I thought, if I’m going to make vegan chocolate muffins, I’ll do it with plenty of chocolate! These rich, moist vegan double chocolate muffins with chocolate chips and mini pretzels are absolutely decadent and chocolatey – the perfect easy homemade recipe. Actually it’s triple chocolate or also called death by chocolate for baked goods that have cocoa powder, chocolate bits and chocolate glaze.
What you need for these moist vegan double chocolate muffins
- Plant-based milk: Originally, I made these muffins with Irish cream, based on this vegan Baileys recipe. If you like that version, feel free to use Baileys instead of plant-based milk. But honestly, these vegan chocolate muffins taste just as wonderful with plain plant-based milk – and it’s much simpler and family-friendly! You can use almost any kind. If you choose one with vanilla flavoring, you can omit the vanilla extract from the recipe.
- Chocolate: The quality of chocolate makes or breaks these vegan double chocolate muffins. I once had stale, boring dark chocolate left over and thought I’d use it for these muffins. Unfortunately, I ended up with boring muffins. They only taste right with really good chocolate! I love using Vego Melts or Rapunzel’s vegan Nirwana.
- Flour: I prefer spelt flour (630) for my vegan double chocolate muffins, but you can also substitute it with wheat flour (450 or 505).
How to serve your moist vegan double chocolate muffins
I think these rich, chocolatey muffins taste best freshly decorated or later from the fridge – that’s when the chocolate sets nicely and has a different texture.
The pretzels go stale overnight. So if you’re planning to eat the muffins the next day, I recommend storing the baked muffins, the chocolate for the glaze, and the pretzels separately in airtight containers and assembling them just before serving. Then temper the glaze fresh.
Another option if you have leftover vegan double chocolate muffins you want to eat the next day: simply remove the pretzel, warm the chocolate glaze quickly with a hot spoon, and add a fresh, crispy pretzel.
Why should you temper the chocolate for these vegan chocolate muffins, and what is the seeding method?
Tempering chocolate is an essential step to achieve a perfect result when working with chocolate. During tempering, the chocolate is carefully heated and cooled to specific temperatures to stabilize the crystal structure of the cocoa butter. This process gives the chocolate a beautiful shine, a crisp texture, and a uniform appearance.
The seeding method is a simple and effective technique for home use. First, the chocolate is melted to dissolve all the cocoa butter crystals completely. Then, finely chopped, unmelted chocolate is stirred into the warm mixture. These solid pieces contain stable beta crystals, which evenly distribute through the chocolate and cool it to the desired working temperature. This method allows you to temper chocolate quickly and easily without multiple cooling and reheating steps. The result is glossy, stable chocolate, perfect for pralines, coatings, and decorations.
Here’s an excellent YouTube video on tempering chocolate by CupcakeJemma.
Vegan Double Chocolate Muffins
Recommended Equipment
Ingredients
- 180 g all-purpose flour
- 75 g coconut sugar
- 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 360 ml plant milk
- 80 ml canola oil
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 150 g vegan chocolate
- 12 mini pretzels
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180° C/ 375° F and line the muffin pan.
- First, gather all your ingredients and equipment. That makes it so much easier and more fun and you're less likely to forget anything.
- Combine flour, coconut sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt and vanilla powder in a bowl and stir well. Of course you could also use a liquid vanilla extract, just add it to the liquid ingredients.
- Add the vinegar and oil to the plant milk and stir well.
- Then mix everything together until combined.
- Fill the paper cups only to 3/4.
- Then chop up all the chocolate, put 1/2 teaspoon into the middle of each muffin und push it down with a little fork. Attention: This step is very important. I once simply stirred the chopped chocolate directly into the dough bowl. That made it and spread too evenly. The result was a weird texture. And the one time I was too lazy to push the chocolate down and thought, they will sink anyway during the baking process, the process was an extremely uneven top. The muffins couldn't rise properly. They tasted good, but looked a bit too rustic.
- Bake the muffins for about 25 minutes.
- Take the muffins out of the oven, let them cool off a little bit.
- Now you're tempering the remaining chocolate for a shiny and crisp cake glaze using the seeding method. Don’t worry, it’s not as complicated as it might seem at first glance.Prepare a double boiler by filling a saucepan with a little water and heating it gently so that it simmers but doesn’t boil. Place a melting pot or a heatproof bowl over the saucepan, ensuring the bottom doesn’t touch the water.Melt about 2/3 of the chopped chocolate in the pot, stirring regularly until fully melted. Keep an eye on the temperature, aiming for 40-45°C (104-113°F).Remove the pot from the heat and stir in most of the remaining chocolate, which will lower the temperature and begin the crystallization process. Aim for a final temperature of 29-30°C (84-86°F).
- Then apply to the muffins and put a little pretzel on each one.
Notes
Nutrition
Love vegan muffins? Check out my vegan coconut bacon muffins – equally moist, rich, and easy to make at home.
Fresh from the fusion kitchen
Could I use cane sugar instead of coconut sugar?
Yes, that should be just as delicious 🙂