Flourless Chocolate Black Bean Muffins

Flourless Chocolate Black Bean Muffins - These delicious, high protein muffins are made with a sneaky ingredient: black beans! With the addition of eggs, coconut oil, and maple syrup, these are a tasty treat that you can feel good about eating and giving to your kids.

I created these muffins years ago when I attended a mom's day at Jade's then school.

At the time, she was allergic to a lot of different foods, so I was always trying to make something tasty, yet tolerable for her.

It's a funny thing when you have food restrictions. I often get the sense that people who have never dealt with allergies or specific diets don't quite get it.

For example, as the assistant teacher was describing the food she had prepared, she overemphasized the word organic when describing her oranges.

I got the distinct feeling her explanation was directed at me, as I had the only child with diet restrictions.

It was chuckle-worthy that she then went on to tell us about her homemade muffins, which contained copious amounts of white flour and sugar!

What do muffins with beans taste like?

If you've been with me any length of time, you know I love beans in my treats.

They add texture, protein, and fiber, and they're a great way to cut down on grains. Depending on the leavening agent you use, beans can have a fudgy or cake-like consistency.

In my Black Bean Brownies, beans create a dense, fugdy-ness. These muffins, however, are more cake-like.

I love topping these with my Peanut Butter Frosting, which complements the muffins so well!

Ingredients and substitutions

Black beans - This is the only bean I've tried; if you're not a fan, you might like these Chickpea Blondies, which are also lower in sugar.

Eggs - I don't tolerate flax or chia well, so I can't speak much to egg substitutes, sorry!

Cocoa powder - Cacao will also work; I've even subbed half of the cocoa (three tablespoons) for carob, which I enjoyed too.

Baking soda - This helps the muffin bake and rise.

Sea salt, vanilla extract - Both are flavor enhancers.

Applesauce - Because I keep the added sweetener to a minimum, applesauce contributes to both sweetness and texture.

Oil - Grapeseed and melted coconut oil both work well. Coconut oil will clump when mixed with anything cold, so be sure to have everything at room temperature before beginning.

Maple syrup, stevia - I use a combination of both to give my muffins our preferred sweetness. Anywhere from one to four tablespoons of maple syrup works. See below for lower sugar options!

Recipe steps

Add all of the ingredients to a food processor and blend until smooth.

This can take a couple of minutes, so be patient!

Using a ice cream scooper, dollop the batter among 12 paper muffin cups.

Bake until top is springy to the touch.

Lowering the sugar content

As written, the recipe calls for four tablespoons of maple syrup and four tablespoons of applesauce.

If you would like to lower the sugar, you can substitute an equal amount of applesauce for each tablespoon of syrup. For example, you could use three tablespoons of maple syrup and five tablespoons of applesauce instead.

You can also add in some stevia to increase the sweetness without increasing the sugar grams!

Recipe notes

If you like black beans, you might consider making a batch in the Instant Pot with this recipe. Then you can use the remaining beans to make my Healthy Black Bean Soup.

Make your own applesauce for this recipe or others. It makes a wonderful replacement for both sugar and fat when baking!

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If you have a chance to try this recipe, please leave a star rating and a comment below letting me know how you liked it!