Chocolate Chai Zucchini Muffins are a healthy and delicious treat, clocking in at less than 125 calories each.

Chocolate Chai Zucchini Muffins

Do you ever get a recipe idea in your head that you just can’t shake? That’s how I felt about these chocolate chai zucchini muffins – once I dreamed up the idea, I couldn’t stop thinking about them! Chocolate and chai are delicious together and I had a feeling that they’d make an especially delicious treat when added to zucchini muffins.

Peak zucchini season is over, but it took me a few tries to perfect this recipe. Luckily, zucchini is pretty easy to find year-round.

The first time I attempted these muffins, I used chai concentrate but, unfortunately, the flavor didn’t come through. The second time the flavor was spot-on, but the muffins were too dry. The third time, I finally nailed it. The chocolate and chai flavors are nicely balanced, and the muffins are moist and cakey. I love that they’re healthy enough for breakfast, but decadent enough for dessert.

To help keep the calories in these chocolate chai zucchini muffins down, I used Zing™ Baking Blend, a combination of stevia leaf extract and cane sugar with just 5 calories per serving. It bakes and browns like sugar so you get perfectly golden cakes and cookies with fewer calories. You can easily use Zing™ Baking Blend in recipes by replacing the sugar with half as much of this sweetener, but since you use less there are a few things to keep in mind.

First, it will decrease the volume of your batter slightly (that’s why these are a little smaller than the oversized muffins I usually make.) Also, since the sweetener doesn’t add moisture to baked goods the same way sugar does, you’ll want to add an extra egg or 1/4 cup more liquid to your recipe. For these muffins, that’s as simple as not needing to squeeze the extra moisture out of the zucchini. I also found the using coconut oil instead of vegetable oil gave the muffins a better texture. You can see more tips for baking with Zing™ Baking Blend here.