Low-fat Chocolate Muffins

[Kismet]

I made these muffins from Quick Cooking over the weekend. I was a bit sceptical as they have no eggs, but they turned out very well, so I had to share! I did sub 1/4 cup of whole wheat flour for part of the all-purpose, and I added 1/3 cup of mini chocolate chips. I also didn't have vanilla yogurt, so I used plain fat-free yogurt and upped the vanilla extract to about 1 Tbsp. They hit the spot when you are in the mood for something chocolatey but not too bad for you!

Low-Fat Chocolate Muffins
From May/June 2002 Quick Cooking

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup baking cocoa (I used Penzey's Dutch Cocoa)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup fat-free vanilla yogurt
2/3 cup fat-free milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Confectioners' sugar, optional

In a bowl, combine the first six ingredients. Stir in yogurt, milk and vanilla just until moistened. Coat muffin cups with nonstick cooking spray; fill two-thirds full. Bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack; dust with confectioners' sugar if desired

Yield: 1 dozen

Nutritional Analysis: One muffin equals 128 calories, trace fat (trace saturated fat), 1mg cholesterol, 258mg sodium, 29g carbohydrate, 1g fiber, 3g protein.

[funnybone]

I'll have to try those. Thanks for posting.

There are some desserts out there that don't use eggs, such as Wacky Cake which is mixed in the pan and very good too.

[slknight]

Mmmm. Those look really good. I'll have to try them. Printing as we speak...

[yorkshirepud]

As my muffins are generally edible disasters, I may just give these a try. Maybe you muffin guru's can help me. My muffins never seem to really rise beyone maybe 1 inch. Am I over mixing? Am I not putting in enough baking powder (I do follow the measurements)?

Thanks for the recipe Kismet.
YP

[Gracie]

YP - how old is your baking powder? I remember some way to test it's strength about mixing warm water with baking powder to see if it fizzes? I'm not sure about that but someone here should know.

Also, keep all your dry ingredients separate from all your wet ingredients until the very end, despite what the directions from your recipe says. Then at the very end, mix the wets with the drys and spoon into muffin cups. Make sure your oven is hot enough and completely preheated.

Loren

[yorkshirepud]

Graice ... bpowder is probably a year old ... I will try your tip to see if the bloody thing is stale ...

I do keep my ingredients separate until the very end and mix it until everything is combined ... and I preheat the oven too ... I don't know what it is ... I have a feeling I'm over mixing but I have to mix until everything is combined ... maybe I need to improve my mixing technique so that I mix it in sooner ...

YP

[dulcecoeur]

I'll have to try these out. I have a vegan chocolate cake recipe (has no milk or eggs etc.) that I often use to make cupcakes as well. It is AMAZINGLY moist and chocolatey - better than any eggs & milk recipe I have ever had.

[pilgrim719]

YP -- Most of the muffin and quick bread recipes I have used say to mix the wet and dry ingredients until "just combined". I've always followed this rule and never had a problem. I'm not sure if over-mixing would cause the muffins to be flat or not, but you might want to experiment and see. And this recipe sounds like a yummy one to experiment with! :)

Kari

[yorkshirepud]

Pilgram ... i believe I read somewhere that overmixing will 'flatten' your muffins ... I may try these this weekend and resist the temptation to overmix ... I'm just worried I'm going to get clumps of flour in them.

We'll have to see I guess. And yes, these are good ones to experiment with. Anything will chocolate puts a smile on my face. :D

YP

[Mamasue]

Kismet...Thanks for the review. I could go for something chocolate right now! :)

YP.....as Gracie has stated, check your baking powder. Also, when making muffins its very easy to over mix. You just need to gently mix until the mixture is just combined....a matter of maybe 8 to 10 strokes or folds. I am having a brain **** right now, but I think that CL had a article about muffin making last year. :D

[aliwally]

I'm going to make these this afternoon - it's raining and I feel chocolatey!! Thanks for posting.

[Boomer's Mom]

Originally posted by Kismet
They hit the spot when you are in the mood for something chocolatey but not too bad for you!

Oh, bless you, Kismet! How could you have possibly known that I am really hungry for something chocolatey like a brownie?

Baking these tonight!

[sherri]

these sound good, thanks for posting the recipe.

[pilgrim719]

YP, my muffins have never come out with clumps of flour in them. Yes, the batter will look slightly lumpy when you pour it into the pan, but the magic of baking always seems to remove the lumps :) I agree that eating clumps of flour doesn't do much for the taste buds...clumps of chocolate on the other hand... ;)
Kari

[Dewey]

Originally posted by yorkshirepud
I'm just worried I'm going to get clumps of flour in them.

You could also try sifting the flour first. I find that helps a lot.

[yorkshirepud]

pilgrim ... oh yes ... lumps of chocolate would go down nicely ... maybe I should just omit the flour all together and buy myself a chocolate bar ... save all the hassle ... :)

Dewey ... I do sift the flour ... :)

YP

[aliwally]

Made the muffins - and tasted one of course - very good. Nice, and very quick recipe. Not really a muffin, but more like a solid cupcake - good for breakfast or an afternoon snack.

[Kismet]

Originally posted by aliwally
Made the muffins - and tasted one of course - very good. Nice, and very quick recipe. Not really a muffin, but more like a solid cupcake - good for breakfast or an afternoon snack.

Thanks for your review! I'm glad you liked them, too! I agree, they're maybe more like a cupcake, but I've never been one to look down on eating chocolate for breakfast, either! :D

[slknight]

Oh, wow! These were so good. I made them this morning. Who says chocolate's not for breakfast? :D

Mine came out so nice and light and fluffy. I did use 2% milk because that's what I had on hand. Forgot to add some chips to the batter (peanut butter chips, anyone?), but they're still great.

This recipe is going on my serious repeater list. I'm going to send it to my parents as well, because I know they'd love it (used to eat a lot of Entenmann's fat-free chocolate cupcakes before they were discontinued).

[GrinsandGiggles]

Bringing up an old recipe that has been on my "to-try" list for a while.. I made these chocolate muffins this morning. Had some vanilla yogurt I needed to use up and this worked out great. The one I had warm out of the oven with skim milk was delicious!

I also make a small snack cake that is vegan like this (no eggs or butter), and I may try to make it into muffins one day, they actually taste fairly similar.

Thanks Kismet, for sharing, and giving me a nice snack this morning! :)

[Kismet]

Glad you enjoyed them! Thanks for the reminder about this recipe, too. I should make some more this weekend!

[PoppyJ]

I made these last night and had one BIG problem with them...it was hard to stop eating them. :D I added some mini chocolate chips, toffee chips, and peanut butter chips...not quite low-fat anymore, but I swear I didn't add too many! ;) Next time I think I will just stick to the peanut butter chips and chocolate chips. I couldn't taste the toffee.

Light, yummy dessert that hit the chocolate spot.

[MrsReber]

Wow, I must've missed these the first time around. Looks like a perfect place for me to sneak in some wheat germ for a big fiber boost for DD! She loves chocolate. I like the peanut butter chip idea.

[CHRIST1NE]

I need to use up some buttermilk... do you thin I could substitute my buttermik for the yogurt & milk??

[colleency]

I made these this weekend, and we loved them!

I didn't have enough mini chips to add to the batter, so I just sprinkled them on top, which was nice.

I like how crusty the tops were. The texture of these was great.

We had them for breakfast yesterday and today. I individually wrapped the rest and popped them in the freezer, as advised by ?? :o on the peanut better crunch muffin thread.

Yum.

[Delanl]

I made these yesterday and they are delicious!! I topped mine w/ some chocolate chips--which ended up sinking into the middle and making a nice gooey filling!! Low-fat and perfect when you need a chocolate fix!!

Thanks Kismet!!:) :D

[Kismet]

I'm glad everyone continues to enjoy these! :)

[alicerh]

In the last few months someone gave a recipe for a stousel topping I think with peanut butter and someone else said it would be great on choc. muffins. Now that I have found this recipe I want the other one too. Does anyone remember what I am asking for and where I can find it?
Alice

[Mamasue]

Alice...would this topping work?

http://www.crisco.com/scripts/display_recipe.asp?recipe_nbr=1981

[colleency]

I think this might be the thread you were looking for:

peanut butter crunch muffins (http://community.cookinglight.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=59345&highlight=peanut+AND+butter+AND+crunch+AND+muffin)

[pilgrim719]

Colleen, you just beat me to it! :p

Alice, I'm pretty sure the muffin recipe on the link Colleen provided is the topping you're referring to. I actually made these Low-fat Chocolate Muffins with the peanut butter topping from the other muffin recipe and they were really good! Gotta love that pb/chocolate combination! :D

Kari

[alicerh]

Colleen and Kari - That is exactly what I remembered. Thanks so much. I would say those muffins would be in my oven tomorrow but an hour ago I broke off half of a tooth biting down on a nut in a Baskins and Robbins choc almond ice cream cone. So I guess it will be a few days.
Alice

[pilgrim719]

Ouch!! :( I'm so sorry to hear about your tooth, Alice! Hope you have a speedy recovery! What a way to go, though...Baskin Robbins...yum!

Kari

[jjsooner73]

So, I made these this evening with the peanut butter topping linked by Colleen.
Wow! They are really good. I did the nutritional breakdown with the topping, plus I used LF milk and yogurt and they still aren't too bad.
Fat: 2.6g
Carbohydrates: 34.1g
Calories:176.2
Protein: 4.3g

I ate one this evening and may have one tomorrow, but then the rest will go into the freezer. I'm making quite a few more varieties over the weekend for the freezer.

Oh, and my boneheaded mistake? I forgot to add the baking powder. The sad thing is I thought about it as I was getting the baking soda out of the fridge, but then never did. They rose some, but are not quite as rounded as they should be.

[Connor's mom]

I, too, was a bit skeptical since the recipe uses no eggs, but a bit hit.

The only change I made was using all WW pastry flour, and I only baked them for 15 minutes. Based on other reviews, it sounded that these were quite cupcake-like, so I made a simple peanut butter frosting. Even DS, who typically is quite keen at sensing WW, said they were sooooo good and asked for one in his lunch today.

Definitely a keeper considering how easy they are.