Chocolate & Strawberry Muffins (Nut-Free, Paleo)

paleo chocolate strawberry muffins

Chocolate and strawberries are two wonderful foods that, when combined together, create a rather luscious duo. These paleo, and nut-free, chocolate strawberry muffins are not only scrumptious and handy for the lunch-box (including the kiddies), but they also contain lots of hidden nutrients. Let me explain!

I have recently been testing out and cooking with some superfood powders from Nature’s Way Superfoods. First, I created a Chia & Coconut Bircher Porridge using their Super Greens + Wild Reds powder. I then moved on to the cacao, called Super Greens + Cacao powder, which I find very exciting because it can automatically upgrade my chocolate treats and make them more nutrient dense.

These muffins use a combination of regular cacao together with this upgraded, super-duper awesome cacao powder. What this means is that on top of the already antioxidant-rich raw cacao you’re also getting extra nutrition perks from spirulina powder, broccoli and spinach powder, flaxseed, kale, chia and even shitake mushroom. That’s one way to hide vegetables in the muffins. Very sneaky!

Then of course I had to make it even healthier by adding strawberries. I wanted to make these muffins nut-free because I want your kids to be able to take them to school, so I used coconut flour and tapioca flour, which can sometimes result in a dry finish. Adding fresh strawberries to the batter actually helps to keep them moist so when you bite into the muffin, you get a little burst of strawberry inside.

Recipe Notes

The Nature’s Way Super Greens + Cacao powder combines antioxidant rich raw cacao with 14 other nutrient dense super foods. It looks and tastes like a regular chocolate powder, however it’s not as dark and strong in flavour as a 100% raw cacao, so depending on how you use it, you might want to add extra pure cacao.

It’s also sweetened with Stevia so you can use it as is without extra sweeteners, again depending on what you’re adding it to. In my case, I added a little honey but if you were making something like a chocolate milkshake (I mean the world’s healthiest chocolate milkshake), you would just need to add some coconut or almond milk (or regular if you wish) and maybe a little banana for extra creaminess. Blend it and boom!

I’ve been adding it to anything I would normally add cacao to – morning iced mocha, chocolate protein smoothie, energy balls, granola, and of course the baked chocolate goodies like these muffins. If you can’t get this kind of cacao powder (in Australia it’s available form Woolworths and Health 365), just use more of the regular cacao powder and add a little more honey for this recipe. Raspberries can be used instead of strawberries.

paleo chocolate strawberry muffins
how_to_make_paleo_chocolate_muffins_

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Paleo Chocolate Muffins (Nut-Free)

Chocolate & Strawberry Muffins (Nut Free, Paleo)

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes
Servings: 6
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: Dessert
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5 from 1 vote
Calories: 180kcal
Note: If not using NW’s powder, add extra 1 tablespoon regular cacao powder + 2 tablespoons honey.

Ingredients 

  • ¼ cup coconut oil
  • ¼ cup coconut flour
  • ¼ cup tapioca flour
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder gluten-free
  • 2 tablespoons raw cacao powder
  • 2 tablespoons Nature’s Way Super Greens + Cacao powder
  • pinch of sea salt
  • 3 medium eggs
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla essence/extract
  • 1/3 cup strawberries chopped
  • 3 small strawberries halved

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 170° C / 338° F
  • Melt coconut oil and set aside to cool slightly.
  • In a small mixing bowl, whisk together coconut flour, tapioca flour, baking powder, cacao powders and a pinch of sea salt. Set aside.
  • [url href="https://www.cookedandloved.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/nature-ways-cacao.jpg"][/url]
  • Separate egg yolks from the egg whites and place in two medium mixing bowls. Add honey, coconut oil and vanilla to the egg yolks and whisk together until frothy. Then whip the egg whites to soft peaks, about one minute with an electric whisk.
  • Add the dry mixed ingredients to the egg yolks and mix together with an electric mixer or a spatula, just quickly to combine. I used a hand whisk but the mixture gets a little stuck inside so a spatula would be better. Don’t worry about it getting a little dry, as we will fold it with the egg whites.
  • Now, you would normally fold the chocolate mixture with the egg whites using a spatula but in our case simply add it to the egg whites and then combine together with an electric whisk on low setting for about 5-10 seconds max, just to blend through. Then fold in the the strawberries.
  • Divide the mixture between 5-6 muffin casings and press the strawberry halves on top firmly. I used parchment paper casings, which I then baked in the muffin tray to keep their shape. You can also pre-grease the muffin tray casings with some oil and add the mixture to those directly.
  • Bake for 25-30 minutes, middle shelf, then turn the heat off and open the oven door to let the muffins cool down slightly still in the oven. Then remove from the oven and let them cool off in the muffin tray for a further 10-15 minutes. Remove from the tray and enjoy. They will keep for a few days, especially if you place them in an air-tight container and leave in the fridge.
  • If you want to make mini muffins, reduce baking time and test after 15-20 minutes with a skewer, to see when it comes out clean.

Nutrition

Calories: 180kcal | Carbohydrates: 16g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 0.01g | Cholesterol: 82mg | Sodium: 78mg | Potassium: 104mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin A: 120IU | Vitamin C: 7mg | Calcium: 39mg | Iron: 1mg
Keywords: Paleo Desserts, Chocolate, Muffins, Strawberries, Cacao Powder
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paleo_chocolate_muffins_with_strawberries_2


Disclosure: This post is a sponsored by Nature’s Way Superfoods. I received a free sample of the product for the purpose of developing this recipe. All opinions are my own and I only work with products I genuinely like and think would be relevant to my audience.   

Irena Macri
By Irena Macri

About the author: Hi, I’m Irena Macri. I share delicious recipes that I have cooked and loved. I am a published cookbook author, have been food blogging for over 10 years and have a Diploma in Nutrition. You will find many healthy recipes as well as my favourite comfort food. More about me here | Subscribe to my newsletter and freebies

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Comments

17 Comments
  1. When is the coconut oil added to the recipe? I can see that you melt it but it isn’t mentioned afterwards.

  2. Hi, this sounds lovely. At what point do you add the chopped strawberries to the mix? I couldn’t see that mentioned? Looking forward to making these

  3. Irena, these look delicious. Just wondering when you add the cooled coconut oil? Also, do you just fold the chopped strawberries through before baking?

  4. I also couldn’t find when and to what to add the coconut oil to. I assume it’s the egg yolks?

  5. Hi. I thought wheat and barley were a no no for Paleo eating?! The cacao and super green powder contains these.

    1. Hi Kate, It contains wheat grass and barley grass powders. These the green grasses of those plants, not the seeds. Paleo is concerned with the seeds and not the grass, which is actually very nutritious. I hope that helps.

  6. Hi I think you may have an error in your recipe.
    I printed your recipe by using the print icon, near the name of the recipe. No where in the instructions does it say where you are to add the 1/4 cup coconut oil and 1/3 cup diced strawberries.
    It wasn’t until I had the muffins in the oven cooking that I realised that I hadn’t used the coconut oil. I re-read my print out over & over that it wasn’t listed. Luckily I noticed the strawberries & mixed them through before putting the mixture into the cases.

    Hoping they will not be overly dry as I made a double batch for a work cook up!

    1. Hi Susannah, the coconut oil is in step number 5 and the strawberries are at the end. When the recipe was published originally, it missed that step and that’s probably when you printed it. The recipe was corrected the day or two after it was published as another reader pointed this out. I hope they turned out ok.

      1. Thanks so much Irena.

        Unfortunately not, all rock hard and in the bin 🙁 It saddens me because I made a double batch with organic eggs.

  7. I HAVE to try this recipe. I love the healthy additives. This is a well constructed recipe. I am surprised at some of the paleo baked goods on the internet as they are not very good but this recipe looks great. I have about 10 paleo families I cook for with my private chef work and this should be a great recipe to add to the rotation. Thank you very much for all your hard work.

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