Okayist Double Chocolate Muffins

My kids LOVE these, like, destroyed them, 18 regular-sized muffins GONE in 24 hours. And I'm not even that concerned, because they're not the worst nutrition-wise!

I call them the "OKAYist" double chocolate muffins, because, I can have one, enjoy the chocolaty taste, not feel compelled to eat another, and I've only used up 3 Weight Watcher Smart Points. They are very satisfying, contain a decent amount of protein, and are lower in sugar. But it’s definitely not a cupcake.

This recipe was inspired by Skinny Double Chocolate Muffins from Live Well Bake Often, and, America's Test Kitchen's Healthy Family Cookbook's, Better for You Banana Bread.

Yield:
18 small muffins/ 3 sp per muffin

Ingredients:

1 1/4 C. all purpose flour (I like King Arthur)
1/2 C whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 C unsweetened Dutch cocoa powder, sifted
1/4 C brown sugar, packed
1 1/4 C plain, 0% greek yogurt (I like FAGE)
1 Tbs unsweetened vanilla almond milk
1 Tbs oil (I used canola)
2 eggs, room temperature
1/2 C semisweet chocolate chips (I used Toll House)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp instant espresso powder
cooking spray


1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

2. Prepare muffin pans with 18 cupcake liners and mist with cooking spray.

3. Using an electric mixer, blend together the brown sugar, espresso powder, oil, yogurt, vanilla, and  almond milk until the espresso powder and sugar are mostly dissolved.

4. In a separate bowl, combine both flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sifted cocoa powder.

5. In a separate bowl, using an electric mixer, beat eggs until foamy, and on the yellow side of ivory.

6. Using a rubber spatula, combine the beaten eggs with the other wet ingredients.

7. Dump half of the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and combine using a rubber spatula. Yeah. The yogurt mixture seems to be impervious to the dry mixture, but keep going.

8. When the first half of the dry ingredients are combined, add the remaining dry ingredients and the chocolate chips. This batter looks more like a stiff, dark brown biscuit dough, and seems to take forever to blend. Continue to scrape down the sides and mix until mostly combined. There may be a few little streaks and flecks of flour, it’s fine.

Notice how much this looks like cookie dough and how little this looks like muffin batter. Notice only that.

9. Divide evenly between muffin cups, and bake for 18 minutes. If you test with a toothpick, a few crumbs should cling. 

10. Cool on a rack in the pan for five minutes, then out of the pan on the rack until room temperature. Store in a closed container. The last one was consumed two days after baking, and was starting to look a bit dry. I bet these freeze great, if they stick around that long.