I was craving peanut butter...
So chocolate chips seemed like a good idea too...
These Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins deliver some cozy, healthy-deliciousness to your day. Perfect for pairing with your favorite morning hot beverage - or as a mid-morning or late-afternoon snack. These agave-sweetened, dark chocolate chip infused muffins are even dessert-approved.
I like how there are slight ripples of peanut butter in each muffin. I even serve them messy-style with another gob of peanut butter..
Peanut butter + chocolate is one of my favorite flavor combos ever. And so yesterday when I was in a muffin-baking mood - I called on those flavors for inspiration. I even slathered some extra peanut butter on my warm muffins to bust my peanut butter craving. It worked!
..more peanut butter please..
Slice in half and stuff with peanut butter..
Warm messy muffins = yummy reward for taking the time to bake..
Peanuts for Protein! Did you know that peanuts are one of the nuts that are highest in protein? That is probably because peanuts are actually not "nuts" but actually "legumes" - same family as beans and lentils.
Peanuts have 6.7 grams of protein per ounce. Almonds have about 6 grams of protein - which is not far behind. Walnuts have about 4 grams of protein. (Of course all "nuts" have their own amazing nutritional qualities, but peanuts are a nice source of vegan protein.)
Sugar. I was out of dry sugar so decided to sweeten these with agave. I liked the result! It gave my muffins a very bright sweet flavor - almost like a granola bar sweetened with agave. And the texture was even kind of dense and chewy (in a good way.) And when I chilled my muffins that texture further firmed up. So these muffins were on the buttery + dense side - kind of like a scone actually.
I think everyone will love these muffins .. I mean who doesn't love peanut butter and chocolate???
ps .. if you need to sub in a different "nut" or "seed" butter, go for it.
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins
vegan, makes 12 muffins
dry:
1 ¼ cups whole wheat pastry flour
½ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
⅓ cup rolled oats
wet:
¼ cup soy milk or water + 1 teaspoon chia seeds
1 large banana, mashed (or sub with ½ cup apple sauce)
¾ cup agave syrup
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
warmed:
2-3 tablespoon virgin coconut oil (or another veggie oil)
4-5 tablespoon peanut butter
fold in: ½ cup dark chocolate chips, vegan
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine the chia seeds + liquid, allow to sit and soak for a few minutes until seeds plump.
3. Combine dry ingredients in large bowl. Add in the wet ingredients including the chia seed mixture.
4. Warm the oil and peanut butter in the microwave until soft and liquid in texture. Pour into your batter and fold well. The batter should be about room temperature at this point - you don't want it too warm or it will melt the chips.
5. Fold in the chocolate chips.
6. Pour into muffin cups.
7. Bake for about 18 minutes at 350 degrees. Serve warm.
Nutritional Info (per muffin) - estimate caloriecount.com
calories: 211 fat: 7g, carbs: 35g, protein: 4g, fiber: 2.3g, iron: 5%
note: for a slightly less sweet, lower calorie muffin, reduce agave and add an extra splash of non-dairy milk. Reducing the agave to ½ cup will make each muffin around 190 calories.
