When it comes to baking, muffins are always a good idea...especially these Quinoa Oat Chocolate Chip Muffins. Even with healthy food, too much of a good thing can be bad. But you're a lot less likely to run the risk of over-serving yourself when you have a perfect portion that comes in the form of a muffin. Of course, I'm talking about muffins made with the typical homemade muffin pan, not the gigantic big-as-your-head-of-course-they're-bad-for-you muffins that sit neatly inside coffee shop display cases, begging for you to buy one, disguised as healthy with words like grains or berries or fiber. I prefer muffins that are a little more transparent, made with fewer ingredients, a lot less unhealthy fat, and much less sugar.
As I wrote The Belly Burn Plan, the feedback I received from the group of taste testers (aka Belly Burners) I worked with to create better recipes was that they wanted to see more muffin. I got kind of hooked. I created several recipes that made the cut, and they happen to fall under the category of breakfast (in the book). Muffins + breakfast = another good idea. Where things go wrong is when the muffins are too high in sugar and don't contain ingredients that do much for your body. With a few exceptions, that's nearly every muffin outside of what you make in your kitchen.
Regardless of when you eat them, these muffins are right up there, and because they contain chocolate chips, my kids naturally love them. One ingredient I bake with almost exclusively is coconut oil. I can't say enough about this ingredient, or how beneficial it is not only to making good food, but to your health as well. Coconut oil has been shown to increase HDL cholesterol (the good stuff), improve memory, boost athletic performance and increase overall endurance. If you don't have this ingredient in your pantry now, make sure you pick some up.
Quinoa Chocolate Chip Muffins
Yields 9
Ingredients
1 1/4 cups oat flour
1 cup quinoa, prepared
3/4 cup coconut sugar
1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup water, lukewarm*
2 eggs, room temperature*, lightly whisked
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Line muffin pan with muffin cup, or lightly grease pan.
3. In a large bowl, combine oat flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt. Mix well and set aside.
4. In a medium bowl, combine whisked eggs*, coconut oil, water*, sugar and vanilla. Mix well. Note: it's very important that the water and eggs not be cold. If cold ingredients are mixed with melted coconut oil, the oil will solidify, making the mixture difficult to work with.
5. Add ingredients from the small bowl to the medium bowl and continue mixing until batter is well mixed.
6. Ladle ingredients into muffin forms and bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes, or until the center of the muffin has reached doneness using the toothpick test.
