Dark Chocolate Apple Cider Muffins (Vegan, One-Bowl Recipe)

It’s cider season where I live. The half gallon sitting in my fridge prompted me to think of apple cider vinegar, which made me think of a chocolate vinegar cake I used to make all the time in high school. I pulled the long-neglected recipe card from my pre-internet recipe book and immediately decided not to follow it—well, not exactly.

I used the same amount of liquid as the old cake recipe, but instead of water and vinegar, decided to use that apple cider in my fridge for a truly seasonal recipe. And I cut the sweetener by 75 percent so I’d have a muffin and not a cupcake.

For the flour, you can use all white whole wheat or a mixture of white whole wheat and up to 3/4 cup of millet, oat, or other mild-tasting flour. (I used white whole wheat and millet.)

Bonus: Since this recipe has no butter to cream or eggs to beat, you dirty only one mixing bowl!

Supplies

• measuring cups and spoons
• 1 large mixing bowl
• muffin tin with 12 2 ½-inch cups
• stir spoon
• cooling rack

Ingredients

• 2 ½ cups flour
• ½ cup cocoa powder, unsweetened
• ½ cup sugar or xylitol (¼ cup if you prefer less sweet)
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• ⅓ cup vegetable oil (I used almond)
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups sweet apple cider

Directions

• Sift together dry ingredients.
• Stir in juice, vanilla and oil until well mixed. Batter will be slightly lumpy.
• Pour into muffin cups.
• Bake at 350ºF for 20 to 25 minutes.