While I dream of having a full time job has a food blogger someday, whipping up recipes day in and day out, the current reality is that I'm an engineer (gotta pay the bills to buy all this food somehow). At my office, we have a quarky birthday tradition: when it is your birthday, you bring in treats for the office. A backwards tradition that I've actually grown fond of.
Things are starting to get more serious with my figure prep as I near being just 9 weeks out. What fun is bringing in birthday treats if the birthday girl herself can't eat them?? This pushed me to get creative with my baking!
First to come to mind was cupcakes. I love baking cupcakes and have created some pretty fantastic cakes in years past. The best part of a cupcake, in my opinion, is the frosting/topping. You know what makes it so good? BUTTER.
I would have LOVED to make a full fat birthday treat, however, I have my eyes set to my goal. So what if I ditched the frosting? What is a cupcake without frosting? Ah yes - a muffin.
I knew I wanted a healthy dose of chocolate and I'd also been craving some Holiday inspired. What pairs better during the holiday season than chocolate and peppermint? Now, this is a stretch to call this delicious creation a muffin. Most often muffins are thought of as a breakfast food. These can easily pass for dessert. I did put my signature spin on these and added in protein powder, so that counts for "breakfast"...right?
I brought 3 dozen of these into my office and they were eaten up in record speed. If you are looking for a crowd-pleasing dessert to serve up this holiday season that tastes like it is a decadent treat but is actually low fat, gluten free and packed with protein, do yourself a favor and bake up a batch of these Double Chocolate Peppermint Protein Muffins!
Double Chocolate Peppermint Protein Muffins
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Bake Time: 15 minutes
Servings: 12 muffins
Ingredients:
- 1-1/3 cup Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour (198 g)
- 2/3 cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder (55 g)
- 1/4 cup Coconut Palm Sugar (48 g)
- 1/2 cup Chocolate Whey Protein (60 g) - I use True Nutrition's Chocolate Fudge Brownie Whey Isolate
- 2 tsp Baking Powder
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 3/4 cup Coconut Milk Beverage (in the paper cartons) - soy, almond or cashew milk would also work!
- 1/4 cup Nonfat Greek Yogurt
- 2 Eggs
- 1-1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1/2 cup Chocolate Chips
- 2 Candy Canes, crushed
Kitchen Tools:
- Muffin tin
- Stand mixer or electric hand mixer
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 425°F. Prepare muffin tin by spraying with oil or brushing with a small bit of butter. Prepare candy canes by placing them within a plastic Ziploc bag and crushing with a rolling pin (this part can get fun).
- In a medium bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, sugar, protein, baking powder and salt. Whisk to combine.
- In a stand mixer (or large bowl with hand mixer), combine coconut milk, Greek yogurt, eggs, and vanilla. Whisk until light and fluffy, about 1 minute at medium-high speed. Remove bowl from stand mixer (or remove hand mixer) and add in dry ingredients. By hand, mix in the dry ingredients with a hand whisk and spatula. It is important NOT to over mix! The batter will be fairly thick; scoop-able, not pour-able. Once well incorporated, mix in chocolate chips and crushed candy cane.
- Scoop batter into muffin tin. Place tin in oven to bake. Immediately after closing oven door, reduce temperature to 375°F. Bake muffins for 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the muffins comes out clean. Allow to cool for 5 minutes within the pan and then remove to finish cooling on a cooling rack.
Nutritional Information (1 muffin)
186 Calories - 8g Protein, 31g Carbohydrates, 3.2g Fat