Low-Sugar Treats: Orange Chocolate Muffins

Chocolate Orange Muffins (02) by MeetaK

Being a mother of a 6 year old, we often have full house. Sleep-over friends, play afternoon friends or just the neighborhood kids, all have become a part of our household. When we are at home, our front door remains unlocked and Soeren’s friends have gotten used to ringing once and then just coming in.

I cannot tell you how many times I have jumped out of my skin when I come racing downstairs to find a kid in my kitchen who is not my son. Yeah – that’s the first place they all head to. It does not surprise me – it’s where all the goodies are stored after all.

Soeren once said that he did not know if his friends always came over because of him or because of the treats they get here!

It's almost like déjà vu. Growing up, I often remember having loads of friends visiting at any given time. We too gathered in the kitchen, mostly around the refrigerator because that is where my mother’s cakes or the pastries from the hotel my dad worked in, were to be found.

Recently I was organizing a few family/friends pictures taken this year. Several of them were of Soeren and his buddies “at home” and almost all of them were located in the kitchen! It prompted me to dig out a few of my old pictures from back then and guess what? Most of them were taken in the kitchen! Seriously, imagine the favorite hang-out for 6-13 year olds being a friend’s parent’s kitchen. Is that weird?

Having so many kids around the house, it’s important for me to have sensible, healthy and low-sugar treats on hand. I watch what my son eats and pay attention to his sugar intake so why should I go about carelessly when other kids are visiting? Any mother will know, for kids, cookies and muffins rule and here I try to be a sneaky mum. I often will substitute agave syrup or maple syrup for sugar or simply reduce the sugar amount drastically and allow the sweetness of the fruit to sweeten the pastries and cookies.

Often they do not even realize that they are taking in a lot less sugar. They just find that the muffins or cookies taste great. 

Chocolate Orange Muffins (03) by MeetaK

One favorite among Soeren’s clan are these chocolate and orange muffins. Looking at them one would think these chocolate and orange muffins are nothing out of the ordinary – but you see there must be. Because I am always prompted to make a batch of these muffins. “When will you be making those orange flavored muffins with the chocolate chunks again, Ms. K?” Made with a mixture of whole wheat flour and regular all-purpose flour the muffins are nuttier in flavor and rustic in appearance. With just 50g of Muscovado sugar they really deserve the "low-sugar" title!

I have no problem making these chocolate and orange muffins over and over – besides being easy to make, I do not have a guilty conscience and the kids love the hassle-free, low-sugar treat.

Recipe: Low-Sugar Orange Chocolate Muffins

Ingredients
Printable version of recipe here.

125g all-purpose flour
125g whole wheat flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
30g almonds, ground
50g Muscovado sugar
Juice and zest of 1 organic orange
170g cream cheese
2 large eggs
60g bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 190 degrees C. Line a muffin pan with paper forms or pieces of baking paper.

Sieve both types of flour and baking powder in a large bowl. Incorporate the ground almonds and sugar. Make a well in the middle of the flour-sugar-almond mixture.

In a second bowl, whisk together orange juice and zest, cream cheese and eggs until smooth. Pour into the middle of the well in the bowl containing the dry ingredients. Using a rubber spatula mix the mixture gently. The mixture will be more like a dough rather that the usual fluid muffin batter.

Fold in the chocolate chunks.

Distribute the muffin dough into the molds of your muffin pan, filling each mold only a third full.

Bake the muffins for 20-25 minutes until they have risen and turned a gorgeous golden color.

Remove the pan form the oven and allow to cool. Enjoy these muffins as fresh as possible.

Tip: These taste great warm for breakfast with a hint of butter and some orange marmalade.

 


Verdict

Chocolate Orange Muffins (01) by MeetaK

Giving their verdict for this recipe are the kids from Grade 1 A at Soeren’s school. Back in August when Soeren celebrated his 6th birthday he wanted me to bake a batch of these chocolate and orange muffins for his class. At the end of the day there was not a muffin in sight. As I picked Soern up that day, I was greeted by the 17 kids “Thanks for the muffins. They were really good!” One cheeky one said “Can you bake these for my birthday next week?” I did not bake them for him but passed on the recipe to his mother. From one mum to another, I am now passing the recipe for these chocolate and orange low-sugar muffins on to all of the mummies reading my blog. Enjoy!

If you are looking for more low-sugar treats then make sure you catch this month’s Monthly Mingle over at the Daily Tiffin on the weekend. The theme is appropriately “Low-Sugar Treats” and that is exactly where a batch of these are headed over to.

You might like these healthy treats from WFLH:

Mufins Exotica01 AmaranthGranola 03 framed DSC_0014.2
Muffins Exotica Nutty Amaranth Granola with Fresh Berries Strawberry Almond Mini Muffins

From around the blogs:

 

Daily Tiffin Reading Tip:

Heard about the slow food philosophy? My latest article at the Daily Tiffin discusses A Taste of Slow Food. Come check it out!

 


All photographs and written content on What's For Lunch, Honey? © 2006-2008 Meeta Khurana unless otherwise indicated. | All rights reserved | Please Ask First

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42 comments:

  1. these muffins really look great and the fact that they re low sugar makes them even more great :) I love chocolate and orange i ll give these a try. thanks for the recipe :)

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  2. Mouth watering Meeta, Im sure I will dream about them all night.. I just want to grab them off ur blog and munch on them !! LOL. Thanks for the entry!!!

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  3. These look scrumptious Meeta! I think I might try making them for a treat tonight!

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  4. The little ones must LOVE your kitchen, Meeta. :)

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  5. Those look really good! Chocolate and orange is such a great combo and baking with it is even better.

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  6. even for the non mum's like me... thanks... I had a blogger friend visit recently with her daughter and I made cinnamon apple muffins when they were there. Why feed them store bought stuff when making these is really easy :-) I will try this :-)

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  7. Not only good and healthy for you but very easy to make....choc/orange has always been a favourite flavour of mine Meeta.

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  8. I love muffins....Mouthwatering pics i must say! Hopefully i will be able to bake someday when i have buy an oven at my new place


    Veda

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  9. looks wonderful....this is getting made very soon...since i am in baking overdrive!! the first pic is fabulous!!

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  10. Those muffing look gorgeous and delicious. Soreen sounds like my daughter, even she says that sometimes she think her friends come here for the goddies i bake for them. Now she is 16 there is always somekind of group work going on and you can guess whos place they always choose :-)
    Ofcourse i do get lot of thnkyou from the kids and if they are making a movie or a slide show for the class project, shyama comes home and tell yeah they kids added We thank shyama's mama for the treats.

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  11. Yes, low sugar and lowfat treats are the best...I too do the sneaking business all the time and it really pays off...no deprivation and healthy at the same time.

    And those muffins of yours are just like the ones I would have no qualms about giving my kids...simply gorgeous :-)

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  12. I too always had friends over when I was little :-)

    Scrumptious muffins!!

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  13. Your muffins look absolutely scrumptious.
    I think being "sneaky with food" is part of the job description of being a mom these days, if we have to ensure our children get healthy food.
    So from one mom to another, thanks. :)

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  14. Loved the pictures,great combination of orange and chocolates, would love to have a couple of those myself :-)

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  15. Hi Meeta,
    Its always great to see the photographs on your blog, and not to mention about the recipe too. The muffins look so yummy, I just wanted to have them staright away.

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  16. Hi Meeta,
    There was some problem with the last comment, so trying to post again.
    Its always great to see the photographs on your blog, and not to mention about the recipe too. The muffins look so yummy, I just wanted to have them staright away.

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  17. I am posting about the same thing tomorrow - other people's kid in my house and kitchen.Love it and I love your muffins, Meeta they look delicious and so rustic!

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  18. Hi Meeta!

    These choco-orange muffins look phenomenal!! Totally understandable why you make it very often :)
    As usual the photos are fabulous and I don't know why...the same are calling for my name ;)

    Gera .:. sweetsfoods

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  19. These muffins look wonderful. Can you taste the whole wheat flour in them? I wish there were more kid-friendly healthy recipes out there!
    Do you think the whole wheat flour could be replaced by quinoa or chestnut flour?

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  20. Hi Meeta,
    Iam a silent visitor to this blog. Just thot I'd drop a line and thank u for the visual treat i see here every time i am here!...am not much of a cook, but love visiting the site and ogling at all the veggie food u put up every now and then!
    Keep up the good work and Happy holidays!
    Supriya

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  21. This sounds like a fabulous recipe. Love the combination of chocolate and orange. Thanks for the mention of my cheesecake recipe too.

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  22. So beautiful as usual. Your pictures are always so beautiful, & i always feel.." oh please don't eat them!" :-)

    very nice combination. My kids are the same way. A houseful !

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  23. I absolutely love the fact that these are "low-sugar treats." And the chocolate-orange combination ... so, so divine!

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  24. this is not fair meeta, to post such a lovely picture of muffins. it's tooooo tempting. love the way you have clicked the pic.

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  25. Thank you everyone for your comments. Glad you are liking this one. Guilt free and full in flavor perfect not only for your kids!

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  26. The chocolate and orange caught my attention, but the fact that its low sugar makes it all the better! :) Good one Meeta.

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  27. I love chocolate and orange! Low sugar, too? Bonus!! :)

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  28. I will try your muffins Meeta! Good for the kids and good for adults too :D.
    I'm not a fan of cheese, but I guess mascarpone would go well here, what do you think? Thanks.

    Soeren is so lucky ;D

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  29. lovely! a wonderful recipe! I know my son would love to eat them. I am just about to post my recipe, but I see that it is too late for this event.

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  30. These muffins sound fabulous. Especially with the chocolate! Your son is very lucky (and so are his friends). Lovely photos, as always!

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  31. Lovely post Meeta! I wish we could leave our doors open here too but its just not that safe anymore. Its always fun having kids over and you're right, the kitchen is definitely the best place!!

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  32. A cup of tea and one of those and I am good to go!

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  33. Your kitchen must be a warm and wonderful place...
    These muffins look lovely, Meeta. I love the flavors.

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  34. Lovely as usual.I always look in wonder at the pics you have added,they make the wnderful dish more and more awesome.Lovely tempting muffins

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  35. These look yummy, Meeta! And sounds healthy!

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  36. These sound great. Chocolate chunks are like magic. Kids cannot resist them, no matter what they come with.

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  37. Thank you thank you! I knew many of you parents out there would like these! Looking forward to hearing your opinion and feedback on this!

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  38. Hey girlfriend, I love these because it's such a great flavor combination, I just posted chocolate orange creams on my blog so visiting yours and seeing these made me laugh. I'll definitely have to make them soon.

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  39. I made these today with no sugar at all but with a double quantity of chocolate chips.They were delicious!!! I liked the subtle flavour of cream cheese too. Thanks for the recipe and greetings from Holland.... Patrizia

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  40. Pat, Thanks for the feedback! I'll give it a try without the sugar next time too.

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Thank you for visiting What's For Lunch, Honey? and taking time to browse through my recipes, listen to my ramblings and enjoy my photographs. I appreciate all your comments, feedback and input. I will answer your questions to my best knowledge and respond to your comments as soon as possible.

In the meantime I hope you enjoy your stay here and that I was able to make this an experience for your senses.

Hugs
Meeta