Mocha Muffins -Enjoy with Friends

August 2, 2010 · Filed under Uncategorized · Tagged Beach, Mocha Muffins, Vacation food, Vegan

The only thing better than dessert? Dessert shared with friends! My best friends from Ohio made a trip down to Virginia to visit, and we started cooking up a storm in the kitchen! (Ok, cooking might be a stretch… snacking might be a more appropriate verb…) We decided to make some Mocha Muffins because they’re one of my favorite Vegan treats, and none of the girls had tried them before! I know I’ve posted pictures before, but here is the recipe,  I made a few changes, but for the most part, it’s the same!

Mocha Muffins

from Get Healthy With Heather

Ingredients:

3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 cup fava bean and chickpea flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup dutch cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp sea salt
1 tbsp cornstarch (I didn’t have cornstarch, so I just added 2 more tbs of chickpea flour)

1/3 cup apple sauce
3/4 cup coffee
1 tsp vanilla

1/4 cup dark chocolate chips (I used more like 1/2 cup. We like our chocolate!)
optional – more dark chocolate chips to top the muffins

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.  In a large bowl combine all the dry ingredients (flours, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cornstarch).  Stir until thoroughly mixed, leaving no lumps.

In a smaller bowl combine the remaining wet ingredients (apple sauce, coffee and vanilla) excluding the chocolate chips.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until smooth and combined.  Stir in the chocolate chips.

Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup pour the mixture into 8 regular sized muffin tins coated with olive oil spray.  Top each muffin with a few additional chocolate chips if desired.

Bake for 20 minutes.  Remove from the oven when a toothpick comes out clean.  After 5 minutes gently remove the muffins from the tin and enjoy.

Since we’re heading to the beach today, we had to pack an array of snacks! All of our munchies we’re not only vegan, but also Soy-free, since Annie is allergic to soy.

We had some tortilla chips and dip from Trader Joe’s, some clementines, Athenos hummus with carrots, veggies, and grilled whole wheat pita. (Yes, we grilled pita on my george foreman!) We also had apples & Almond Butter ( from TJ’s because it’s the best) and Peanut Butter Puffins. (Did you know it’s impossible to be sad while eating Peanut Butter Puffins? Seriously, they just make you smile! 🙂 ) All of our snacks seemed beach-friendly, so we figured they’d keep us full, at least until we could find ourselves some dinner!

The muffins were a great beach snack, and even though I made a double batch, every single muffin was devoured by the end of the weekend! (I call that success!)

I also made the girls some banana soft serve over crushed graham crackers, topped with Katie’s version of Magic Shell!! This was SO good, and we ate every last bite! Katie, the “magic shell” was amazing!

And now, some pictures from the weekend! I know they aren’t food pictures, but… life is about more than just food!

The five of us, under a bridge! I love these girls!

Back handsprings on the beach!

We had a fantastic time, and it was so great to get to see my Ohio friends! I love you girls 🙂

Our muffins were great vacation food… what’s your favorite beach snack?

-LLV