Healthy and Low Calorie Chocolate Almond Chunk Muffins

This is a variation on my chocolate overload gluten-free cupcakes. But I decided to make them "muffins" instead of cupcakes by omitting the frosting, adding some more protein with the addition of almonds and substituting pumpkin puree for the applesauce of the original recipe.
I've also been experimenting with alternatives to sugar, so I substituted Truvia baking mix for straight sugar. This baking mix is made with both Truvia and real sugar (so it doesn't taste weird!) but reduces the calories by 75%. As a result, these muffins are even lower calorie and healthier then my original cupcakes!

Healthy, Low-Calorie Gluten-Free Chocolate Chunk Muffins

Ingredients:
2 cups oatmeal (ground down in a food processor or a blender until fine) or oat flour
4 egg whites
3/4 cup cocoa powder (unsweetened)
1/3 cup pumpkin puree
1 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup non-fat vanilla Greek yogurt
1 cup Truvia baking mix
2 tsp vinegar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1/8-1/4 tsp salt (a pinch)
1 cup of hot water
1 cup of chocolate chips
2/3 cups of chopped almonds

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Spray a muffin tin with cooking spray and set aside.

2. Place your 2 cups of oats in your blender or food processor and grind them down until very fine.

3. Add in all of the other ingredients except for your 1 cup of chocolate chips and cup of almonds.

4. Blend until totally combined. The mixture will be smooth and very thin, it will almost look too thing to be 'real' muffin batter.

5. Scoop your batter into the muffin tin and sprinkle the chocolate chips and almonds on top. This will keep your chocolate chips from sinking to the bottom because of the thin batter.

6. Place your muffin tin in the oven for 12-15 minutes (14 minutes was perfect for me). They will puff up and rise beautifully. Remove them from the oven and let them cool. Then remove them from your muffin tin and let them "set" for a few minutes until they're fully cooled off.

These muffins will stay good for a few days (but they won't last that long, I promise! They'll get eaten!), but they will also freeze really well and stay good if frozen for about 6-8 weeks. They make a great freezer meal and can easily be thawed and served on busy mornings!

Enjoy your decadent but secretly healthy treat! And you can always find more of our gluten-free recipes here if you'd like to find even more healthy, delicious recipes.

~Jessica