Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve loved the flavour combination of chocolate and orange.  Baskin-Robbins used to make a flavour called Dark Chocolate Orange, and it was so dark it was almost black, really great I’m sure for my mother to try to clean off my face when I was finished.  But from the moment I put my tongue to that cute little pink taster spoon, I was hooked.  Rich dark chocolate colliding with the tangy sweet orange on my taste buds… well, it was like a flavour burst from heaven to my 5-year-old imagination.  But alas, Baskin-Robbins stopped making this flavour… aaannnnd then I stopped eating regular ice cream.  Such a pity from this standpoint.
Forty years later, I still think about that ice cream, and I’m still in love with chocolate and orange together.  So I combine them as often as possible, but in a way that keeps health in mind.  I concocted this muffin recipe a few weeks ago, using the leftover almond pulp from my homemade almond milk, and it was a real winner.  It’s vegan, refined sugar-free, naturally gluten-free, and has no added oil.  To me, this qualifies as healthy enough for a breakfast muffin, right??
It’s super chocolatey and rich-tasting, and okay, it does have (a lot of) added chocolate chips… but you gotta live a little!!  Tommy was taste-testing for me along the way, and I quote, “It’s good… but it would be even better with more chocolate chips!  I mean so you can get some in every bite…”  Who am I to argue??  I have to say the boy speaks wisdom.
If you don’t make your own homemade almond milk, don’t worry!! Â You can still make this recipe! Â Just soak your (store-bought) almond meal in (store-bought) almond milk, and no one will judge you. Â They’ll just thank you for making such delicious little muffies that won’t leave their faces with a black ice cream ring.
This recipe takes only one bowl and less than 30 minutes to make… so see? Â You really have no excuse not to make them. Â Enjoy!
Notes
If you don't have fresh almond pulp, not to worry! Just soak store-bought almond meal in almond milk for 10 minutes or so to soften it.
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cup fresh almond pulp (or 1 cup almond meal + ¼ cup almond milk, soak for 10 minutes)
- ½ cup applesauce
- ¼ cup almond butter
- juice & zest of ½ orange
- 2 T. ground flaxseed
- 2 T. pure maple syrup
- 1 t. vanilla
- ¼ cup cocoa powder
- ¼ cup coconut flour
- ½ t. baking soda
- ¼ t. salt
- ½ cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200 C (400 F.)
- Mix ingredients in order given in a large mixing bowl. Scoop into a muffin tin.
- Bake 13-15 minutes or until a wooden pick comes out clean.
- Makes 10-11 medium muffins.
This is great. Always wondering what to do with the almond pulp after I make almond milk! Will have to make milk and muffins from now on…
Melanie, I know, the leftover almond pulp! I’m embarrassed to say how many batches of it went languishing in my fridge before I finally decided to just DO something with it, ha! I hope you love these muffins as much as my family does… 🙂
I made the almond milk and these muffins. They were both fantastic. Thanks for the recipes!
Kim, I’m so glad! The almond milk is easy, hey?? And there’s so many things you can do with the pulp… I just made it into cookies… I’ll be posting that soon! 🙂 xo