Chocolate Hazelnut Muffins - Vegan/Gluten/Refined Sugar Free
I created this recipe out of a necessity to use up some hazelnuts that had been lying around for months and were about to pass their 'best before' date. Obviously chocolate and hazelnuts are a match made in heaven but not often a combination seen in a muffin so I thought I'd experiment and see how they'd turn out. I have to say I was pleased with the outcome especially after the first attempt. They are incredibly easy to make, plus they are gluten, dairy and refined sugar free, I promised you won't be able to tell though.
The recipe calls for hazelnut milk and you can use shop bought stuff or if you have time it's easy to make your own by soaking 100g hazelnuts in 500ml water overnight, then blended and passed through a fine muslin cloth, or clean dish cloth. Sweeten as desired. It tastes divine!
Ingredients - Makes 12 Muffins
100g ground hazelnuts or (blanched hazelnuts blitzed until fine)
100g brown rice flour
30 g quinoa flour (you can substitue with more rice flour)
30g arrowroot
40g cocoa powder
30g coconut flour
2.5 tsp baking powder
0.5 tsp bicarbonate of soda
pinch of salt
75g coconut palm sugar/xylitol or other sweetener
1 pinch of stevia (optional but you may need more sweetener depending on your taste)
200-250ml of hazelnut milk (start with 200ml and add more if mixture is too dry)
2 eggs
1tsp vanilla extract
80g light olive oil or 100g organic coconut oil
2tsp apple cider vinegar
100g dark chocolate chips
Instructions
Preheat oven to 180c (160c fan), 350F
Place all dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and whisk to combine all the ingredients really well ensuring there are no lumps etc.
In a separate bowl whisk the milk, eggs, oil, vanilla extract and apple cider vinegar until well combined
Mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients and stir until combined, don't overbeat.
Fold through the dark chocolate chips
Place equal amounts of mixture into a muffin tray lined with 12 muffin cases
Bake in the over for 20 - 30 minutes, or until a fork or toothpick comes out clean
Allow to cool in the tray for 10 mins and transfer to a cooling rack. Enjoy!
