There’s a giant box of VitaMuffins in my kitchen.
And it is not my fault.
In fact, I’ve never tried a VitaMuffin in my life. The giant box belongs to my roommate, who would eat deep chocolate vitatops every single day if they weren’t so expensive ($17 for twelve muffin tops?!). She’s always asking me to “please come up with a copycat recipe so I can stop giving Costco all my money.” And therefore, I dedicate the following recipe to her:
Copycat chocolate vitamuffin tops: healthy enough for breakfast.
And decadent enough for dessert.
Muffin Monster.
Spawn of Cookie Monster.
Copycat Chocolate VitaTops
(makes 12)
- 2 tbsp milk of choice (30g)
- 2 tbsp oil, or 2 more tbsp milk of choice (30g)
- 1/2 tbsp pure vanilla extract (6g)
- 1 tbsp ground flax (6g) or 1 tsp energ powder (Can omit; they will just be a little denser.)
- 1/2 cup pureed prunes or pumpkin (120g)
- 1/2 cup spelt flour (all-purpose flour works too, and a reader says you can use Bob’s gf mix.) (65g)
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 2 tbsp cocoa powder (10g)
- 2 tbsp xylitol or sugar (25g)
- 1 to 2 more tbsp sugar or 1 to 2 nunaturals stevia packets (scant 1/16 tsp uncut) (Add 1 tbsp if using prunes, 2 if using the pumpkin.)
- highly recommended: 1/4 cup chocolate chips or mini chips (mixed into the batter)
- optional: 2-4 chocolate chips per muffin, for decoration
Preheat oven to 350 F, and grease a standard-sized muffin pan. In a mixing bowl, combine first 5 ingredients and whisk. In a separate bowl, combine all remaining ingredients except the decoration ingredient, and stir well. Now mix wet into dry and stir until just combined. Don’t over-mix. Distribute batter evenly among 12 muffin cups, and—if desired—place two or three chocolate chips on the top of each muffin. Bake 12 minutes, then allow to cool 5-10 minutes before removing from the muffin tins.
Is it just me, or does my chocolate VitaTop look like a Pacman ghost?
Question of the Day:
Have you ever tried a VitaMuffin?
Do you think they’re good enough to be worth the expensive price tag?
Link of the Day:
YUM! I’ve never had a VitaTop muffin, but thanks to this recipe I won’t have to. Judging by that price tag, I’m glad.
I also nominated your blog for an award. Here’s the link if you’d like to know more:
http://mouthwateringfoods.blogspot.com/2013/01/inspiring-blog-award.html
Thank you so much. I’m honored you even included me!
I used to eat at least one Vita Brownie (the pomegranate kind) before I was diagnosed with a gluten/egg/dairy intolerance. I am going to try them. Wondering what would make them more brownie-like? Thanks for the recipe 🙂
Oh my goodness, these look so fantastic! I’ve never tried the VitaMuffins and don’t think I’ll ever need to thanks to this recipe. Can’t wait to bake me a batch of them 🙂
Delicious! Didn’t even use any salt… used the pumpkin and Florida Crystal’s Natural Sugar (as well as almond milk and Smart Balance oil, Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa powder, spelt flour and Enjoy Life’s vegan chocolate chunks). These are a sinful tasting treat I can feel good about packing in my 5 year old’s lunchbox!
Ohhhh mannn!!
My mom used to buy them…honestly I wasn’t too fond of them. I would much rather make my own healthier, low-calorie muffin. Thanks for the recipe!
This seems quite similar to the crazy ingredient chocolate cake if made with pumpkin (which is my fav cake recipe and I like it better with cauliflower than pumpkin!) Is the flavour similar?
I will try this one too with baby food prunes. 🙂
cauliflower? tell me more…!
The recipe is here:
https://lett-trim.today/2012/06/18/cauliflower-chocolate-cake/%3C/a%3E%3Cbr /> They are amazing! Especially with the Reeses Pieces Frosting.
I’ve done them with raw cauliflower that I steamed first, but I don’t recommend it. I most likely just cooked it a bit too much, but while they still tasted great, they smelled quite bad (like a muffin with cauliflower lol). And definitely don’t leave out the choc. chips. 🙂
To answer your question, yes it’s similar… but these are less rich I think. More like muffins than cake (taste and texture-wise), if that makes sense.
These look soooo cute! Im going to try swap the pumpkin/prune for apples or banana, so i will let you know how they turn out!!
Oh could totally see these as a sandwich type treat filled with something amazing like PB mousse 🙂
I have tried vitatop muffins before and they are quite decent. I like that they are low calorie. They’re not worth the money though. The ones you make look delicious. I can’t wait to try making them.
Hi Katie, These look delicious! I haven’t tried the real ones, just waiting for your gf option! I have a question though, have you ever tried substituting protein powder for some of the flour in a recipe? I’d like to get some protein into my family’s breakfast but I wasn’t sure if that would work in baked goods. Thanks for all your terrific recipes; you’re the best!
Sorry, I haven’t. If you try it, be sure to report back :).