Marbled chocolate and coconut yogurt muffins speckled with chocolate chips, almonds and Almond Joys.
It’s almost Halloween, aka All Hallows’ Eve, aka the night before Samhain. Yes, this pagan festival turned candy extravaganza has a long, somewhat unusual history (which I wrote a post about, if you’re interested).
Anyway, this post isn’t about Halloween. It’s about the day after Halloween, and what to do when you look in your pantry and think, ‘What on earth should I do with all this candy!?’
The most obvious thing to do with leftover Halloween chocolate is, of course, to just eat it. But if you’re looking for something a little different – or, like yours truly, enjoy your breakfast with a side of candy – then here’s another option: add that chocolate to some candy-themed muffins!
(Oh, and don’t fret if you don’t have any leftover candy bars – the muffins are still delicious without them).
So, let me give you the rundown on these muffins. They’re based on, and contain, Almond Joy candy bars. We have two batters – one chocolate, the other coconut – which are gently swirled together, topped with whole almonds, and baked into nine fluffy muffins.
(Yes, nine is a bit of an odd number. But hey, muffins don’t always need to come in dozens. And this way you can eat three, and then claim the recipe only made half a dozen).
For fun, we have both chocolate chips and chopped Almond Joy bars. However, if you don’t have any Almond Joys hanging around, then simply replace the candy bars with additional chocolate chips.
If you’re wondering, ‘What is an Almond Joy!?’ then let me explain the unnecessarily confusing candy situation. Almond Joys are candy bars made from a soft, coconut center topped with whole almonds and covered in milk chocolate. Mounds are the same thing, but there are no almonds and dark chocolate is used instead.
For some reason, in many countries, it’s hard to find Almond Joys and Mounds. What are common are Bounty bars, which are like a cross between the two. A Bounty bar consists of a soft, coconut center covered in milk chocolate.
Why we need all these minor differences between candy bars is beyond me, but I can only assume (or hope) that there’s some method to this chocolatey madness.
Anyway, the point is: if you have Bounty bars, use them instead of Almond Joys.
Since these muffins have chopped candy bars in them, I’m not about to pretend they’re a health food. Nevertheless, I’ve tried to make them a little healthier than many muffins out there. This recipe only calls for a total of two tablespoons of canola oil, as most of the moisture is provided by one of my favorite ingredients, Greek-style yogurt.
While I’ve only made this recipe using canola oil, I imagine that any flavorless oil will be fine. You may be able to use melted coconut oil, given this is a coconut-themed recipe. Just make sure you don’t leave the oil out completely – it makes a surprisingly big difference to the texture of the muffins.
Fun Fact: Americans are expected to spend US$8.4 billion on Halloween this year. About $2.5 billion of that will apparently be spent on candy.
Last of all, if you’d like these muffins to be extra chocolatey, feel free to sprinkle extra chocolate chips on top of the muffins before baking them. But, whatever you do, don’t sprinkle additional chopped Almond Joy bars over the top. Trust me. They sort of bubble up and explode in the oven, like a coconut volcano.
That being said, the exploded Almond Joy bars still taste nice, so it’s only an aesthetic problem. And since it’s almost Halloween, maybe an odd-looking candy explosion is precisely what we all need.
Happy Halloween!
P.S. If you’re looking for other candy-themed breakfasts, this humble blog has quite a few of them!
- Chocolate Batter
- 1 egg
- ¼ cup (50g) brown sugar, packed
- 1 tablespoon (15mL) canola oil
- 1 tablespoon (15mL) maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ cup (60g) Greek-style yogurt
- ¼ cup (60mL) milk
- ½ cup (65g) all purpose flour
- ¼ cup (20g) cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup (40g) chocolate chips
Coconut Batter- 1 egg
- ¼ cup (50g) brown sugar, packed
- 1 tablespoon (15mL) canola oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon coconut extract
- ¼ cup (60g) Greek-style yogurt
- ⅓ cup (80mL) milk
- ⅔ cup (85g) all purpose flour
- ½ cup (35g) shredded coconut
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup (35g) chopped Almond Joy candy bars
- Handful of raw almonds
- Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Grease 9 holes of a 12-hole muffin pan with cooking oil spray. Alternatively, line the holes with muffin papers, and lightly spray the papers with cooking oil spray.
- Chocolate Batter:In a medium-sized or large bowl, whisk the egg with a fork. Whisk in the brown sugar, canola oil, maple syrup and vanilla extract. Mix in the yogurt and milk.
- Add the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix until just combined. Gently fold in the chocolate chips.
- Coconut Batter: In a medium-sized or large bowl, whisk the egg with a fork. Whisk in the brown sugar, canola oil, maple syrup, vanilla extract and coconut extract. Mix in the yogurt and milk.
- Add the flour, shredded coconut, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix until just combined. Gently fold in the chopped Almond Joy candy bars.
- Place alternate spoonfuls of the chocolate and coconut batters into the prepared muffin pan, filling 9 holes most of the way up. Gently push some raw almonds into the tops of the uncooked muffins.
- Bake for 17 – 20 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean (or with a few moist crumbs).
- Let the muffins cool in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooking rack. Store in an airtight container.
Rather than measure ¼ cup, you can use half an Almond Joy candy bar (i.e. one of the two pieces you get in a one regular-sized Almond Joy bar). It's slightly less than ¼ cup, but close enough.
Alternatively, replace the candy bars with ¼ cup chocolate chips (or simply omit them).
Eggs
Ideally, use room temperature eggs rather than cold ones.