Healthy Hot Cocoa Muffins are like a cup of cozy hot chocolate in the form of little treats! They’re comforting and are gluten-free, plant based, and made with simple ingredients. We topped these sweet muffins with some extra marshmallows and dark chocolate, just as the perfect cup of hot cocoa should be 🙂
The most delicious healthy hot cocoa muffins
Winter is my favorite time of year, no question about it. Picture this: the air is crisp and there’s holiday music playing. Your favorite twinkly decorations are all over your house and, hopefully, there’s snow on the ground. I seriously can’t resist making the perfect cup of hot chocolate to keep my hands and my belly warm. Everything about this time of year just makes me smile and keeps me in the best mood.
This year, the cold came early in NYC and I knew I had to pull out the holiday spirit early and make myself a warm cup of hot cocoa. This year, however, I had to make my first cup of dairy free hot cocoa as dairy makes my stomach not so happy. After playing around with some plant based ingredients, I sipped on the perfect cup of hot cocoa with some vegan marshmallows plopped right in. This is exactly where I got the idea for hot chocolate muffins! I know this is probably an idea that already exists, but I’m making mine gluten and dairy free to make them perfect for everyone. Let’s just say they did not disappoint 🙂
As always, I swapped some traditional ingredients for some healthier options, and officially created healthy hot cocoa muffins. They’re gluten-free, plant based, and use simple ingredients. Enjoy these treats alongside a hot beverage like coffee, and ohhh my gosh. The taste is unbeatable!
Ingredients required to make these treats
The ingredients in this recipe are simple and easy. We won’t be using any hard to find items; most of these are probably already in your house! For me, the only items I had to go get for this recipe was the brand new plant based Lavva chocolate milk! If you don’t have it and can’t find it, feel free to sub out for regular plant based milk. Here’s a list of what you’ll need:
- 1 to 1 baking flour
- Coconut sugar
- Pumpkin puree
- Applesauce
- Chocolate plant milk
- Vanilla
- Cocoa powder
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Sea salt
- Chocolate chips and mini marshmallows of course!
Required kitchen tools
Since this recipe is so quick and easy, you’ll only need 4 kitchen tools. Before you begin preparing the muffins, gather a muffin tin, muffin liners, a big mixing bowl, and mixing spatula or spoon! TIP: to make each muffin the same size, grab an ice cream scoop so you can measure out even amounts of batter per muffin. It keeps your hands clean and makes each muffin the perfect size.
How to make healthy hot cocoa muffins
This healthy dessert recipe is very, very easy to make! All in all, it should only require about 45 minutes from start to finish. This may seem a little long, but the prep time is quick and the baking time takes a little longer to make this sweet muffins fluffy, trust me!
Start by preheating your oven to 350F. Then, line your muffin tin with muffin liners.
Mix together the wet ingredients in this recipe first: in your big mixing bowl add in the pumpkin puree, applesauce, chocolate plant milk, and vanilla and mix really well.
Then, add in your dry ingredients into the same bowl: 1 to 1 baking flour, baking powder, baking soda, pinch sea salt, coconut sugar, and cocoa powder. Mix super well and be sure to break apart any clumps in your batter. Feel free to add in some chocolate chips into your batter here as well, but you don’t have to just yet.
Use your ice cream scoop to measure out 12 equal muffins. Smooth out the tops and sprinkle on your chocolate chips and mini marshmallows right on top. Add as many as your heart desires here 🙂
Bake for about 40 minutes, cool, and enjoy. Make yourself a warm cup of coffee to enjoy alongside your hot cocoa muffins for the perfect cold day treat.
How I created this healthy muffin recipe
Traditional hot cocoa muffins or cookies use ingredients like butter, flour, and regular sugar! I prefer using ingredients that have higher nutrition contents, so that’s what I did for this recipe.
- Sugar: For this recipe, I used coconut sugar in place of granulated. Both are sugars, but coconut sugar is slightly lower in calories and carbs. It also tastes great!
- Flour: I typically stay away from all-purpose flour when baking because I can’t eat gluten myself and I only want to share treats that I could actually enjoy. I used a 1 to 1 baking flour here to create the perfect fluffy muffins.
- Butter: Instead of using regular butter, my recipe uses other ingredients in its place. Applesauce is a great sub for butter and pumpkin puree gives these muffins the best consistency as well.
Hot Cocoa Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 and 1/2 cup 1 to 1 baking flour
- 1/4 cup coconut sugar
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- 1/2 cup applesauce
- 2/3 cup chocolate plant milk
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/3 cup cocoa powder
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- Chocolate chips and mini marshmallows of course! Measure these with your heart 🙂
Instructions
- This healthy dessert recipe is very, very easy to make! All in all, it should only require about 45 minutes from start to finish. This may seem a little long, but the prep time is quick and the baking time takes a little longer to make this sweet muffins fluffy, trust me!
- Start by preheating your oven to 350F. Then, line your muffin tin with muffin liners.
- Mix together the wet ingredients in this recipe first: in your big mixing bowl add in the pumpkin puree, applesauce, chocolate plant milk, and vanilla and mix really well.
- Then, add in your dry ingredients into the same bowl: 1 to 1 baking flour, baking powder, baking soda, pinch sea salt, coconut sugar, and cocoa powder. Mix super well and be sure to break apart any clumps in your batter. Feel free to add in some chocolate chips into your batter here as well, but you don’t have to just yet.
- Use your ice cream scoop to measure out 12 equal muffins. Smooth out the tops and sprinkle on your chocolate chips and mini marshmallows right on top. Add as many as your heart desires here 🙂
- Bake for about 40 minutes, cool, and enjoy. Make yourself a warm cup of coffee to enjoy alongside your hot cocoa muffins for the perfect cold day treat.
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