I sometimes feel January is a month where people punish themselves and deprive themselves. Yes it is a time to cut back from the excesses of Christmas but why suffer! A life without chocolate is very sad! This weekend, my other half requested chocolate muffins and so my challenge was to make healthy ones so I could indulge too! Pinterest is full of american recipes that use apple sauce instead of butter so using this premise, I attempted these. I also used porridge oats instead of flour. It is a bit experimental but trust me, they taste great! You can make 12 full size muffins or 36 mini muffins, depending on what you feel like!

Skinny Chocolate Muffins:

Yummy warm with some cream

If serving 12 – 3pp per muffin

If serving 36 – 1pp per muffin

• 140g Porridge oats
• 80g Cocoa powder
• 110g unsweetened stewed apple*
• 110g 0% fat greek yoghurt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 egg whites
• 1 1/2 tsp Bicarb of soda
• 1 1/2  tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 240ml water
• 1 cup of sweetener – Easier in cups with this one!
• 80g chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees celsius.
2. This is just about the most difficult part of this recipe. If you have a food processor, blitz the oats until they have a powdery texture. If not, dont worry the muffins will just be more coarse.
3. Add all the other ingredients to a bowl with the oats and stir together, except half of the chocolate chips.
4. Stir everything well together, making sure everything is well blended.
5. Spoon into muffin cases. These will not rise hugely so you can fill large muffin cases quite full. Mini muffins tend to overflow a little so I fill them less.
6. Bake large muffins for 12 minutes. Remove from the oven, sprinkle a few chocolate chips on each and then bake for a further 3 minutes, checking the cakes with a skewer.
7. For mini muffins, I bake for 8 mins, top with the chips and the bake for a further 2-3 minutes, depending on the size of your cases! These really do taste a little naughty, try them!
8. * To make apple sauce, peel and chop up bramley/cooking apples, stick in a saucepan with a tablespoon of water and cook on low until all the apple is mushy! Thats pretty it! It will need some sweetness and I use Splenda but you can use brown sugar!