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:
I love your posts, and have tried many of your recipes. They’re great and your personality really shines through on your posts. You’re one creative gal. Keep up the good work! I definitely appreciate it, and I’m sure many, MANY others do as well. 🙂
Can you substitute almond or coconut flour to make them grain free? These look better than the Vitatops…they tasted dry to me!:)
Sorry, I haven’t tried.
I don’t have the prunes or pumpkin or even sweet potato so I’m going to try with bananas tonite since I just bought a TON from Giant for super cheap =)
Just a heads-up that you might want to cut back the sugar a little if subbing banana… when I did that for the pumpkin brownie recipe they came out kinda sticky (almost candied?) from the extra sugar in the banana. They were delicious, though! 🙂
This is so exciting! I’ve always wanted to try Vita Tops!! Thank you 🙂
What a good girl you are! I’ve never bought a vitatops, but have so wanted to, and was only tempted when they were on sale. I bet your roommate will love you forever…I will too. Thanks so much for coming up with this one. I will be making them this weekend.
This is a fantastic recipe!!! Super stoked to try it!
I work for Weight Watchers as a meeting leader, and I love how you include the Points Plus values in your nutrition facts. When you’re saying how many Points Plus the serving is, you should call it “Weight Watchers Points Plus Value.” Points Plus is not a “new system” as we’ve had it since 2010. I love that you are supporting our members by providing the P+ stats, but calling it just “Points” is confusing to people who have done multiple versions of Program.
Just wanted to give you a heads up on that. 🙂 Keep banging out these awesome recipes!
Thanks. Will change for the future!
I made these this afternoon as an after school snack for my kids and they loved them! Having tried vita muffins long ago I can say that these were so much tastier and better for us. Great recipe. Keep up the good work!
I made these with applesauce instead of pumpkin or prunes because that was what I had on hand. Also left out the oil and used the extra milk as recommended. These were so good. I’ve never had VitaMuffins so I can’t compare to that. I will make these again for sure.
Thank you so much for trying them :).
These look delicious! I’ve never had the real ones, but if they are expensive, I’ll take these any day.
I have tried Vita- tops. They have a vitamin taste. Your recipe sounds great.
I have never actually tried one!
But your look soososososososoososoosossoosoososooooooo yummy!I am drooling!:)
These rock! I did substitute oat flour (gf) (made from my of oats I had on hand, processed in the food processor) because I did not have spelt. Did use less xylitol and less sugar (rapadura). Oh, used coconut oil. These will be my little pieces of heaven when I need chocolate! Hopefully they make it to the freezer!!!! Thanks!
Thanks for trying them, and I’m glad to hear they work with oat flour!
Mmmm I love VitaMuffins but 100% agree with your roommate – they are so expensive! I make some pretty good protein ones at home myself but I love the look of yours and the fact that they are just tops! Everyone loves a muffin top, right (to eat, anyway!)??
i went vegan 2 years ago and the last thing i gave up was vita tops !! i loved them i usually waited for a sale or Costco was 12.99 i think back then …. so THANKS for this recipe 🙂
I would like to tell you how delightful you and your recipes are. Everyday I check your site, and I am never disappointed. Thank you for being so creative, positive, and just cool!!! Have a super day. 🙂
Hi Katie,
Maybe I’m missing something (and the name seems to imply this), but do you cut the tops off of the muffins once you’ve made them? Your recipe says to use a standard-size muffin tin, so I’m a little confused. What do you do with the rest of the muffin? Thanks for the clarification!
Nope, no need to cut them. You fill a standard-sized muffin tin evenly, and they only puff up enough to make tops.