Healthy Mini Chocolate Chip Muffins (Dairy Free)

Mini Muffins for Mini Mouths

You know, kids are some of the most wasteful creatures when it comes to food. It’s pretty rare that my kids finish an entire muffin in one sitting. That’s why these mini chocolate chip muffins are just right for mini mouths.

Mini muffins are just the right size breakfast or snack for kids of all different ages. For toddlers, one is just right. For older kids, give them as many as they can handle 🙂

And as far a taste is concerned, I don’t know about your kids, but almost anything with chocolate chips in it is an automatic win with mine. Unfortunately, chocolate chips are also loaded with added, processed sugar.

Thank goodness I have my own easy chocolate recipe that only uses honey as a sweetener. And that chocolate, when it is chopped up, makes perfect chocolate chunks in cookies, pancakes and muffins. Which means this chocolate chip muffin recipe remains completely refined sugar free.

So if you are looking for the best chocolate chip muffin recipe that has zero grams of refined sugar and is made totally from scratch, this is it!

Oh, and there’s something else I forgot to mention about these muffins. They are dairy-free 😲

I know, amazing!

It can be hard to find (and make) delicious, dairy-free baked goods that kids actually like. There are some inevitable challenges I always run into when I want to make something dairy-free, particularly for my kids.

Sometimes I try using olive oil instead of butter. But sometimes the flavor of olive oil is too strong for sweet foods. So sometimes I use coconut oil. But my kids don’t like the taste of coconut oil.

So for this recipe, I tried using just a small amount of coconut oil so that the coconut flavor would not come through. And it worked perfectly! Both of my kids liked the dairy free chocolate chip muffins and no one even knew they had coconut oil in them ☺️

When Your Kids Will Need These Muffins

Mini muffins are great for so many things, aren’t they? They make super quick grab-n-go snacks, they are easy breakfasts that don’t require any thought. And sometimes – especially when they are of the chocolate chip variety – they can even pass for dessert.

But primarily, here are the times when I think easy mini chocolate chip muffins are ideal to have on hand:

School Snacks: Mini chocolate chip muffins make for an appealing, easy-to-pack and easy-to-eat school snack.

Finding snacks my 7-year-old will actually eat that aren’t too messy for school is a regular nightly challenge as I pack her school food for the following day. But these muffins eliminate that problem nicely ☺️

After School Snacks: These kids muffins are also great at curing the after-school hangries. Who wouldn’t get an instant mood lift from having a belly full of sweet muffins without having to pay for it with a sugar rush?

Play Dates: It’s not only your kids that can benefit from this naturally sweetened dairy free muffin recipe. These are also a great snack/treat to offer to your kids’ friends.

I usually try to have some fun, homemade snacks on hand for when friends come over after school. These are an especially easy and delectable option to have ready to feed hungry little mouths.

Outings: Outings are another time when these muffins come in handy. Several of my recipes have to be kept in the fridge or freezer and require a cooler to take on-the-go. That’s just the way it goes when you are trying to make treats naturally – oftentimes the fridge is the best preservative and solidifier.

But these chocolate chip muffins do not have to stay in the fridge. Although storing them in the fridge will keep them fresh longer, they can certainly be taken on-the-go without the need for a cooler.

Whether at home, with friends or on an outing, these muffins are a tasty way to satisfy kids’ frequent need for snacks.

Ingredients

• Coconut Oil: Coconut oil is a source of moisture and tenderness in these mini muffins. Using coconut oil keeps these healthy muffins dairy free without sacrificing flavor or texture.

• Maple Syrup: Maple syrup is the natural sweetener in this recipe that keeps it lower on the glycemic index and unprocessed. I usually get my maple syrup from Costco.

• Eggs: Eggs are the binder in this muffin recipe. Organic, cage-free or, even better, farm-fresh eggs are the best for enhanced nutrition.

• Vanilla Extract: Vanilla extract adds the little bit of extra flavor to the muffin batter. Be sure you have pure vanilla extract and not a fake imitation.

• Flour: Any all-purpose flour is fine for this recipe, but if you can get organic, unbleached flour, that is optimal for health.

• Baking Powder: Baking powder gives the muffins a good rise. Look for aluminum-free baking powder.

• Salt: Whatever salt you have on hand will do. I generally use pink Himalayan sea salt.

• Collagen: Collagen is optional but it adds gut health benefits. I love the Mama Natural Collagen powder because it contains more collagen types than most other brands and it has been beneficial for my daughter.

• Homemade Chocolate Chunks: The dairy-free version of my homemade chocolate makes the perfect chocolate chunks for these muffins, keeping them entirely free from refined sugar.

Instructions

Step 1

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Step 2

To a medium-size bowl, add coconut oil, maple syrup, eggs and vanilla extract. Mix with electric hand or stand mixer until fully combined.

Step 3

Add dry ingredients and mix again until incorporated.

Step 4

Place batter in the fridge for 20 minutes to avoid melting the chocolate chips.

Step 5

When batter is cool, add in chocolate chips and mix just until chocolate is evenly distributed.

Step 6

Fill greased mini muffin tins with batter until full. You should end up with 24 muffins cups filled.

Step 7

Bake for 12 minutes, checking for doneness with a toothpick. Muffins will be light in color but toothpick will come out clean

Step 8

Allow to cool in the muffin tins once removed from oven.

Step 9

Store in an airtight container for up to one week on the counter or three weeks in the fridge.

Substitutions & Tips

• If you prefer not to use coconut oil, you can substitute it with your oil of choice.

• I recommend making your chocolate a day or several hours ahead to ensure it has ample time to freeze. If the chocolate or muffin batter is not cold enough, you will end up with chocolate swirls instead of chocolate chunks. But as long as the chocolate has been in the freezer for sufficient time and your batter is slightly chilled, the chocolate chunks should mix in just fine without melting.

• Don’t stress too much over the bake time. These have wonderful flavor no matter how long they bake. I originally baked these for 15 minutes until they were a little golden. They were slightly dryer but still delicious and the kids had no complaints.

• The chocolate does tend to melt all over the pan while these healthy mini chocolate chip muffins are baking. This is because the coconut oil in the chocolate melts so quickly once they are in the oven.

If it really bothers you, there are two things you can try to help prevent this: 1) Put less batter in each muffin cup so they can’t overflow (and reduce bake time), or 2) Reserve your chocolate chunks to add as you are scooping the batter onto the muffins time and place chocolate in the centers of the muffins with batter on top to prevent spillage.