Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

Another successful day on my healthy weight loss journey. It’s day 8 already and I did really great eating wise. One thing that I am totally avoiding is food at work. On any given day there are donuts, muffins, candy, etc… and I’ve been able to avoid it so far.

Yesterday I was going to walk home from work, but as the day grew on, and it was super cold out and dark, I decided I was going to take the bus instead. So, I got my stuff together, and I knew I was cutting it close…I missed it by 20 seconds! I thought that was a sign the Universe was telling me to move instead, so I walked 30 minutes home and it wasn’t that bad and I felt happy that I did it!

I haven’t made muffins in a while actually, so I decided to whip up a batch of my Chocolate Zucchini Muffins adapted from 101 Cookbooks.

This recipe is my adaptation of Heidi from 101 Cookbooks. I printed out the recipe, but then gasped when I saw it called for 1/4 cup melted butter + 3/4 cup of oil! Not figure friendly! So I decided to tweak the recipe to make it healthier. This is my version 🙂 I made 6 Giant muffins + 24 mini muffins. Each giant muffin is only 217 calories!

Chocolate zucchini muffins by Jenn/Adapted from 101 Cookbooks

1 cup unpacked brown sugar
1/4 cup Canola oil
1 egg + 2 egg whites
1 banana, mashed
1 container yogurt (the one I used was vanilla at 90 calories)
1/4 cup ground flax seed
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups grated zucchini (squeezed of excess moisture)
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
2 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. banking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon

In a mixer, mix together the wet ingredients. In a separate bowl add the dry ingredients. Slowly add the dry ingredients into the wet batter and mix until incorporated.

For the mini muffins, I baked those at 375 for about 10 minutes.

For the Jumbo muffins, also bake them at 375 for 20-22 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

These muffins taste like chocolate cake!

Things I did to make them healthier:

Lessened the brown sugar by 1/2 a cup and did not pack down the brown sugar
Used only 1/4 cup canola oil vs. butter and 3/4 cup oil
Used 1 egg + 2 egg whites instead of 3 eggs
Used skim milk in place of whole milk
Cut the chocolate chips in half
Added the banana
Added yogurt
Added ground flax seed
Cut the cocoa in half

You won’t miss the changes at all!  These muffins are so good! 

Are you growing zucchini? What is your favorite thing to make with it?

Don’t forget Biggest Loser is on Tonight, I’ll have a re-cap tomorrow.

I thought American Idol was also starting this week, but sadly, I have to wait another week.

I think its going to still be good with the new judges. I didn’t like Kara so much!

Have a super day!