Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Chocolate Euphoria

 It’s another bright, sunny and overall awesome day in the T-dot-Oh (as some of my followers on Twitter call it) and while I’m sure the majority of us are stuck inside I can’t wait to get to the market with my mom on Friday! If my classmates are any indication of the opinions on the Summer’s infancy, there’s a buzz of both excitement that it looks like a great gardening season up ahead, and gratefulness that the air conditioning in our building is (as always) jacked up to the gazillions.

For me, I’d rather be anywhere but in the cold classroom – preferably puttering in our garden which is full of promise thanks to the rain and now sun and warmth, even though it’s still in its infancy. Though I’m not entirely sure what edibles the rest of the family are planting this year, I know I have four delicious types of heirloom tomatoes (including one kind that looks like a bunch of grapes!), two heirloom carrots (purple and red!) and Chioggia beets in the veggie garden (plus my Egyptian onion, rhubarb bush and a nice patch of Jerusalem artichokes!). Herb-wise, thanks to some savvy gardeners on Twitter that helped me out, lemon balm, borage, catnip, lemon thyme, garlic, rosemary, horseradish and pineapple sage! Hopefully I eventually figure out how to use all of those somewhere along the line – though I’m sure that you foodie gardeners out there (or readers who know some!) can help me out.

So with such an awesome day in play already, how could I possibly make it better?? Well, how about some intensely rich, flavourful muffins with not one, not two, but five forms of chocolate flavour tucked inside? Melted right into the batter, chocolate soy milk, unsweetened cocoa powder and (of course) two kinds of chips show up here. I did fling in a few “healthy” ingredients too, but really, it’s all about the chocolate euphoria. Oh, yes – these are a PMSing woman’s best friend (or worst enemy if you prefer to be pessimistic).

Chocolate Euphoria Muffins
*Note: If you don't have chia seed, 1/4 cup of ground flaxseed will work just as well
Makes 6 jumbo or 12 regular muffins
3 tbsp chia seed
1/3 cup boiling water
1 cup flour
1/3 cup Kamut flour
1/3 cup rolled oats (not instant)
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
5 oz semisweet chocolate
¼ cup canola oil
1/3 cup white sugar
¼ cup dark brown sugar
1 tbsp vanilla
1 cup chocolate soy milk
½ cup vanilla soy yogurt
1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
½ cup mini (vegan) white chocolate chips
  1. Preheat oven to 350°F, grease a jumbo muffin pan (or line with paper cups).
  2. Stir together chia seed and boiling water, set aside for 10 minutes.
  3. In a small bowl, whisk together flours, oats, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
  4. In a large bowl in the microwave, or over a double boiler, melt the chocolate. Remove from heat.
  5. Stir in the canola oil until well blended, followed by the chia seed mixture, sugars and vanilla.
  6. Combine the chocolate soy milk and the soy yogurt, set aside.
  7. Beginning and ending with the dry ingredients, alternate additions of the flour and milk mixtures, stirring to just combine.
  8. Fold in chocolate chips.
  9. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until they test done.

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 335.9
Total Fat: 16.7 g
Cholesterol: 1.0 mg
Sodium: 45.5 mg
Total Carbs: 49.2 g
Dietary Fiber: 4.0 g
Protein: 5.3 g

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