Monday, January 28, 2008

Chocolate muffins!


Many have asked me:

"What did you do on vacation"? (Last week)

"Well", I replied "For one thing, I baked some chocolate muffins, preparatory to starting my new route on French Island!

"But how does a recipe such as this fall within the parameters of Vintage Health and Fitness ?

Because, I made them healthy! And you can, too!!

Here's how:

Eliminate the sugar, and substitute Splenda.

It comes in a box, and measures just like Sugar.

Mailman (Chocolate) Muffins-

2/3 cup of baking cocoa (dutched cocoa is the BEST!)
2 large eggs (eggs are really good for you, despite what you've read!)
1 cup (semi-sweet) chocolate chips (also good for you, despite the (small) sugar content
1/2 cup SPLENDA ( 0 calories)
2 tsp baking soda
1 1/3 cups milk (whole milk is the best for you; but all milk is good!)
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Coat muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray.

In a large bowl, combine the cocoa, flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and vanilla.

Stir in half a cup of chocolate chips

In a separate bowl, combine the eggs and milk.

Add the egg/milk mixture to the other ingredients until moistened.

Scoop the batter evenly into the prepared muffin tin.

Sprinkle with the remaining chocolate chips! (There are a LOT! Enjoy eating a few; but not too many, since when they come out half melted they are REALLY GOOD!) Did I tell you that chocolate is GOOD for you???

Bake for 20 minutes, or until a wooden toothpick inserted comes out clean... (Ha ha- just bake for 20 minutes!!)

Cool on a wire rack.

That's how you' re supposed to do it..

In the interest of full disclosure, I will here reveal that I:

Didn't use any "separate bowls" :
I just dumped all the ingredients into one BIG bowl!

And then, I only stirred the ingredients the minimum amount of time to blend them all together-


this is crucial for muffins- don't overstir!

Then, I baked them, for 20 minutes...

No toothpicks passed through my hands; trust me!

I took them out, posed for a "muffin picture", and then...

Ate those bad boys!!

Next time:

Healthy Hot Chocolate

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