When I was typing out the title for this recipe, on my first try I definitely wrote, “Double Chocolate Brownies.” Oops. These are muffins, not brownies! I can totally eat them for breakfast!
Which is exactly what I did this morning. Two of them, in fact.
The last couple of days have been rather rough, and sometimes I use food as a coping mechanism. Sometimes I eat hardly anything at all when I feel this way, but most of the time I just want to eat a whole bunch of sweet, delicious things when life takes me on a ride. It’s a bad habit.
But really, these muffins would make an excellent dessert as well. The indulgence factor is definitely there, with a cocoa-rich cake that’s studded with chocolate chips. Right out of the oven, with a tall glass of cold almond milk, these are killer. They really are almost like little brownie bites.
So, this week has been a bunch of carbo-loading interspersed with salads that are so big I feel like I might explode when I’m done, followed by a bunch more sweets.
For example, Elissa and I went to the beach, after which we got lunch at the Avila Valley Barn, where I stuffed myself with a giant salad and then bought a turnover and ate 3 caramels afterwards to make up for my healthy lunch.
I’m sure many of you can relate.
Anyway, these muffins are so tasty. I can’t count how many times I’ve made them, and I thought it was about time I shared them with you guys. Their texture is somewhere along the lines of what I think would happen if a muffin ate a cupcake, and then had babies with a brownie. Weird, I know. And absolutely wonderful.
The recipe also makes about 15 muffins, maybe 16 if you make them a little smaller. You can also feel free to fill 15 muffin wells, and then fill the empty one about halfway with water before you stick it in the oven.
I usually just fill one pan, and then pour the rest of the batter into a small oven-proof dish, give it to my husband AJ and say, “Look! I made you your own personal little breakfast cake brownie muffin!”
However you decide to enjoy these, they are at least vegan, so that’s got to be some kind of a plus in the health department.
It’s certainly easy to eat an unhealthy diet without any animal products (hellooooo, packaged foods!) and you do have to be careful with what you bake at home. These muffins do contain sugar, but they’re egg free, dairy free, and perfect for a variety of special diets and eaters with food allergies.
Did I mention that they’re delicious? I think I’m going to go have just one more…
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Vegan Double Chocolate Muffins
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 16 muffins 1x
Description
This vegan double chocolate muffin recipe is such a keeper! With a chewy crumb and heavenly melted chocolate, these are best served right out of the oven.
Ingredients
- Cooking oil spray
- 1 Tbsp ground flax seed
- 3 Tbsp water
- 2 Tbsp vegan margarine (I like Earth Balance)
- 2 Tbsp applesauce*
- 3 Tbsp vegetable oil*
- 1 1/2 cups almond milk
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup cocoa powder
- 3/4 cup + 2 Tbsp vegan granulated sugar or coconut sugar
- 1 Tbsp baking powder
- 1 1/2 tsp Ener-G powdered egg substitute*
- 1 cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F and grease 2 muffin tins with spray oil or margarine. Or, use paper liners and grease those.
- Combine the flax seed and water in a small bowl and set aside for about 15 minutes, to make a flax egg.
- Place the margarine and the applesauce in a large microwave-safe bowl, and place in the microwave for 15-second increments until the margarine is melted. Add the flax egg and the oil, and stir to combine. Slowly stir in the almond milk while whisking. Stir in the vanilla and set aside.
- In another bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder, and powdered egg substitute. Whisk well to make sure all of the ingredients are evenly distributed and no clumps remain.
- Add the dry mixture to the wet in two batches, stirring gently until almost combined after each addition. Add the chocolate chips and finish stirring until just combined.
- Fill the muffin cups until they are almost full, but not overflowing.
- Bake for 20-22 minutes, rotating once halfway through baking, until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin at the center of the pan comes out clean (unless you hit a chocolate chip – then do it again). Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer them to a wire cooling rack.
Notes
If you like, you can replace the applesauce and oil with more margarine, 7 Tbsp in total, but I try to make these just a teensy bit healthier by using the applesauce.
You could also replace the Ener-G powdered egg substitute with your favorite brand, or with another flax egg (1 Tbsp ground flax seed combined with 3 Tbsp water), but decrease the quantity of almond milk to 1 1/4 cups.
I have not made a non-vegan version of this recipe, but it may work with real eggs and butter. Try omitting the flax egg and powdered egg substitute, use two eggs instead, and use only 1 1/4 cups milk. Use an equal amount of butter to replace the vegan margarine.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
Nothing Beats Vegan Chocolatey Goodness to Turn Your Mood Around
The only thing better than chocolate is double chocolate, and these muffins deliver in a big way. You can even bake a double batch and store half of your haul in a zip-top bag in the freezer, to pull out on a rainy day. Just heat them up for a few minutes in the toaster oven.
If this is your first foray into egg-free baking, I encourage you to read our our article on the subject, for more info on how certain egg substitutes work to help your baked goods to rise and hold their texture.
And if you are looking for more vegan muffin recipes, then take a look at some of our favorites:
Did you enjoy this recipe? Tell us about it in the comments below, and don’t forget to rate the recipe as well while you’re there!
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Photos by Raquel Smith, © Ask the Experts, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. See our TOS for more details. Originally published on June 11th, 2014. Last updated: September 2, 2020 at 9:39 am. With additional writing and editing by Allison Sidhu.
Nutritional information derived from a database of known generic and branded foods and ingredients and was not compiled by a registered dietitian or submitted for lab testing. It should be viewed as an approximation.
About Raquel Smith
Raquel is a whole foods enthusiast, an avid mountain biker, and a dog lover. She works by day at Food Blogger Pro and formerly maintained her food blog "My California Roots" (now merged into Foodal).
Bah! These look so cute and yummy!! On a separate note, I was a Pier 1 and I bought little dishes just like yours for no reason other than that they were only a dollar and I thought they were adorable. Now I know what to do with them!!!!!!!
Haha, that’s why I bought mine in the first place! Glad I could inspire you 😉
Thanks for sharing. I’m vegan and make muffins which contain blueberries, walnuts and raisins. One of the things I’ve attempted to do when making muffins, is reduce the amount of flour. In place of 2 cups flour I have been using 1 cup flour and 1 cup old fashioned oats. I’m having great success with this combination. I immediately wondered how it would work with this recipe. After adding almond milk and mixing ,the oats will thicken the mix once it starts absorbing the milk.
That sounds great, Eric! I wonder if it would turn out similarly if you used oat flour instead of oats… If you try either then I’d love to hear how they turn out!
Not sure if son can do flax… can you do all Ener-g? So you’re replacing two eggs?
Hi Kristi – I think that using all Ener-G would be fine. I’d leave out the flax and water and up the almond milk by another 1/4 cup. Let me know how it turns out!
Woops, forgot! Use a total of 1 Tbsp of the Egner-G.