One recent night I decided to try out a healthy recipe to ease some of the damage. I chose the Joyful Heart Muffins from Naturally Thin by Bethenny Frankel {Full Disclosure: I am a total freak over the entire Real Housewives franchise, I even blogged about my encounter with NeNe back in November. And my copy of Naturally Thin is signed :)}
Ingredients:
nonstick cooking spray - I used Pam for Baking
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup raw sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon almond extract - I didn't have any, but I did have Disaronno
1 teaspoon canola oil - I only had olive oil
3/4 cup oat flour - I was in too much of a rush to grind oats so I just used bread flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
dash of cinnamon
1/2 cup semisweet vegan chocolate chips - vegan? uh, I just used nestle
In one bowl combine the wet ingredients plus the sugar and allow the sugar crystals to dissolve:
My version of almond extract:
In another bowl, sift together the rest of the ingredients {except the chips}:
Now combine the two bowls and the chips, too!
Get your oven to 375 degrees and grease your muffin tin. The recipe is designed to make 8 normal size muffins, but I wanted minis. I was given a tip years ago, that if you don't fill all the wells with batter you should fill the emptys with water to ensure even baking.
And here they are baked. I couldn't take this picture fast enough so I could get those suckers in my mouth.
They do have a different taste since there is no white sugar, butter or eggs, but they are still great! They are very dense and I thought they were more like a brownie than a muffin. And my hubby - who is ridiculously picky - ate and liked them.
