Chocolate Cherry Breakfast Muffins

Chocolate meets cherries in these moist and delicious gluten-free Chocolate Cherry Breakfast Muffins!

Do you ever buy a cool ingredient while grocery shopping but have no idea what you’ll make with it? I bought some garbonzo bean (aka chick pea) flour. My sister and I became fascinated with it years ago when she tasted this scone at a party. I had never been able to find it so when I did, I had to buy it.

But what to do with it? Clearly using it would require some degree of baking, a task I avoid at all costs, but I reminded myself that people enjoy baking. I mean, how hard can it be? I decided on these chocolate cherry breakfast muffins.

In true me-fashion, I set out to make the healthiest breakfast muffins humanly possible. I threw in some hemp seeds for protein, oats for added fiber, almond flour for some healthy fats, and I didn’t even use oil.

But let me tell you, what went into that bowl was the farthest thing from precise. There was no meticulous measuring of ingredients going on. It’s just not how I roll. That being said, I understand I upped the risk of failure by oh, say 1000% by not doing so. I get that. I may not bake but I do know the rules. This sudden realization occurred right before the final act of stirring in the cherries. Panic set in and I started talking to myself. Based on precedence, the likelihood of these muffins being edible is very low. I know you want them to be healthy, but you might need to add more sugar to this bowl. And then, before I knew it, 1/4 cup of brown sugar went in. If my sister Georgie is reading this she is clapping right now, but in my gut I felt a ping of failure. Maybe the Academy of Pediatrics was right?

Nah!!!!! You didn’t think I would fall for that nonsense would you? I’ve made many a naturally sweetened treat in my day and they get gobbled up without complaint. Remember these? Oh wait, I did drizzle a lovely orange glaze on those. Well, there’s still these, these and these. Actually, every energy ball snack you’ll find on this site is sweetened naturally. And they don’t last but a few days in my house.

Still, there’s something about the idea of baking that throws me into a panic. And this time, probably for good reason. Even with the applesauce, 1/4 cup of maple syrup, and the panic-induced 1/4 cup brown sugar…these muffins are still not that sweet. But, I think all in all they were a success!

They are super moist and if you love cherries, you’ll be happy. The chocolate taste is subtle because I used cacao nibs and just a bit of cocoa powder but you could definitely bump that up. You could also add walnuts to these for a little crunch, that would be great. Heck, you can even use a different fruit. I used cherries because that’s what I had on hand in my freezer. I did use eggs in the recipe but to make them vegan you could substitute with flax eggs.

These chocolate cherry muffins are the perfect grab and go breakfast or afternoon snack with some green tea. You might be wondering if I will keep up with the baking. Probably not. For one, the mess to clean up? No thank you. For two, these muffins are super tasty, but my raw bars/balls last longer, are more satisfying (to me) and are easier to make. I also don’t have to use flour, eggs, oil, or sugar. 🙂

Chocolate Cherry Breakfast Muffins

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Ingredients

  

• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla coconut milk
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1/4 cup hemp seeds
• 1/4 cup cacao nibs
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup maple syrup
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 cup almond meal
• 1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
• 1 Tbsp cocoa powder
• 3/4 cup chickpea flour
• 1 cup unsweetened frozen cherries plus more for the top

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and line a standard muffin tin with 12 paper liners or lightly grease. In a large bowl combine eggs, applesauce, extract, maple syrup, and brown sugar.
• Add coconut milk and stir until combined. Then add salt, baking soda, chickpea flour, hemp seed, cacao nibs, cocoa powder, almond flour, shredded coconut and oats. Stir again until well combined.
• Gently toss the cherries in last. Fill muffin tins with batter and top with additional cherries.
• Bake for 20-24 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and the muffins are golden brown. Let cool on a cooling rack. I think they taste best warm!