Dark Chocolate Zucchini Banana Muffins (GF, DF)

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With school just around the corner, I am back at it with the muffin recipe developing. I love showing my kids how baking can be healthy!

Even more, I LOVE involving them in the kitchen when I’m adding in all sorts of healthy things to their food so they can taste and see that good food can not only taste delicious but make you feel good too!

These Dark Chocolate Zucchini Banana Muffins are gluten-free, dairy free and make a great lunchtime packable or breakfast on-the-go type situation for busy school mornings.

The truth is, I used to have a love-hate relationship with baking. I have never been one to follow the rules, especially with cooking, so I got easily frustrated when I added a few too many scoops of this or that and the baking situation turned out to be a flop. But lately, with lots of practice and patience, I have been having more baking wins than flops and this one was a true winner on all levels in my book! My kids ate these for basically breakfast lunch and dinner for three days and qualified them as “after dinner dessert” too! Whichever meal you want to serve them at, they’ll do the job, trust me on that!

I started with a base of eggs, zucchini and some smashed banana and then for the flour I decided to do a mix between almond flour and buckwheat flour (anyone else find it wild that buckwheat flour is gluten-free?!). I added cacao to make them even more superfoody and some chocolate chips on top just to make it look more like a desert than a healthy veggie filled muffin. (But they are totally sweet enough inside to taste like a desert, anyway.)

They turned out so wonderfully moist and satisfying, they’ll definitely be getting a re-make around here, if you know what I mean. Get ready to see these guys in lots of lunchbox shots in the near future!

I won’t make you babes wait any longer, here’s how I make these chocolately delights!

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 ripe bananas

• 2/3 cup shredded zucchini

• 3 large eggs, room temperature

• 1/4 cup gently melted grass-fed ghee (this is the one I use) or coconut oil

• 1/3 + 1 tbsp agave

• 1 cup buckwheat flour

• 2 cups refined almond flour

• 3 tbsp organic cacao powder (I like this brand)

• 2 tsp cinnamon

• 3 tsp baking soda

• 1/3 cup enjoy life chocolate chips

Makes: 18-20 muffins
Cook time: 20 minutes

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Line your muffin tin with muffin liners and set the oven for 350 degrees F.

2. Shred your zucchini and make sure to use a towl or paper towl to squeeze out all the liquid.

3. In a large mixing bowl add the eggs and beat them very well before adding the banana and zucchini and cinnamon. Smash your banana thoroughly with the back of a fork until bumps are removed.

4. Add in the agave and ghee and then combine all the wet ingredients well.

5. In a separate bowl, add all the dry ingredients together - the buckwheat and almond flour, the baking soda and the cacao. Combine thoroughly.

6. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix well. Allow the mixture about 3 minutes to sit (to allow the ingredients to react with each other) before pouring the batter into the muffin tins.

7. Add batter a little more than halfway full into each muffin tin and sprinkle the chocolate chips right on top.

8. Place them in the oven at 350 degrees F for about 16 minutes or until the top begins to slightly brown. You will need to make two separate batches.

-Enjoy!