Mexican Chocolate Muffins: Vegan And Oh So Good
If you love chilli, this recipe for Mexican double chocolate chip muffins is for you. Bite into one of these and you’ll get a slow build of heat along with a deliciously soft cinnamon spiced chocolatey mouthful. You can use fresh chillies or powder, either way, they’re super easy to make. They’re both dairy and egg-free so suitable for most on a plant based diet. Made with both cocoa and real chocolate.
Updated October 2021 in order to make these delightful muffins vegan.
Once upon a time I made some chilli chocolate muffins from Unwrapped, the Green & Black’s Original chocolate cookbook. They called them Mexican Mole Muffins and they contained a lot of chocolate.
Cornwall is my home and I hate to leave it. However, the pull of friendship can be strong, so one weekend, we headed upcountry to some chocolate loving friends in Glastonbury. With time in fairly short supply, I chose these Mexican chocolate muffins as they were ideal for the aforementioned chocoholics.
With the cold winds and hail storms we’d been experiencing, the chilli seemed like a nice warming idea too.
Between us we managed to devour that first batch in fairly short shrift. In fact they powered us to the top of Glastonbury Tor in no time at all.
Mexican Chocolate Muffins
The Mexican mole muffins were good, but not as good as I thought they could be. I got to work and created something better. More recently I veganised them to make them more inclusive. And I have to say they are now even more delicious than they were before. I’ve become addicted to vegan baking. I love the texture and that they’re so easy to prepare.
Wholemeal spelt is my flour of choice for baking cakes and the like. But don’t worry if you can’t find any, it’s fine to use ordinary wholemeal flour instead.
As is the case with most muffins, you whisk the dry ingredients together, then add the wet ingredients and stir. In this case you need to chop some dark chocolate up to. Use a good quality dark chocolate and if the muffins are meant to be vegan, make sure the chocolate is too. Most dark chocolate isn’t.
Sometimes I use fresh chilli and sometimes powdered chilli. When I’ve used our homegrown rocoto chilli, it generates a gentle heat, which allows the flavour of the chilli to come through. After the muffin has gone, however, that same chilli buzzes around the mouth and is much more noticeable.
These Mexican chocolate muffins really rock.
Other Mexican Inspired Recipes You Might Like
- Black bean and corn salad
- Cocoa refried beans
- Corn spinach polenta, refried beans and Mexican salsa
- Mexican bean soup
- Mexican brown rice
- Vegetarian enchiladas with homemade mole
Keep in Touch
Thanks for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you make this vegan version of Mexican chocolate muffins, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. And do please rate the recipe. Have you any top tips? Do share photos on social media too and use the hashtag #tinandthyme, so I can spot them.
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Choclette x
Vegan Mexican Chocolate Muffins. PIN IT.
Mexican Chocolate Muffins
Ingredients
- 75 g dark vegan chocolate (I used Pacari’s organic chocolate with cuzco salt & cacao nibs).
- 225 g wholemeal flour (whole wheat) (I used wholemeal spelt flour)
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
- ¼ tsp Himalayan pink rock salt (or fine sea salt)
- 25 g cocoa powder
- 1 tsp ground cayenne pepper (or one fresh red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped)
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 125 g soft brown sugar
- 225 ml plant milk of choice (I used soy in this instance, but I tend to use whatever plant milk I happen to have in the fridge)
- 75 ml sunflower oil (or other flavourless oil)
- 1 tsp vinegar (I use apple cider vinegar)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- First off, set the oven to 180℃ (160℃ fan, 350℉, Gas 4).
- Chop the chocolate into small pieces with a sturdy knife. You’ll get a mix of slithers and chunks which is perfect for these muffins.75 g dark vegan chocolate
- In a large bowl whisk together the dry ingredients until they're well combined and no lumps remain.225 g wholemeal flour (whole wheat), 1 ½ tsp baking powder, ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda), ¼ tsp Himalayan pink rock salt, 25 g cocoa powder, 1 tsp ground cayenne pepper, 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- Whisk in the sugar until no lumps remain.125 g soft brown sugar
- In a measuring jug, measure the milk, then add the oil followed by the vinegar and vanilla extract. Give it a good stir.225 ml plant milk of choice, 75 ml sunflower oil, 1 tsp vinegar, 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and add the contents of the jug. Carefully whisk or stir from the centre outwards until the mixture is just about combined. In order to get light muffins, it’s best to stir the batter as little as possible.
- Finally, stir in the chocolate chips.75 g dark vegan chocolate
- Spoon the batter into twelve muffin holes lined with paper cases.
- Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for about twenty minutes or until the muffins are well risen and firm to the touch.
- Turn out onto a wire rack to cool.
Notes
Nutrition Estimate
Updated to vegan version, October 2021.
These muffins are amazing! So incredibly good!
If you like chocolate and a bit of spice, they really hit the spot.
Another great recipe! These muffins rose beautifully and we loved the addition of cayenne pepper.
Thanks for letting me know Holly. The pepper adds such a lovely warmth.
Chocolate with chilli is my favourite combination..I’m totally loving these muffins. Will bake them soon
I’m a big chilli and chocolate fan too. I’ve quite a few recipes on the blog with this combination. Hope you like them.
These Mexican chocolate muffins are adorable! They have a soft and fluffy texture and such a unique flavor from the dark chocolate and ground cayenne pepper mix. Such a delicious treat!
So glad you liked them and they turned out well for you Marinela. They’re a firm favourite of ours.
these are so good! I love milk chocolate! I will have to stop myself from eating these all in one sitting!
The beauty of these muffins is that you can add whatever chocolate you like to them. Glad you enjoyed them and thanks for letting me know.
I love Mexican hot chocolate but I never tried Mexican muffins. Well, I will definitely try them. Delicious!
If you’re a fan of Mexican hot chocolate, I reckon you’ll enjoy these muffins Natalie. Do let me know how you get on.
Great recipe! We made these muffins at the weekend and they turned out light, fluffy and well risen. They weren’t oily at all and we were very pleased. Thanks for sharing!
No definitely not oily. Thanks for making the recipe and I’m glad you liked them.
Dark Chocolate & half wholemeal, these muffins could almost be described as healthy! Look forward to trying the recipe
Jenny b
the muffins look so perfect – I am always unsure about trying to get the right balance of chilli but I love the idea of mole muffins
These are my kind of muffins, with a kick of chilli just perfect to eat after a nice walk in some beautiful countryside. I have this book so will be looking them up to make and have plenty of home grown chillies to hand too!
Milk chocolate, because my guys prefer it, personally I love the dark one.
Your choc muffins look lush!
I’m a bit of a tart when it comes to baking with chocolate, which ever crosses my path first is the one I will go with. I think I would prefer to mostly use white, however, if a recipe calls for dark I generally even out the bitterness with some milk chocolate too … if it calls for milk chocolate I add a bit dark chocolate for that lovely intense colour. See what I mean?? A total tart ;0)
Lovely of you to make these muffins to bring to your friends too, such a nice gesture and they look amazing.
I always prefer to use plain/dark chocolate as it’s more rich. If I’m coating with chocolate, it’s always a dilemma whether to use dark or milk chocolate.
The mexican mole muffins sound so different. Up until now, I haven’t been a chilli fan. I like it when it’s warming but not hot. I love that they’ve also got vanilla caster sugar in them too.
the chilli and chocolate combo is always a wonderful success and that undertone of heat is so un-expected… I love the look of their cracked tops… when you going to come up to Lincs, we’d love to have you x