A guilt-free recipe for a really easy breakfast!
In the beginning of December, I breezed through Trader Joe’s on one of my bi-weekly shopping trips to stock up on bananas, spinach, and some other staples. While gently arranging fresh produce in my basket, I glanced up at the freezer aisle end cap display, causing my jaw to drop down to the floor.
Chocolate Peppermint Loaf Mix — $3.99!
I rushed through the rest of the store, mentally chanting, “ChocolatePeppermintLoaf, ChocolatePeppermintLoaf, ChocolatePeppermintLoaf,” (and quite possibly scaring the checkout clerk) until I reached my car. After squeezing the bags into the backseat, I rummaged through the glove compartment for sticky notes and scribbled down my mantra. I wanted to make a copycat at home!
Yet over the next few days, I quickly grew distracted by other holiday treats like cookies, truffles and fudge. Three weeks passed in the blink of an eye, but I finally resolved to buckle down and focus last weekend. No more procrastinating!
I decided on one minor modification. Since I completely lack self-restraint with anything chocolate, I tweaked the original to bake muffins instead (built-in portion control!). After carefully measuring, mixing, and baking the batter, I chuckled. My first batch billowed out over the sides of the muffin cups and resembled the bulbous noses of elephant seals!
After reassembling the ingredients and reducing the liquids, I cheered. The next round of Chocolate Peppermint Muffins turned out light and airy, moist and chocolaty, and perfectly pepperminty!
The batter itself is incredibly easy. Whisk the dry ingredients in one bowl, the wet ones in another, and stir them together just until moist. No mixer required! If you beat the batter with an electric mixer, it would overdevelop the gluten strands, turning your muffins tough and chewy. For a tender texture, stick to a fork or wooden spoon instead—they’re also easier to wash!
To amplify the peppermint flavor, I added two sources: peppermint extract and peppermint baking chips. I opted for a bag of pre-chopped Andes peppermint candy, which Walmart usually stocks year-round near the chocolate chips. If you can’t find that, try dicing seasonal Andes peppermint chip thins, regular Andes mints, peppermint bark (I prefer the dark chocolate variety!), or even using plain semisweet mini chocolate chips.
As I previously mentioned with another chocolate muffin recipe, there are 3 secrets to creating tall bakery-style muffins.
♦ Thick batter. The thicker, the better! The batter should be scoopable, not pourable. I added too much milk in my first batch, which produced a really thin batter and led to the bulbous elephant seal nose spread. After halving the milk, the tops turned out perfectly domed.
♦ Filling the muffin cups to the brim. Many standard recipes instruct you to fill the muffin cups about 2/3 full, but those don’t rise quite as high! Tall tops require more batter.
♦ A quick burst of heat. Baking these muffins at 425°F for a mere 6 minutes before reducing the temperature (without opening the oven door!) rapidly activates the baking powder and baking soda. This creates air bubbles inside the batter, which forces the muffin tops to rise faster.
After nibbling off my first bite, I dove back in for a humongous mouthful. The moist muffins exuded rich chocolaty flavor, complemented with little pockets of sweet melted peppermint chips. Their tender texture and stately size alluded to their decadent taste, and I completely caved, sneaking a second later as an afternoon snack.
Somewhat curious, I compared my muffins to Trader Joe’s loaf. The result?
» 110 fewer calories…
» 60% less fat…
» 80% less sugar…
» 2.5 times as much protein…
… all for the same serving size! These skinny Chocolate Peppermint Muffins are the perfect low fat, low calorie, and healthy indulgent breakfast for this holiday season.
I’m already planning on baking them again in January!
These moist and minty muffins are a great way to start the day! Store any leftovers in an airtight container (or bag) in the refrigerator, and reheat individual muffins for 16-18 seconds in the microwave.
- Preheat the oven to 425°F, and coat 12 muffin cups with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour and next 5 ingredients (through salt). In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, yogurt, milk, vanilla, and peppermint extract. Stir in the Splenda and Truvia. Add in the flour mixture, stirring just until incorporated. Gently fold in the peppermint baking chips.
- Divide the batter between the prepared muffin cups. Bake at 425°F for 6 minutes. Without opening the oven door, reduce the heat to 325°F and bake for another 11-13 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.
Notes: If you can’t find peppermint baking chips, chop up peppermint Andes mints or peppermint bark instead.
Granulated sugar may be substituted for both the Splenda and Truvia; however, the Nutrition Information (calories, carbohydrates, and sugar) will change.
You know this is my favorite flavor combo! YUM! And yes, filling the batter to the very top of the muffin cup is the large bakery-muffin secret! Never knew that till I worked at Whole Foods, now I’ll never have wimpy tiny muffins again! YAY!
Hooray for perfect muffins! 🙂 It’s such a simple and straightforward trick to make extra tall muffins, but somehow I just never thought of it. At WF, did you bake them at a higher initial temperature as well?
These really look like they came out of a bakery! Do you happen to have weight measurements (g or oz) for the flour, sugar, etc? I find that to be the most helpful. I can never seem to scoop and level accurately 🙁
Thanks Stephanie! I actually don’t have weights for this recipe, but here’s my helpful guide for how to measure dry ingredients. Most people don’t realize that the spoon-and-level method yields much less flour than scooping! And I’ll also work on getting the weights the next time I bake these! 🙂
For about three years I’ve used the weight (grams) listed on the flour/sugar packaging . seems to work well. Easier than washing measuring cups. Especially useful when measuring gluten free flours.
If I don’t add the Greek yougert will they still turn out just as yummy ? These look amazing ! Going to try them tomorrow.
Thanks Erin! I haven’t tried substituting any other types of yogurt, but I think regular yogurt should work. I hope the muffins turn out for you, and I’d love to hear what you think of them!
Good morning! This recipe looks SO great, I don’t typically bake with Truvia, do you happen to know if Agave can be substituted at all?
thank you!
Thanks Mindy! I haven’t tried agave in this particular recipe, but I think it’d work. I’d probably double the amount compared to Truvia since Truvia is slightly sweeter than agave. Also, Truvia is a no-calorie sweetener, so if you use agave, the Nutrition Information will be a little different. I’m excited to hear what you think of these muffins! 🙂
Impressive, definitely great material. This blog is absolutely awesome.
Thanks Sonaly!
Just baked these amazing muffins which taste solo good (perfect combo). However, mine came out too dry though. Any advice you can give me? Thanks in advance Amy!
I’m glad you loved their taste Karina! If they were dry, there was probably too much flour or cocoa powder. Did you measure it like the links directed in the Ingredients list, or did you scoop those ingredients directly from the container? Also, did you make any substitutions or modifications? We’ll get this sorted out so your next batch turns out perfectly! 🙂
Hey! Absolutely adore the combo of peppermint and chocolate! And would love to make these … but I do wonder would oat flour or almond flour work? Or really any non wheat flour? I will be trying if I don’t get a response! But just thought I’d ask just to see if I’d get one.. thanks so much!
We really appreciate your interest in our recipe, Cubey! We’re so glad you’re a fan of chocolate and peppermint. It’s such a great combination, isn’t it?
We typically don’t recommend those substitutions in our muffin recipes, including this one. This is because gluten is the protein in wheat-based flours that helps baked goods rise and maintain their shape while cooling. Oat flour and almond flour both lack that, so when you substitute them for wheat-based flours in our recipes that rise (like muffins, cupcakes, cakes, quick breads, etc!), your baked goods will often turn out denser and may collapse while cooling.
However, it’s still possible to make these gluten-free! We recommend the following blend: 1 cup (120g) millet flour, ½ cup (60g) tapioca flour, ½ cup (60g) brown rice flour, and 1 ½ teaspoons xanthan gum. Alternatively, we really like this store-bought gluten-free flour blendfrom Bob’s Red Mill. It works quite well!
(We’re working on adding gluten-free modifications to our older recipes, including this one, so we really appreciate your patience as we work through the 100+ backlog! 🙂 )
We’d love to hear what you think of these muffins if you do end up making them!