Vegan Chocolate Zucchini Muffins (Recipe)

Photo by Agustín Ljósmyndun on Unsplash

I have to be honest, I am new to vegan baking and I am never quite sure what to expect when I first make an attempt to “veganize” a baked good. This one was no different, I was using my luscious conventional dark chocolate cake recipe as the starting point and I had the feeling this was going to be a futile attempt. I could not have been more wrong! Seriously, I could not believe it when these muffins came out of the oven. They rose nicely, then deflated some once they cooled down, but in doing so, created a rich, dense chocolaty texture that makes them absolutely luscious-I think you can tell from the picture. They might as well be birthday cupcakes-you could top them with a little drizzle of my homemade Chocolate “Fudge” Sauce, to dress them up more if you’d like, but really you don’t even need it-they are perfect just as is.

Come Watch Me Make Them in My Kitchen:

[embed]https://youtu.be/ywwDwbIm7Hc[/embed]

Makes 18 muffins

Ingredients

Dry ingredients:

• 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 2 teaspoons baking powder

Wet Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons flax meal + 7 tablespoons water
• 1 cup organic avocado oil
• 1 cup + 2 tablespoons organic cane sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 cups grated unpeeled zucchini (about 3 medium zucchini)

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZW1ZXOL0QvQ&feature=youtu.be[/embed]

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 F. In a small bowl, stir together 3 tablespoons flax meal and 7 tablespoons water. Let sit for 5 minutes to thicken. Sift flour, unsweetened cocoa and baking powder together in a bowl and put aside. Place oil, sugar, thickened flax meal and vanilla together in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat well for 1 to 2 minutes. Add sifted ingredients to the creamed mixture, and beat well again (it will be thick and that’s OK!). Add the grated zucchini (with their “juice”) to the bowl and beat again until well combined. Line 2 muffin baking pans with 18 paper liners and spoon the batter in each so that each is 2/3 full. Bake in preheated oven for about 20 minutes, or until tester inserted in the center comes out clean.