This recipe is written in proud and paid partnership with our friends at the Canadian Sugar Institute. We can’t wait for you to try this one!
Picture this scene… you’re two years old and have recently discovered that you have a mind of your own! And it seems as though your mind has different opinions than your parents. This opens up a whole new world of opportunities!
Wearing a jacket outside? Totally overrated.
Allowing Mama to brush your teeth? Naw–you can do that yourself.
Eating anything green or bean-y? No thank you! That’s much too bitter!
Even though your parents repeatedly put zucchini noodles on your plate and offer you black beans on Taco Tuesday, you *politely* decline to eat them.
One day Mama invites you into the kitchen to make chocolate muffins with her. Your eyes light up! Yum! Muffins are sweet and delicious!
She has already prepped some of the ingredients. Your brow furrows slightly as you notice black beans and zucchini on the counter. You’re a little suspicious and uncertain that you’ll end up trying the end product, but – it’s so much fun to bake with Mama! – so you humour her and help her with the muffins.
As they’re baking, you smell the sweet aroma and think to yourself, “maybe I’ll just try a nibble. If it’s awful, I can wash it down with a glass of milk.”
Once they’re cooled, you sit down to enjoy a snack of muffins, fresh fruit, and milk with Mama. You take a tiny bite and discover “hmm – baked inside a muffin, zucchini and black beans aren’t terrible! In fact, the muffins are delicious!” Since the mini size of the muffin isn’t too intimidating, you end up finishing it and helping yourself to a second.
When Taco Tuesday comes around again, your mind is a little bit more open to the idea of black beans. You decide to start small and place one in your taco. Hmm, that wasn’t too bad after all!
And that my friends, is the magic of trust and exploration.
Using sugar as a bridge
Kids have a naturally higher affinity for sweet foods than adults (we’ve talked about this in detail over here). As a parent, you can use this strategically!
While the end goal may be to help your child to learn to enjoy and appreciate foods such as zucchini and black beans prepared in other (perhaps more traditional) ways, by incorporating them into a food they already know and love, such as muffins, this can help bridge the gap from zero interest to being willing to eat them.
The sweet taste of the overall muffin is much more approachable!
At the same time, we wanted to keep the added sugar content low. In the end, there’s only 1g of added sugar in each mini muffin! This is equal to ¼ of a teaspoon.
Suggested reading: Babies, Sweets and Sugar 101
Other nutritional highlights
Each mini muffin has:
- 1g added sugar
- 1.5g fibre
- 0.5mg iron
Hidden veggies & beans?
As you may have already gathered… while we’re big fans of adding nutritionally dense foods into recipes, we are not fans of hiding their presence from your kids. Doing so can erode trust which is incredibly important in a feeding relationship.
Put it this way: if your kid doesn’t know that there are black beans in their muffins, how can their brains make the connection that they’re not so horrible after all? What happens when they grow up and start to prepare their own food? Are they going to be reaching to eat black beans? Not likely. They’ve grown up believing that they don’t like them!
Suggested reading: All About Beans!
DOUBLE CHOCOLATE MINI MUFFINS FAQ
What age can I offer this muffin to my child?
Formally, since children under age 2 are advised to not consume any added sugars, you are welcome to wait until this age. However, most of you know by now that we’re realistic when it comes feeding children within the family setting. So, if your child is slightly less than two and you really want to serve up these muffins, go for it knowing they contain a very very low amount of sugar with the opportunity to reap a ton of other nutritional benefits as previously highlighted!
Can I freeze these muffins?
Of course! We love making big batches of muffins and freezing them for an easy breakfast. To defrost, leave at room temperature or microwave for 20 – 30 seconds and let it cool slightly!
Can I make regular size muffins with this batter?
We tried baking a few in our testing and to be honest… the texture wasn’t great! They took too long to bake and ended up not being as fluffy.
Will my kids notice the black beans?
With chocolate chips in the mix, any dark brown flecks make your brain think it’s chocolate! Having said that, we’d encourage you to make these muffins with your kids, so that they know exactly what goes into them, aren’t surprised, and realize that black beans in muffins isn’t so weird after all 🙂
Can I use white sugar instead of brown?
We haven’t tested the substitution, but we believe the recipe would likely work just as well with white sugar.
Can I skip the zucchini?
Again, we haven’t tested it, but we believe the recipe would likely work just as well to omit the zucchini.
Watch how to make these mini muffins:
Double Chocolate Mini Muffins
Ingredients
- ¾ cup black beans cooked from dried or drained and rinsed from a can
- 3 ripe mashed bananas
- 1 egg
- ¾ cup milk
- ¼ cup canola oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup shredded zucchini
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose or whole wheat flour
- 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup ground flax
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup mini chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400° F.
- Mash the beans until no lumps remain. You’ll still see the skins – that’s okay!
- Mash in the bananas, and then the egg.
- Stir in the milk, canola oil, vanilla, and shredded zucchini.
- Stir in the flour, cocoa powder, brown sugar, ground flax, baking powder, and salt.
- Fold in the chocolate chips, do not over mix the batter.Grease your muffin tins or -even better- use silicone muffin pans!
- Using a small scoop, fill the muffin tins.
- Bake mini muffins for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean.
- Store muffins in the fridge or freezer. The moisture content is higher than typical muffins and they will go bad quickly on the counter.
7 thoughts on “Healthy Double Chocolate Mini Muffins [a low sugar one bowl recipe]”
Do you think these would turn out ok with a flax egg in place of the egg?
While we haven’t tested it ourselves, I do feel that the recipe would work with a flax egg.
If you use regular size muffin tins how long do you recommend bake?
Hey – we actually tried it in a normal muffin pan and it was not great. The product was soooo heavy and dense! We highly recommend the smaller size!
Ok good to know thanks!!
Great and easy!
We’re so happy to hear that, honestly…easy is the way to go!