Double Chocolate Muffins and a Confession

I have a confession. And I'm bribing you with healthy double chocolate muffins. 

I thought I could get away with posting a couple of recipes from my Mennonite cookbook and saying “oh yeah, I eat local” and no one would be the wiser. But after reading my first blog post, Matt (who eats everything I eat) said “I didn’t realize you were trying to eat local” and I knew I had to provide a bit more of an explanation. He never lets me get away with anything. So, along with a recipe for amazingly delicious double chocolate muffins containing an obviously imported avocado, I thought I’d include an explanation about why I’m not a "locavore" (someone who eats only local food, however “local” is defined – usually food grown within 100 miles).

But I’ll start with why I do (sometimes) eat local (in the summer):

1) I like supporting local farmers.

2) I like fresh produce. Even if I probably couldn’t tell the difference between a peach and a plum if blindfolded, let alone a fresh peach and a peach that had traveled across a continent. 

3) During the summer, I love visiting farmer’s markets and community gardens.

4) I can’t think of many better ways to use public spaces, especially if your local food is from an urban garden.

Now, whether I want to eat local all the time is a different story. There are two main reasons for this:

1)  I live in Alberta (for now!). We all know I can’t subsist on mustard and canola alone (though I do love mustard). I suppose my dad would be perfectly happy eating nothing but Grade-A Alberta Beef all winter but it’s really not my thing. We obviously grow more than 2 crops in Alberta, but I’m trying to make a point here. It is important for everyone, and particularly vegetarians, to get a wide variety of foods in order to get all the nutrients we need. But also, I like eating lots of different things. And chocolate. 

2) Sometime between entering grade 1 and finishing my Master’s degree, I learned that complex questions rarely have simple answers. I don’t believe that simply eating local would solve all of the environmental problems associated with our current food system. Because I know you don’t care about my opinion, I’m also including some points that Dr. James E. McWilliams of Texas State University makes in his fantastic book Just Food. 

• The environmental impact of transporting food from where it’s produced to where you purchase it actually doesn’t matter that much in the grand scheme of things. Dr. McWilliams quotes transportation analyst Lee Barter and argues that if there is any benefit to buying locally grown food, it is likely lost as soon as you drive past the supermarket on your way to the farmer’s market or stop to pick up toilet paper. But let’s say that you can walk to the farmer’s market and you don’t need toilet paper. Read on. 
• Some places are better suited to growing certain foods than other places. Food production in colder climates is much more energy-intensive than food production in climates where food already grows naturally, even when you include the energy used to transport food. So it can be less energy-intensive for me to buy sweet potatoes from China even if someone in Alberta is growing them.
• Imported food often comes in larger quantities, which means fewer trips, which means less energy used.

Obviously Dr. McWilliams had a lot more to say than that, but I'm pretty sure you're ready for the double chocolate muffin recipe now. I tried really hard to keep my rant as short as possible. I even considered leaving it out completely but then I figured that this is exactly the kind of conversation I have with friends and strangers all the time (yes, I really am that fun) that made me think I should start a food blog.

Muffins! I saw these on Eat me, Delicious and made them this weekend. As usual, I took some liberties with the recipe. I had never made any kind of double chocolate muffin before but I’m no stranger to vegan baking. I usually make super healthy muffins that taste like delicious healthy muffins. These were somewhat healthy muffins that tasted like bakery cupcakes. They were a hit with everyone, including my dad who hates avocado (you can't taste the avocado). I wanted to make them completely vegan but carob chips are disgusting and the Camino chocolate chips I used were vegan but had a “may contain milk ingredients” warning on it. Can anyone recommend a completely vegan chocolate chip brand?

Double Chocolate Muffins

I made 30 mini-muffins but the original recipe stated 12 regular-sized muffins.

Ingredients

Dry:

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup spelt flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

Wet:
1 ripe avocado, pitted and peeled
2/3 cup liquid sweetener such as real maple syrup or agave
3/4 cup almond milk
1/3 cup coconut oil, melted
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup chocolate chips

1/2 cup dried cherries, optional

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°. If you’re like me, you’ll leave this until you finish the batter and then stare impatiently at the oven as it heats up.  

2. In a large bowl, mix dry ingredients.

3. In a food processor or blender (I used my Vitamix!), blend the wet ingredients until smooth.

4. Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and mix by hand until the ingredients are just mixed. Over-mixing muffin batter can make muffins dense. If the mixture seems dry, add a little more milk. Fold in chocolate chips and dried cherries.  

5. Grease the muffin tin with coconut oil or line with muffin cups. I filled the mini-muffin tins to the top but I generally fill full-size muffin tins about 3/4 full.

5. Bake mini-muffins for about 12 minutes (regular-sized for 22 minutes) or until a tester comes out with just a few crumbs. Let cool before removing them from the pan.
6. Try to freeze some so you don't devour them in one sitting.