Parenting a toddler comes with a special set of challenges, one of which is trying to get them to eat things outside of their favorite food groups.  Similar to Will Ferrell’s Elf character, most toddler consider the main food groups to be candy, candy corns, cake, cupcakes, cereal, milk, and juice.  We fight toddler meal battles on a daily basis around here, and utilize a variety of techniques to get our growing boy the nutrients he needs without losing our sanity.  I make sneaky veggie smoothies every week, and have started baking sneaky veggie muffins quite often.  I’ve tried a few veggie muffin recipes, and have come up with the one I’m sharing today through trial and error.  This recipe maximizes the good stuff without compromising on taste.  We all love them, and I hope you will as well.
Sneaky Veggie Double Chocolate Whole Wheat Muffins
Ingredients:
3 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup applesauce
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3 eggs or substitute 3 tbsp flax seed mixed with water
2 cups grated zucchini
1 cup grated carrot
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)
Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350 and grease your muffin tin or line it with paper liners.
Beat the eggs or flax seed mix.  Add the rest of the wet ingredients and mix well.  I use a stand mixer.
Add the dry ingredients slowly, mixing and scraping the sides as you go.
After the other ingredients are well mixed, add the chocolate chips if desired.
Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup, scoop the batter in to your muffin tin, filling each spot 2/3 of the way full.
Bake at 350 for 15-18 minutes.
Enjoy.  These bad boys are not just for picky toddlers.  They are popular with all members of Casa de Eby.
I wish the Bear would eat his vegetables, and I continue to offer them at lunch and dinner every day.  Someday he will choose to eat them.  For now, I’m getting his nutritional needs met in the form of baked goods.
How do you get your kids to eat vegetables?

27 Comments on Sneaky Veggie Double Chocolate Whole Wheat Muffins

  1. my son loves veggies! i ate a lot when i was pregnant, and did green smoothies when he was young. he’ll eat veggies all day long if i make dip! 🙂 he especially loves grazing in the garden. thanks for the yummy recipe! 🙂

  2. Thanks so much for this recipe. Is there a wet ingredient missing from the list? I just made these and it didn’t seem right. The mixture was very dry and the final product seems….off. I know the applesauce is replacing oil, probably, but is there supposed to be butter or something else? Thanks!

  3. Hey MB! I’m sorry they came out wonky. Nothing is missing and the veggies should add moisture. They are more dense than your average muffin. I would add another 1/4 cup applesauce or more shredded carrots to help with moisture. Hope that helps!

    • I just want to point out that when you pull this recipe up on a mobile device or ipad it does NOT show to add applesauce and a couple other ingredients. However, if you pull it up on a computer, all ingredients are visible. SO WEIRD, but I’m assuming that is what happened to the previous responder.

    • If your muffins come out too dry, try adding a very ripe, small banana (or half of a larger one) well blended into the mix. Freshly grated carrots are good too.

  4. That might be something I messed up. I actually squeezed some of the moisture out of the carrots and zucchini…oops! Thanks for the advice!

  5. How much water would I mix the flax seed with if I chose to substitute the egg with the flax seed?
    I have both a picky toddler AND a picky husband lol

    • There should be instructions on the package of flax seeds. I used 1 tbsp of flax seed with 3 tbsp water. Good luck!

  6. This recipe sounds great, however, I’m from the UK and I’m used to lbs and oz or grams rather than cups! Do you know how many grams/oz for each of the ingredients please?

  7. Just made these. Man the batter was hard to mix but they came out great. I only added half a cup of sugar and did half oil, half applesauce. I’ll definitely make these again.

  8. I tried this recipe tonight and have to agree with the previous reviewer they did not come out right. There do not look as chocolatey & smooth as the ones in your picture. The recipe wasn’t too far off from my usual chocolate zucchini bread recipe so I was eager to try this applesauce & carrot spin but it just didn’t work like I’d hoped. Did I miss something?

  9. These are so perfect! My PICKY toddler is having a hard time with textures that aren’t bread or crackers, so these were perfect. I puréed the veggies so he wouldn’t pick them out and he ate about 10 mini muffins over the whole day and wanted more! Thanks for the recipe!!!

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