Avocado Chocolate Muffins

Veg cakes are my new obsession.

I really want "Red Velvet Chocolate Heartache" by Harry Eastwood. I've been reading every review I can find. But with my "NO MORE COOKBOOKS" self-imposed rule, I'm having to regularly slap my hand away from the "add to basket" option on amazon. But when I realised Mum had an over-ripe avocado in the fridge that was about to be chucked, I nabbed it and made muffins instead.

I liked these, personally. I think, unlike a lot of veg cakes, you CAN taste the avocado, but that may be due to my substitutions and my confusion with avocado sizing. They were not very sweet, but I enjoyed that. I have an insane sweet tooth (people nearly faint when I tell them I take 3 sweetener tablets in my tea) but I do like bittersweet or just plain unsweet sometimes. Next time I'd make sure I have enough maple syrup because I had to use half maple and half golden, and I hear that golden isn't as sweet.

P.S. Nutella in the middle makes everything better. Except perhaps roast chicken. I wouldn't put it in that.

I think it could have perhaps done with a little thinning out, though (but in our cold house, from about October-April the Nutella is a solid block you have to chip bits off with a hammer and chisel).

Avocado Chocolate Muffins
Mainly adapted from the recipe here. My big difference was to halve the original recipe, hence some slightly awkward measures, and to replace some of the cocoa powder with flour, as we were running a bit short. The other difference was to add the optional Nutella centre. 

Makes 6 fairly large muffins

3/4 cups + 3tbsp plain flour
3tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 medium-sized ripe avocado, pitted and peeled (I used 80g)
1/4 cup + 2tbsp pure maple syrup
1/4 cup + 2tbsp milk
2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons olive oil
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 

6 teaspoons Nutella (optional)


1656 calories per batch
276 calories per muffin (6 muffins)

1. Preheat the oven to 350°.
2. Grease muffin tin and set aside.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

4. Puree the avocado in a food processor, or mash it by hand.
5. Combine the avocado with the maple syrup, rice milk, olive oil, and vanilla extract, in a food processor or by hand with a whisk.

6. Add the avocado mixture to the dry ingredients, whisking until combined. 

7. Divide the batter between the muffin cups. To make it a bit more interesting, I added some melting Nutella centres. I put about half the mix into the bun cases.

Then I added a teaspoon of nutella to the middle of each one, before spooning the remaining mixture over the top. 

8. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with just a few crumbs. 

9. Cool the muffins in the pan, on a cooling rack, for at least 10 minutes before removing them from the pan to cool completely. These muffins are super moist and may break if you remove them from the pan while they are still hot. Dust with icing (powdered/confectioners) sugar if desired.

276 CALORIES PER MUFFIN.