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 haven’t been able to find canned pumpkin lately, so I subbed applesauce, used 1 T oil to 3 T almond milk. I also added about half a teaspoon of ground chia seeds and doubled the portion size per muffin so that they are more like 1/2 sized muffins instead of just the tops. Anyway, they turned out great! Just wanted to say I can vouch for the applesauce sub, they are yummy!
I made these today! As a huge fan of Vitamuffins, I was skeptical. But these might actually be better than Vitamuffins! My sister – who isn’t a fan of healthy recipes, as a rule – loved them too. Thank you so much for this recipe!!
I was wondering, do you think you could substitute pureed sweet potato for the pumkin? I don’t usually keep pumpkin or prunes around. Thanks!
Yes, that would work! 🙂
I made these for the first time last week and they were sooo good! They’re very easy to make, too, so I’ve been making them a lot and my family loves them 🙂
These are amazing! Miss Vitamuffs since going GF; these are a terrific sub! Moist, chewy, and chocolate. I couldn’t ask for more! I subbed out the prunes for dried dates, only because I had dates onhand. Also used Mama’s Almond Blend GF AP flour and Enjoy Life chips. No extras needed. Thanks, Katie! You did it again!
Thank you for trying them! 🙂
How are these pronounced? V-eye-ta muffins, v-i-ta muffins, or v-ee-ta muffins?
Hi Katie; please check your amounts for the milk….I needed 1/2 cup to make a batter, not 2 tbsp….it was dry and powdery until changed. Also, do you really mean 1/2 tsp for the vanilla, instead of 1/2 tbsp? I love all your recipes and this is the first one that I am questioning. You have saved my life. I am gluten-free, dairy free, and all chemicals are toxic. I get very sick if I eat or inhale any of the mentioned products. You have made it possible for me to enjoy food again…….Barb
It sounds like you possibly mis-measured something or made a substitution? I make these a lot, and they work for me as written.
My mom and I tried these tonight and they were amazing!!! I’ve been looking for healthy ways to have breakfast while I’m leaving for work (I work with kids for 8 hours a day) and these will hopefully keep me full to last till lunch! Thanks for all of the amazing recipes! I’m excited to try some more!
I LOVE these and they are a big hit with my GF friends! Have you tried freezing these or do you know if they would freeze well? Thanks!
I haven’t tried, but I would *think* it’d be ok to freeze them.
Just made these to send to my son (who is away at college) for some healthy birthday cookies. He’s trying to be fit, but the mom in me still wants to bake for his bday…so these work! Not sure how they taste yet, but they look really good!! Hope he likes them. 🙂
Hope they turned out well!
These are delicious! I made these today (with regular sugar, flax, regular flour, 1% milk and prunes) and I ate them all. Oops. I realized now too that I forgot the vanilla and they were still super tasty. I will definitely be making these again very soon. I would have made more immediately but I needed another jar of prunes! Thank you!! I agree those silly vita tops are ridiculously expensive – I can’t even believe it and they’re made with a bunch of ingredients we don’t need. They’re $10 for four here. Ouch!
Delish! They came out just like the picture (which never happens). They are fluffy like a muffin, but also rich like a brownie. It only made 9 rather than 12, but that is probably good, because I’m going to have a really hard time not eating all 9 before hubs-to-be comes home. Thanks for another fantastic recipe, Katie!
~Laura
These were super good! I’m so glad I found your site. I’m on a low iodine diet to prep for a scan and I’m not allowed to have dairy or egg yolks. Your recipes have saved me!! Especially the single serving ones since it’s just me on this diet 🙂
I made a double batch of these gluten free yesterday. I used oat flour, chick pea flour, oat bran, and corn flour mix with some oats tossed in for extra texture. I made 24 of them and put them on the coffee table for my kids. An hour later I went back to put them away and the were all gone. Apparently this recipe works very well gluten free, too.
Any ideas for making a non-cocoa version? ( not like I don’t love cocoa, but just for some variety)
Sorry, I never know until I experiment! 😉
How about adding some shredded coconot instead?
I just ate a vita muffin top, holy hell these things are so good. I am glad money is not an object for me, I buy tons of these things, they have been key for my 20lbs weight loss since xmas
Just made these (with pumpkin). I’ve never had a vita muffin before either and I’m not a huge chocolate lover but my husband and sons are, so I thought I’d try this. Not bad…especially for only 1 WW+pt. BUT I must ask….HOW did you get them so perfectly round and nice looking? I thought the muffin tin would make them so lovely in shape but mine looked quite silly…?
Mine come out looking pretty. Maybe check out Katie’s troubleshooting faq page at the top of the blog?
I used silicone muffin cups in my pan and after distributing the batter among the 12 cups, I gently spread each section with a spoon so they were flat on top and went all the way to the edges. This was before pressing a few additional chips into the top of each one 🙂