Low Cal / Low Fat Double Chocolate Muffins
By: Jaime Davis
Published: Thursday, February 4, 2010 - 6:26pm

Ingredients




3/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup baking cocoa (regular or dark chocolate)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup fat-free vanilla yogurt
2/3 cup fat-free milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla (I used 1 tablespoon, because I wanted to enhance the vanilla flavor)
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preparation

1 Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Remove yogurt and milk from fridge to let them come closer to room temperature.  Grease muffin pan with cooking spray. 2 Sift together flours, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl.  Whisk in sugar.   With your hands, make a well in the center of the dry ingredients.  Add yogurt, milk, vanilla, and chocolate chips.  Fold ingredients together with a spatula or wooden spoon, just until moistened and all dry ingredients have been incorporated.  (You don't want to mix too much). 3 Spoon batter into muffin cups - technically 2/3 full but my batter was almost at the top of each cup and they were fine.  Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Let cool for at least five minutes in the pan before removing and cooling on racks. 4 These muffins should keep well for a few days after baking...just pop them in the microwave for 15 seconds or so and they get all gooey and melty...ooh la la. 5 Approximate nutrition info:  1 muffin = 138 calories, 0 grams of fat, 1 mg of cholesterol, 258 mg sodium, 29 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, 3 grams of protein.

About


If you're like any average American, you need all the help you can get come holiday time to ensure that your pants still fit on January 1st.  Ah, my friends...no need to worry!  Aunt Jaime is here to help.
Okay, "Aunt Jaime" is a little creepy because I'm not an aunt in any way.  In fact, I'm the oldest child in my family by about nine years, which means I better not become an aunt any time soon or my 21 year old little bro will have some esplainin' to do.  I think I like the term "Aunt [insert name]" because of the "Aunt Emily" joke from When Harry Met Sally.  WHMS is an American treasure ya'all, so I will assume everyone has seen it, ergo leaving the reference unexplained.  And if you haven't seen the film in its entirety (ahem, Earle), shame on you.
Wow, I really got off topic here.
What I wanted to say was, very simply, I love chocolate.  Yeah, no transitions, just gonna put that out there.  I'm purely, utterly, devoted to the stuff.  And it just seems like November to January everyone else is as devoted - even Ann Taylor Loft had chocolates next to their registers last week when I ran in quickly with a friend.  It's just enough to drive me choco-bonkers.  So if you're trying to curb your intake and watch your girlish figure over the holidays, I highly suggest these oh-so-easy, oh-so-chocolatey low calorie, low fat muffins.  I'm tellin' ya, they're good and even Earle gave them two enthusiastic thumbs up.  Recipe under the cut.
I found the recipe in an online forum somewhere and basically adapted it in my own way, without compromising the nutritionals as much as possible.  If you're familiar with No Pudge Brownie Mix, then the process for making these muffins is pretty similar - no eggs, butter, or oil - instead you use skim milk and nonfat yogurt. 
Your batter will be airy, light, and sticky, so don't be worried.  And if you're pressed for time (as most of us are), don't fret my pet.  I whipped up two batches of these in about an hour, including baking time.  Woot!
***I made a batch with regular baking cocoa and another with dark chocolate cocoa; both turned out nummers but I have to admit the dark chocolate muffins are particularly tasty.***

Comments:
Tricia Jackson

OMG! So good, I feel so guilty because these seem like such a guilty pleasure... only 138 calories!!! I can't believe it...
my new favorite indulgence! Thank you Jaime!!