Bryanna Clark Grogan’s Vegan Feast Kitchen/ 23rd Century Table: chocolate-orange-pecan muffins

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Sunday, October 23, 2011

CHOCOLATE-ORANGE-PECAN MUFFINS

This will be a short post-- it's been a long week of writing and cooking! This is a muffin (almost a cupcake, really) that I developed for my old newsletter, The Vegan Feast, about four years ago and it has remained a favorite ever since-- maybe because they contain three of my favorite dessert ingredients (make that four-- I forgot the cocoa nibs). They're not as caloric, fat-laden or decadent as they seem, and they are whole grain, but they satisfy a sweet craving most delightfully! What can be better than biting into that moist sweet crumb, releasing the fragrant oils of the orange zest, with chunks of dark melty chocolate, toasty pecans and the unexpected crunchy bitterness of roasted cocoa nibs?

Printable Recipe

BRYANNA’S VEGAN CHOCOLATE-ORANGE-PECAN MUFFINS

Makes 12

Wet Mix:

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

2 Tbs oil

3/4 cup nondairy milk

1/4 cup unsweetened smooth applesauce (TIP: Freeze canned or homemade applesauce in ice cube trays and pop the cubes into zipper-lock bags-- each one is 2 tablespoons.)

2 tsp lemon juice

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1 tsp Ener-G or Orgrn Egg Replacer powder

grated zest of 2 medium organic oranges

Dry Mix:

1 2/3 cup whole wheat PASTRY flour (do NOT use regular whole wheat flour or your muffins will be tough!)

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

Additional:

1 cup (100g or 3.5 oz.) organic bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chunks or chips

1/2 cup coarsely-chopped pecans

1/4 cup roasted cocoa nibs

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Prepare 12 muffin cups by greasing or spraying with oil (if you use paper liners, also spray them with oil), or lined with silicone muffin cup liners.

Combine the Wet Mix ingredients in the blender or food processor.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the Dry Mix ingredients. Stir in the chocolate, pecans and cocoa nibs just to coat. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir briefly just to mix.

Spoon evenly into 12 prepared muffin cups. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Cool the pans on racks for 5 minutes, then carefully loosen the muffins with a table knife and turn them on their sides to cool a bit more before serving (low-fat vegan muffins are quite tender when they are very hot-they firm up with cooling).

Nutrition Facts

Nutrition (per muffin): 244.0 calories; 41% calories from fat; 11.8g total fat; 0.0mg cholesterol; 145.1mg sodium; 176.8mg potassium; 33.9g carbohydrates; 3.6g fiber; 9.5g sugar; 30.3g net carbs; 4.0g protein; 5.2 points.

Enjoy!