Triple Chocolate Quinoa Muffins

Anytime there is loads of chocolate in a recipe I am generally going to be happy with it. Frankly, I was raised by a mother who taught me the basics of baking as 1) always use the finest quality chocolate you can afford; and 2) when in doubt, add more chocolate. So, you see this recipe, with it's legitimate claim to 'triple chocolate' has secured itself in my "I'll bake you till my Hottie husband begs me to stop" repertoire. These are rich, decadent, velvety, and perfect - oh, and high in protein and gluten and dairy free. Yeah, I've got your attention now don't I haha. I have high hopes of spoiling my sweetie pies, big and small, with these delightful chocolaty goodies on Valentine's Day, so I thought I'd share the recipe in time for you to do the same. Enjoy!

Triple Chocolate Quinoa Muffins

an original recipe created by me!

1 3/4 c. cooked quinoa, packed

3 eggs

3/4 c. unsweetened pure cocoa powder

1 tsp vanilla extract

3/4 c. plain coconut yogurt [made from coconut milk, not simply dairy yogurt that has been flavored with coconut]

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 baking soda

1/4 tsp sea salt

1 tbsp cinnamon 

1/4 c water [optional, I just found everything blended a bit better with it]

1 c palm sugar

1/2 c chopped dark chocolate, finest quality you can afford

Preheat oven to 350*. Prepare muffin tins with either liners or non stick spray. I prefer liners to spray on this one. Add all the wet ingredients and quinoa to a blender and combine until smooth. Pour out into a bowl and mix the remaining ingredients, aside from the chopped chocolate, and mix with a whisk or fork until all clumps are gone and batter is of an even consistency. Mix in half the chocolate, and pour into prepared muffin tins.

Place muffins in oven for 10 minutes. At 10 minute mark, divide the remaining chocolate between the muffins, sprinkling generously on top of each muffin. Place the muffins back in the oven, and bake for approximately 8 more minutes. Toothpick will come out dirty still, but should not be wet.  Let muffins cool completely on wire rack before removing from muffin tins. 

Yield: approximately 2 dozen

For Spenser

I have a sweet little cousin, who has just entered kindergarten this year. Spenser is a superhero at heart, plays make believe with abandon, reads up a storm, and builds[and tests!] jumps for his bike. At five years old he has a bigger personality [and more confidence] than most adults I know! Spenser and his parents [my very young aunt and uncle] came and visited this summer on their way through to a family reunion. While at my home, Spenser enjoyed my Lemon PoppaSeed 'cupcakes' and loved them so much that I thought I'd re-post the recipe for him. I've tweaked it a bit to make it healthier more delicious, and think it will be a wonderful addition to my sweet cousins school snacks. Enjoy Spenser!

PoppaSeed* 'Cupcakes' created by me!

1 tbsp vanilla soy milk
1 tbsp water
1/4 cup grape seed oil
2/3 cup apple sauce mixed with 1tsp-1tbsp lemon juice
1/4 cup honey

1 3/4 cup flour
2 tbsp poppyseed
1 tbsp lemon zest
1/4 tsp lemon extract
2 1/2tsp baking powder
2 1/2tsp baking soda
1/2 salt
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
2 1/2 tsp fresh squeezed lemon juice

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Grease a 24 mini muffin tin,
2. beat milk, oil, lemony apple sauce, and honey together. Stir in flour, poppyseeds, lemon zest, lemon extract, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix until just combined. Spoon into muffin tins, filling roughly 3/4 of the way.
3. In a separate bowl, mix together fresh lemon juice and confectioners sugar. This is your glaze.
3. Bake at 375F for 8 minutes, or until just golden. Drizzle with glaze immediately and let cool on rack.

These are soooo good! Very lemony, so if you like your poppyseed with only a hint of lemon adjust accordingly. I call them 'cupcake' because really they're muffins, but the glaze makes them taste like dessert. Darius and I prefer these without the glaze, so don't be afraid to skip the extra sweetness. The amazing thing is, with honey instead of white sugar, and no dairy or eggs, these muffins are great if you're on a cholesterol lowering or vegan diet, and you won't feel deprived!

*if you're wondering about the alternate spelling for poppyseed, it comes from my sweet Darius, who had a Poppa that LOVES poppyseed muffins.

Heaven on Earth

While getting creative in the kitchen I made a little discovery that I have now made a few times. No joke. It is a gluten free, dairy free, egg free little number that has my taste buds singing! I started out with the express purpose of creating a muffin that I could share with family and friends in the gluten free camp.  Reports have been coming back that this 'muffin' is the BEST gluten free treat on earth - and while I am not one to brag, I think they might be right! Without further ado, I give you a little piece of heaven on earth!

 Chocoholic Banana Dream Muffins


3/4 cup rice flour
1 cup black bean flour
1/2-2/3 cup cocoa powder
3 large ripe bananas
1 cored apple
1 tsp vanilla
3 tsp baking soda
3/4 c honey
1 cup peanut butter
plus dark chocolate chips for sprinkling on top (I used roughly 2/3 cup)




Preheat oven to 300F convection (or 325F if not on convection)


Place banana and apple in vitamix and blend together.


Once pureed, add the honey, vanilla, and peanut butter and mix.


When all wet ingredients are completely mixed together, start adding the dry ingredients, stopping to scrap down sides and pulse mixer often.


Scoop mixture into lightly sprayed muffin tins (I use a canola oil cooking spray, you can use what you like best!) and sprinkle with chocolate chips. Place the muffin tin into the oven, and bake for 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the muffin comes out clean.


Let muffins cool on wire rack for five minutes, then gently lift muffins out of tins and onto rack to cool completely. Enjoy warm, cool, or frozen - they're amazing just about every way we've tried!

Have you made any yummy discoveries lately? Have you begun your Canadian Thanksgiving recipe search? I know I have!

Apple Carrot Muffins

Have you ever dug fresh carrots out of a garden? Bitten into the crisp, fresh, sweet carrot and thought you'd gone to heaven?  I can not get enough of just-dug-up carrots, but it is always nice to spice things up a bit. Having healthy snacks on hand is a "Must Have" for Mamas everyone so here is a little snack inspiration to get the school lunches, picnics in the park, midnight lunches rolling!

Apple Carrot Muffins


4 eggs
1 cup apple sauce
2 tbsp olive oil
1 cup honey
2 tsp. vanilla
2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
3 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. sea salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup fresh grated carrots
1 cup raisins


Beat egg well. Add apple sauce, oil, and honey, beating well until thick. Add vanilla. Stir in dry ingedients. Fold in grated carrots and raisins. Yeild: 3 dozen (or 1 dozen large, plus four dozen minis!)


Bake at 400F for 15 minutes (or 11 minutes for the minis)

if you're wondering about the about the colorful backdrop to these delicious muffins, I took the pic while on a beach day wiith my boys. I suddenly realized as I unpacked our picnic that I had yet to snap a pic of these, and I really wanted to share thier goodness with all of you! Here's a zoom out of the 'plate' that the muffin is posed on:

If only all my platters were so cute! ha!

Put the Lime in the Coconut!

Oh me oh my! Between October 2009 and June 2010 I was spoiled rotten lucky to be able  to enjoy three tropical vacations. No joke! I went to Jamaica with my Dad and two of my sisters [your wedding was in the PERFECT location Val!] to the Bahamas with my little sister for her high school graduation trip [T you're a great traveling companion!] and then to Cancun, Mexico with my awesome hubby for our fifth anniversary [would you believe this one was my favorite of the three?] During my travels to all these amazing locations, my deep love of all things coconut grew into an obsession, and it became apparent that variations are endless.

Enter last night: I read a couple of blogs referring to coconut and pineapple in breads and muffins. Yum! But, seeing as I didn't have any pineapple on hand [I ate the last few pieces Monday night, so I really can't blame anyone but myself for the predicament] I decided to branch out, get creative, and look to my favorite mocktails for inspiration. In the case of lime and coconut, I can only say that they are meant for one another. This recipe has a hint of sweetness, loads of flavor, and surprise, surprise, it's chockfull of goodness for your body to enjoy too! These beautiful muffins have loads of protein, are gluten, lactose, and sugar free [coconut sugar is simply coconut]. Enjoy!

My Favorite Mocktail Muffins
by me!

Makes 1 dozen muffins

1/3 cup coconut flour

2/3 cup soy flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp coarse salt

1/2 cup coconut sugar

1/3 cup toasted shredded unsweetened coconut

3 egg whites

2/3 cup + 1 tsp Greek yogurt

1 tbsp lime zest (about two limes)

1 tbsp fruit of lime (about ¾ of a lime)

Juice of ½ a lime

¼ cup almond milk

1 tsp coconut extract

2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. and line with muffin paper liners.

When oven is preheated, put the 1/3 cup of shredded coconut in a rimmed baking pan, and pop into the oven on the top rack for about three minutes. Don't forget about the coconut! It is perfect when toasted, but not so tasty when burnt!

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, the sugar, and the toasted coconut. In another bowl, whisk the Greek yogurt, egg whites, vanilla extract, coconut extract,lime zest, lime juice, lime fruit, and almond milk together until smooth. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet mixture and stir with a spoon until just combined, do not over mix.

Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin pan, filling each cup to about 3/4 of the way full. Sprinkle raw shredded coconut over the muffin batter.

Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 12-15 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

PoppaSeed 'Cupcakes'

How was your Father's Day? Mine was great, spent with wonderful men, including my awesome hubby, and my very own dad aka PapaAquaman. Darius made both of them a little something special (which I forgot to get photos of! Oh the shame!) that you may remember from Mother's Day. The directions can be found here, and here's a little looky look at the final project:

cute huh? Darius customized the tags, with the one for his Daddy reading: "You're Cray!" and for PapaAquaman it read,"I'm funny about you", both followed up by the sweetest little "Happy Father's Day" any Dad could ask for.

I made the supper, keeping Dad's high cholesterol in mind, and created a delicious chicken coconut curry. Adding in a variety of vegetables, cooking the chicken in coconut oil, and serving it over brown rice, made this traditional dish much more health conscious, without sacrificing taste! Not a bad creation. However, that is not the recipe I'm sharing with you today. [Yes, I know it's been a while since I've given you a new workout to try, but seeing as I have a wicked cold, I am just working on breathing, and being able to make it through the night without a coughing fit right now. Sorry. Back to workouts when I can breath freely - I promise.] Do you want to see the recipe?

             PoppaSeed* 'Cupcakes'
                         created by me!

1 tbsp 1% milk
1 tbsp water
1/4 cup grape seed oil
2/3 cup Greek yogurt mixed with 1tsp-1tbsp lemon juice
1 egg
1/4 cup honey

1 3/4 cup flour
2 tbsp poppyseed
1 tbsp lemon zest
1/4 tsp lemon extract
2 1/2tsp baking powder
1/2tsp baking soda
1/2 salt
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
2 1/2 tsp fresh squeezed lemon juice

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Grease a 24 mini muffin tin,
2. beat milk, oil, lemony yogurt, egg, and honey together. Stir in flour, poppyseeds, lemon zest, lemon extract, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix until just combined. Spoon into muffin tins, filling roughly 3/4 of the way.
3. In  a separate bowl, mix together fresh lemon juice and confectioners sugar. This is your glaze.
3. Bake at 375F for 8 minutes, or until just golden. Drizzle with glaze immediately and let cool on rack.

These are soooo good! Very lemony, so if you like your poppyseed with only a hint of lemon adjust accordingly. I call them 'cupcake' because really they're muffins, but the glaze makes them taste like dessert. Definitely a plus! The amazing thing is, with honey instead of white sugar, and no butter, these muffins are great if you're on a cholesterol lowering diet, and you won't feel deprived!

*if you're wondering about the alternate spelling for poppyseed, it comes from my sweet Darius, who had a Poppa that LOVES poppyseed muffins.

Have you been cooking it up lately? Are there any health concerns you want to address in the kitchen?