Pure indulgence: These sugar free chocolate muffins are sugar free, grain free and low carb.
Chocolate. Who doesn’t like it? Let me tell you, the percentage of the population that honestly dislike it is so tiny you could fit them into a one bedroom flat. There they would sit, miserably, not talking to each other. I would even go so far to say that chocolate haters are incapable of enjoying themselves if you’d let them out of that flat and put them up in a five star hotel. Do write me a comment if you disagree.
Chocolate is about enjoying life. It is happiness and indulgence rolled into one.
When I think of chocolate, my mouth starts watering. Sometimes I make a happy little sigh and my eyes look dreamily into the distance. For me, it’s got to be dark, rich and creamy. 90% will do just fine.
If you are watching your sugar intake, you should stick with a variety that has 85% or more cocoa solids. The thing with chocolate is that whatever is not cocoa is normally sugar. Therefore, if you have a few pieces of milk chocolate (around 40%), your blood sugar will skyrocket immediately. On the other hand, a piece of 90 % dark chocolate has very little sugar and is so intense you’ll feel perfectly satisfied afterwards. To keep it totally sugar free, you could even make your own – check out these pistachio chocolates!
Now, there are those days that call for a bit more than one piece of chocolate. Days where you’d like to feast on it. Indulge. Turn it into an occasion and lick your fingers afterwards.
For those days, I have a solution: serve some sugar free chocolate muffins.
These muffins are made with coconut flour, which is grain free, full of fibre and impossibly good for you. I adore coconut flour and love baking with it – check out these low carb waffles, my coconut blondies, a family favourite, or these cheese thyme crackers which go very well with a glass of Chardonnay. Unlike wheat flour, which is essentially glucose and will spike your blood sugar, coconut flour is a versatile low carb baking alternative.
The icing on top of the muffins is entirely optional. Personally, I am not a big fan of icing; I’m all about a moist, satisfying cake with gooey chocolate chips. But this is not just about me! I realise that there are people out there that feel about icing just the way I feel about chocolate. Two of them live in my house. You icing fiends out there, this one is delicious. My children have vouched for it.
Wait for a rainy day and make some sugar free chocolate. Or just make them right now.
Sugar Free Chocolate Muffins (low carb)
Pure indulgence: These sugar free chocolate muffins are sugar free, grain free and low carb.
Ingredients
- 4 large or 5 medium eggs
- 25 g / 1/4 cup coconut flour
- 60 ml / 1/4 cup coconut oil or butter (softened)
- 4 tbsp cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 4 tbsp granulated sweetener
- 1/2 bar / 50 g dark chocolate chopped (I used a 90% variety)
For the icing
- 1/2 bar 50 g dark chocolate, melted
- 3 tbsp double cream
- 1/4 cup powdered erythritol
- 2 tbsp 30 g butter
Instructions
Heat your oven to 175 Celsius / 350 Fahrenheit
- Mix your wet ingredients - eggs and coconut oil/butter, then add your dry ingredients - cocoa powder, baking powder, coconut flour, vanilla extract and erythritol (or your sweetener of choice).
- At the end, stir in your 50 g of chopped chocolate.
- Bake in a silicone mould / very well-greased muffin tin. If you prefer, you could also use paper cups. I love my silicone moulds - grain free baking goods can be difficult to release from a regular pan and end up looking not as pretty as they could π
- Bake for ca 20 minutes. Check that they are done - they should feel spongy when you press on them. Remove from the oven and cool.
- In the meantime, prepare your icing:
- Melt the other half of the chocolate bar (50 g) in the microwave or in a pan. Stir in the double cream, butter and powdered sweetener and let it cool until it starts to thicken.
- Spread over the muffins using a fork to make pretty patterns
Linda says
Which sweetener has no nasty after taste…?
And when u put the oven temperature please list the American temperature also..Ty
Katrin says
Hi Linda, I like the Sukrin erythritol/stevia sweeteners and recently tried the So Nourished erythritol/monkfruit sweetener, which I also liked. You’ll still get a bit of a cooling aftertaste, but I find that together with the chocolate, which is a strong taste, you don’t really notice it. It’ll never be EXACTLY the same as sugar π These muffins should be baked at 350 Fahrenheit – I’ll add it to the recipe.
M says
OMG! Tried these tonight and they are absolutely amazing! Thank you so much for the recipe
Katrin says
You are so welcome! I’m really happy you like them π
Lindy Hawthorne says
Hi. I haven’t used coconut flour before. I use almond meal but thinking of using both now as someone said that almonds have some bad fats in them. Im wondering how only one quarter of a cup of coconut flour makes eight cakes ???. Does it expand a lot ???
thanks in advance
Katrin says
Yes, coconut flour is a LOT more absorbent than almond flour. hope you’ll try it – I love it!!
Ciara says
Is it ok to freeze these?
Susan says
These are pretty good, but they are a bit dry. Probably because of the coconut flour. Maybe it needs a bit more butter/coconut oil?
Katrin says
You can always try adding more fat if you like. Or you could try taking it out of the oven sooner – maybe your oven is hotter than others π
Caron says
Hi love the sound of these and would love to try. Both hubby and my daughter are type 1 Diabetic so these would make a great treat however I’m not keen on the erythritol. Can you suggest an alternative to using this? I also don’t like stevia as it has a horrible after taste.
Katrin says
Hello Caron, you could try a mixture of stevia and erythritol (or stevia and xylitol). That way you get less of each taste – that metallic taste stevia can have and the cooling sensation you get from erythritol or xylitol. I do find there are great differences especially in stevia – I recently tried the Better Stevia brand an really liked it. Otherwise you could look into inulin. I have not tried it yet, but it is a low carb sweetener as well.
Caron says
Hi Katrin thanks for your reply. I think I am going to try a fruit substitute either dates or banana? Will see how they go. Cheers.
Pat says
I was stressed and I need something to make me feel better. then I found your recipe on the website, coconut flour and coconut oil, dairy free as I need. i start baking tight after I finished reading the last line. I start doing all except that I replaced the chocolate bar with sugar-free chocolate chips and Too lazy to do frosting so leave it out. the taste and texture are still very good. It was a little crunchy on the H and soft inside. Thanks again for sharing and baking this and it come out good definitely make me feel better
Katrin says
This is some great feedback, thank you so much for sharing your experience. I am so pleased my recipe made you feel better! Have a wonderful day π
Dayna says
What is double cream?
Katrin says
It’s called heavy cream in the US
Filippa says
Hi Katrin,
I just discovered your blog because I love baking but we just found out that my husband is prediabetic. I have tried these and I quite liked them. Maybe it would be good to write in the recipe that you first have to let the cupcakes cool down before you put the icing.Do you think it is possible to put a bit of cream in the cupcakes themselves to take away a bit of the bittery chocolate taste? I also personally liked the icing a bit better with less butter and more cream. I used Truvia (erythritol and stevia) as a sweetener which does have a bit of a chewing gum aftertaste….so I’ll look out for Sukrin.
Cheers!
Sara
Katrin says
Hi Filippa, I’ve added your suggestion to let the muffins cool first to the recipe, thanks for pointing it out. And of course you can add cream to the cupcakes, it’ll be interesting to see how they turn out!
In my opinion, Sukrin makes a far more superior sweetener to Truvia. It really is worth trying.
Claire says
Hi Katrin
I have just made these for my 10 year old son (and me!) who is on a gluten and sugar free diet for health reasons. I am really impressed – they are delicious. I didn’t make the icing but they were definitely good enough without :). I used a combination of xylitol and stevia crystals instead of erythritol because that’s what I had in the house. I just wondered if you prefer erythritol to xylitol and if you have any thoughts on the matter of which is best – there’s a lot of conflicting information on the web!
Thank you so much for all of your recipes. I have tried many of them and they are bookmarked as firm favourites. They’ve really been a lifesaver for us.
Katrin says
Hello Claire, thank you for your comment and great that you liked the muffins as much as we did over here! I am with you on the icing – it is not really necessary but everyone else in my family likes it. This one is very chocolatey though and not as sweet as other icings!
I have settled on erythritol because I am not convinced by the taste of stevia on its own (I find it very metallic and strong and only like it when used in conjunction with fruit such as banana where it is masked enough). The erythritol I use at them moment has a tiny bit of stevia in it (I use Sukrin), which works well. I think erythritol and xylitol taste pretty much the same, but as xylitol still raises blood sugar erythritol definitely wins. I have also heard from a couple of people that they do not tolerate xylitol well and get crampy stomachs. I haven’t had any issues with it, but it’s something to think about when you cook for others. Also, xylitol is toxic to dogs. Hope this helps!
Taryn says
These look great! Chocolate chocolate is my favorite cupcake.
Katrin says
What is it with chocolate? You cannot not like it! Must be the endorphins. Thank you for stopping by
STACEY says
You had me at chocolate! I love the ease of making muffins. I think they are favorite thing to bake.
Katrin says
One of the nice things is that the chocolate totally masks the taste of the coconut flour. I like the taste of coconut, but I know others beg to differ
Joan says
These look yummy. I can’t wait to try them. Just have a question. Can you replace erythritol with Truvia baking blend?
Katrin says
I have never used Truvia, just checked it out online. I am sure you can replace the erythritol with it, though you would increase the sugar content of the muffins. Hope you enjoy the muffins!
Kim | Low Carb Maven says
What pretty muffins (cupcakes?). We’d have to do the chocolate icing at my house or I might have a riot on my hands! π I like that these are made from coconut flour, which is a beautiful high fiber option. Thank you for the lovely recipe.
Katrin says
Cupcakes, of course! Too late now. There you go, that’s what happens when you’re not a native. It’s all muffins to me π
Georgina says
Wow – I just want to sink my teeth into one of those right now!!!
Katrin says
LOL! I wish you could. Thanks for stopping by!