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My friend Vivi is a big fan of my healthy Nutella recipe with carob. One day she told me that she would have loved to use carob powder in some other recipe too.

This is how the idea of these gluten-free chocolate and carob muffins came about, which are very easy to prepare and perfect for a healthy snack.

How to prepare these gluten-free muffins

Preparing them is very easy, and it only takes very little time. The whole process can be summarized in the following steps:

1. Let the dates soak in hot water for about 10 minutes.
2. Mix all of the wet ingredients.
3. Mix all of the dry ingredients.
4. Pour the batter into the molds and bake for about 25 minutes.

The only thing that you should keep in mind is that it would be better to leave them on a cooling rack as soon as you take them out of the oven. This will prevent them from getting too wet.

If you are not familiar with carob, I invite you to read my Energy Ball recipe where I talk about this ingredient and I tell you why I usually add it to my recipes.

In any case, keep in mind that it is not an essential ingredient and you can substitute it with raw cacao powder. So, instead of using one tablespoon of cocoa and one of carob, you can use two tablespoons of cocoa.

The difference is that if you use only cocoa, the muffins will taste a bit stronger than if you mix cocoa and carob.

WATCH HOW TO MAKE THESE GLUTEN-FREE MUFFINS WITH CHOCOLATE AND CAROB (45 sec)

Some recommendations on the ingredients

Make sure that the cocoa you use does not have any added sugar in the list of ingredients. As pure cocoa is pretty bitter, there are many brands that usually add sugar, but we know it’s something that we do not want to ingest 😉

The same goes for yogurt. Make sure it is natural and without added sugars. It is also highly recommended to buy it organic and, even better, if you get goat yogurt.

Keep in mind that this recipe could be prepared even without the yogurt, which is actually used to provide more moisture and fluffiness. If you are lactose intolerant, you could even try to prepare the recipe with soy yogurt.

I haven’t tried it myself, but I do not think it should be a problem. Please, let me know if you try it.

Reasons to eat these gluten-free muffins

CAROB
This fruit has been shown to have beneficial and health-promoting effects (1).

It’s been recognized as a functional food with low-fat content, high content in dietary fibers, and high content and/or source of minerals (2).

It has been shown to have many benefits to health for many diseases such as diabetes, bowel movements, heart disease and colon cancer (3).

Finally, carob has been proven to have beneficial preventive and therapeutic properties, especially, in the digestive tract (4).

GLUTEN
If you are not a celiac and you don’t have gluten intolerance, there are doctors who recommend not changing to a gluten-free diet because there’s a possibility that your body will get used to not digesting that protein and, as a consequence, it could cause an intolerance.

I confess that, when I started looking for a change towards a healthy diet, I went through a phase in which I believed that eating gluten-free would help me lose weight.

That was what I had perceived while reading certain articles, but I could not be more wrong.

I started buying gluten-free bread and pastries, spending a lot more money, without being aware that all of those gluten-free industrial products carry a lot of added sugars to give a more pleasant taste to the foods in the industry for the production of gluten-free foods.

Today, I no longer believe that eating gluten-free helps you lose weight, but I know that using natural foods, and the least refined possible, helps maintain a balanced diet.

In addition, there are some doctors who recommend a minimum consumption of gluten, or better said, of foods that naturally contain gluten, because they claim that it causes inflammation.

So I believe it’s not a bad idea to have an alternative recipe for gluten-free muffins.

SUGAR-FREE
What I like most about this recipe is that these muffins are sweetened only with fruit, without any added sugars or sweeteners.

How to store these gluten-free muffins

From personal experience, I usually store my backings made with banana in an airtight container, preferably a glass one, and leave it in the fridge.

The times when I didn’t store it in the fridge, I noticed that it alters the taste of the banana and I personally don’t like it very much.

Once, I’ve even tried to freeze these gluten-free muffins. Once thawed, they were still very good, as they had maintained the same consistency and flavor.

However, when I tried to freeze a loaf of banana bread, I didn’t like the taste after it was thawed. I think it was probably because it had a higher quantity of banana.

Occasions when to eat these gluten-free muffins

What I like most about these muffins is the fact that you can wrap them in a piece of aluminum foil and take them wherever you want.

I have taken some on a few travels already and as I’m writing this post, after being in Bali for a couple of days already, I just ate the last one that I brought with me 😉

Needless to say, they are ideal to take to work or a picnic and, if you have children, they are perfect as a snack after school.

Different flavors and other ingredients

I love being able to try different versions of the same recipes, and that’s why in the photos and video of these muffins some of them have almonds on top.

In the recipe instructions, I also tell you that you can add granulated almonds to the same batter to provide a crispy touch. I’ve also tried a version with grated coconut on top and it’s also delicious.

I haven’t experimented with other flavors yet, but one option could be to substitute cocoa and carob with blueberries or raspberries. I’ll let you know if I try any of these two versions.

What do you think of this recipe? Will you probably make it?

A thousand thanks for stopping by my blog!

Happy healthy eating!

A big hug,

More sweet gluten-free recipes you’ll enjoy:

Chocolate and Carob Energy Balls

Tricolor Vegan Mini Cheesecakes

Flourless Chocolate Cakes

Healthy Nutella Filled Donuts

The Easiest Banana Snack

Gluten-free Pumpkin Bread