Wellness Solutions Taranaki

My eldest son is off to school camp in a couple of weeks and his teacher emailed me the menu. As you can imagine it was filled with meat, dairy, sugar and processed food with a side of coleslaw. He asked what ‘we’ should do about replacements, so I said I’d prepare a few things.

Jamari has been asking for chocolate muffins and we all love the chocolate orange combination.

This recipe makes 12 small muffins. You could use 6 bigger muffin cases if you wanted larger ones and increase the cooking time. Our taste buds have changed over the last few months and we find these sweet enough. If you’d like them sweeter, increase the amount of pure maple syrup.

They keep well in the freezer and are great for lunch boxes. Just take them out the night before you need them.

Ingredients:

1 cup wholemeal flour

1/2 cup of cocoa powder or cacao powder, sifted

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

Rind of 2 oranges

Juice of 2 oranges

1 tbsp applesauce

2 tbsp pure maple syrup

1 flax egg

1 cup almond milk or other plant milk

1/2 cup dark chocolate nibs (I use 70% cocoa from Vetro)

Method:

Preheat your oven to 190°

Prepare your flax egg and leave it in the fridge

Grate the orange rind with the small side of the grater

Juice the oranges, removing any pips

Sift the cocoa powder or cacao powder, baking powder and baking soda into a bowl

Add the flour, orange rind and mix

Add all the other ingredients except the chocolate nibs and mix until combined. Don’t forget the flax egg in the fridge!

Add the chocolate nibs

Spoon into muffin cases and bake for 20 minutes. They’ll be a little wet in the middle but will set properly while cooling.

Enjoy!