats are probably not the healthiest option. And that most of these treats contain refined sugar and refined flour. That definitely does not sound healthy at all.

But is there a way to make this treat healthy and yet enjoy it the same way as the traditional ones?

Yes, there is.

Delicious Chocolate Zucchini Muffins recipe is a healthier way to cook your favourite dessert.

Healthier Ingredient List

A lot of ingredients in the traditional baking could be substituted with the healthier options.

Let me give you an example.

What would you normally use to bake traditional muffins?

Let me guess:

• Refined wheat flour
• Refined sugar
• Butter
• Eggs
• Baking powder
• Salt
• Some add-ons (like zucchini and chocolate chips in our recipe).

It might sound that there are no real substitutes for the first three ingredients? But indeed there are plenty of healthier options. For example:

• Refined wheat flour can be substituted with almond flour or coconut flour
• Refined sugar can be substituted with the natural sweeteners like pure maple syrup, raw honey or pure leaf stevia extract
• Butter can be substituted with coconut oil or ghee.

In our recipe we will be using the following substitutes:

• Almond flour
• Pure maple syrup
• Coconut oil

Why Are These Ingredients Healthier?

Now that we know some of the main ingredients substitutes let’s see how these new ingredients are better than the traditional ones.

Almond flour

As you can guess, almond flour is made of almonds!

Almonds have a rich nutritional profile. For example, 100 grams of almonds contains (1):

• Calories: 590
• Total Fat: 53 g where 4 g is saturated fat
• Dietary Fiber: 9.9 g
• Protein: 21 g
• Vitamin B1 (Thiamine): 13%
• Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin): 42%
• Vitamin B3 (Niacin): 18%
• Vitamin E: 79%
• Copper: 51%
• Calcium: 24%
• Iron: 18%
• Manganese: 92%
• Magnesium: 67%
• Phosphorus: 48%
• Zink: 20%

As you can see almonds are packed with nutrients and minerals that could have a certain impact on our health, in particular, almonds could:

• Help lower blood pressure
• Help lower blood sugar
• Lower cholesterol level
• Prevent from oxidation (that could lead to cancer)
• Make your skin look shiny.

Pure maple syrup

Even though the pure maple syrup is a sweetener along with sugar, it is a non-refined product that contains some useful Vitamins and Minerals. For example, 100 grams of Canadian pure maple syrup contains (2):

• Calories: 270
• Sugar:60 g
• Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin): 75%
• Manganese: 115%

Pure maple syrup has a lower glycemic index compared with refined sugar that could have a positive impact on blood sugar levels. However, the maple syrup is still a sweetener and should be consumed in limited amounts.

Coconut oil

Coconut oil is rich in saturated fats. And we all heard that saturated fats will raise cholesterol that we all are so scared about.

But did you know that there are two types of cholesterol: HDL (or ‘good’ cholesterol) and LDL (or ‘bad’ cholesterol).

Coconut oil contains natural saturated fats that increase HDL cholesterol and may turn LDL cholesterol into a less harmful form.

Also, fats in coconut oil consist of medium chain triglycerides (MCTs), that are shorter than many other fats. What it means for you, is that these fats are getting processed faster in the liver and provide you with the quick source of energy.

Delicious Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

Now that we discussed some of the substitutes here is Delicious Chocolate Zucchini Muffins Recipe.

Ingredients

• 1.5 cup of almond flour
• 3 eggs
• 1/3 cup of pure maple syrup
• 1/4 cup of coconut oil, melted
• 1 cup of zucchini, grated
• 1 tsp of cacao powder
• 1 tsp of baking powder
• 1/3 tsp of salt

Instructions

• Turn in the oven to 350F (180C)
• In a medium bowl beat the eggs with maple syrup and melted coconut oil
• Squeeze extra liquid from grated zucchini and add to the mixture, mix well
• Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well
• Bake for 20-25 minutes

Enjoy!