Dense fudgy fruit sweetened muffins that easily double as cupcakes. Bananas and dates lock in moisture, whole spelt flour adds bounce, and dairy-free chocolate chips make these muffins irresistible. This is a versatile recipe you can make days ahead of time.
WHY I LOVE THEM
These muffins are reliable crowd-pleasers that you can make ahead of time and transport easily. Omnivores love them and plant-based folks usually ask for the recipe. If you need them to be cupcakes, go ahead and call them cupcakes. Or better yet, top them with one of my delicious plant-based frostings! The ingredients in this recipe like dates, cocoa powder, almond flour, whole spelt flour and vegan chocolate chips (preferably date-sweetened), are pantry staples for me. I usually have ripe banana slices on hand because I buy a lot of bananas and if they get overripe before I can use them, I slice and freeze them for later. If you don’t have whole spelt flour, most types of flour would work, though whole wheat flour is the closest substitute.
BLENDER OR FOOD PROCESSOR NEEDED
This recipe requires a blender or food processor in order to create a fruit smoothie that acts as an oil substitute, binder and sweetener all in one. If you have a high speed blender that’s the best way to go. Electronic appliances like food processors and blenders allow us to quickly and easily harness the power of whole plant foods like dates and bananas, eliminating the need for ingredients like sugar, oil and eggs which are calorie dense and comparatively low in nutrients. Modernity can sometimes help us be healthier.
FRUITS FOR SUGAR-FREE OIL-FREE BAKING
Fruits have always added sweetness, flavor and nutrients to baking. But in whole food plant-based baking, pureed fruits and fruit smoothies can do a great deal more than that, working as an egg, oil and sugar substitute all rolled into one. The fruits you use can be fresh, frozen, dried or canned. In this particular recipe, I use a combination of dates, bananas to create a sweet, moist and spongy muffin. Deglet noor dates, my all time favorite fruity ingredient, first need to be chopped and pureed with the bananas and plant milk. “Pitted” dates often still have pits in them or hard stems still attached, so always pre-chop your dates, removing any hard bits before using them in a recipe. As they vary a great deal in size, bananas should be sliced then measured in order to get consistent results.
COCOA POWDER IS A WHOLE PLANT FOOD
Rejoice! Cocoa powder is a whole plant food with a number of nutritional benefits. Although processing is involved, cocoa powder is derived from whole seeds of the cacao tree, and retains many of the nutrients present before processing including fiber, antioxidants and minerals like iron, magnesium, copper and zinc. There are two types of cocoa powder: natural and Dutch-processed, a.k.a. European-style cocoa powder. If you want to maximize the nutritional benefits of cocoa powder, go for natural instead of Dutch-processed because in removing some of the acidity, the Dutch processing technique also decreases flavanol content. And flavanols are powerful antioxidants with a variety of health enhancing benefits. But that doesn’t mean that Dutch-processed cocoa is bad for you, only that it’s a little less good. Natural cocoa powder will always be more acidic. If the tang bothers you, then go with Dutch-processed.
DON’T LEAVE OUT THE CHOCOLATE CHIPS
If you’re trying to be as whole food plant-based adherent as possible, I can understand wanting to make these muffins without the chocolate chips. But here’s the thing, I’ve tried leaving out the chocolate chips, and this recipe just doesn’t taste nearly as good without them. Dairy-free chocolate chips are widely available, so at least staying plant-based or vegan shouldn’t be an issue. I like to use Just Date Organic 65% Cacao Dark Chocolate Chips that are sweetened entirely from dates, no sugar. You can also make your own chip size chocolate chunks out of your favorite healthy plant-based chocolate bar.
WHOLE SPELT FLOUR
Part of the wheat family, spelt is one of the oldest cultivated grains. Compared with most other wheat grains however, it has undergone minimal hybridization over the last few centuries. As an ingredient, whole spelt flour is interchangeable with whole wheat flour in almost all recipes. But interchangeable doesn’t mean identical. The nutritional profile is a little bit different with whole spelt flour having a bit more protein, zinc and copper than whole wheat. Spelt also soaks up less liquid than other wheat flours so ratios may need to be adjusted.
Using whole spelt flour in baking is an easy and delicious way to add variety to your diet. Whole grains are an essential component of a whole food plant-based practice. The greater the variety of whole grains we can get into our bodies, the greater the health benefits, so for me it has a lot to do with maximizing the health benefits of what I cook. Plus, spelt makes for a bouncy crumb which I enjoy in both sweet and savory bakes.
ALMOND FLOUR AND ALTERNATIVES
Almond flour adds flavor, nutrients and moisture to this recipe. The moisture comes from the natural fat content in whole almonds. You can substitute the almond flour in this recipe with 3 tablespoons of almond butter, cashew butter, sunflower seed butter or tahini. I don’t recommend peanut butter for this recipe because I think the peanut flavor would overwhelm all the other flavors. Another great substitute for almond flour is sunflower seed flour which you can make by pulsing sunflower seeds in a food processor or high speed blender until smooth and flour-like.
FROSTING FOR A CUPCAKE EXPERIENCE
These muffins straddle the fence between being a snackable breakfast treat and something more dessert-like. Frosting these muffins tips the scale and turns them into full fledged cupcakes. Use any frosting you like. I happen to have two recipes for healthy date-sweetened whole food vegan frosting that would be especially good: Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting Using Kite Hill Cream Cheese Alternative and Chocolate Frosting with Shelf Stable Silken Tofu.
more chocolaty recipes you’ll love
Chocolate Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins Vegan Date-Sweetened
Equipment
- blender or food processor
- Standard Muffin Pan
- 12 Paper Baking Cups, 2-1/2 inch
Ingredients
- 1 cup + 2 Tbsps whole spelt flour
- ⅓ cup cocoa powder
- ¼ cup almond flour
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 cups very ripe bananas, sliced (3 to 4 large ripe bananas)
- ½ cup Deglet Noor dates, sliced (remove any stems or pits and slice into 1/4 inch cross sections)
- ½ cup unsweetened plant milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup dairy free chocolate chips or small chocolate chunks
Instructions
- Line a standard muffin pan with twelve 2-1/2" paper baking cups and preheat oven to 350º (175 ℃).
- In a large mixing bowl combine the whole spelt flour, cocoa powder, almond flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
- Place sliced bananas, chopped dates, unsweetened plant milk and vanilla extract in a blender or food processor. A high speed blender is best. Food processors or conventional blenders also work but may take a bit longer. Process until mostly smooth and no large chunks of fruits are left. You will still see specs of dates.
- Add the processed banana, date, plant milk and vanilla blend to the dry ingredients in the large mixing bowl. Using a silicon cake spatula, or large wooden spoon, form the muffin batter by blending all ingredients until the dry ingredients are fully incorporated.
- Add chocolate chips to the batter and fold in until evenly distributed.
- Spoon batter into muffin cups and bake at 350º for 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.
- Optional: Once muffins have completely cooled, you can turn them into cupcakes by frosting them with Silken Tofu Based Chocolate Frosting or Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting made with Kite Hill Cream Cheese
Leave a Reply