Sweet potato-chocolate chunk muffins

I had to try these muffins because they combine two of my favorite things: sweet potatoes and chocolate!  On top of that, they are super easy to make.  If you roast and eat as many sweet potatoes as I do, set some aside to give these muffins a try. I'm happy I did!

These muffins are made with mashed roasted sweet potatoes (which basically replaces the liquid - typically milk or buttermilk - in the recipe), olive oil, and whole wheat flour (I used my standard white whole wheat flour), which gives the muffins a nice nutty flavor and texture.  Possibly the best part?  Bittersweet chocolate chunks stirred into the batter essentially guarantees that the muffins will be a hit.  I can now officially say that sweet potatoes and chocolate go very well together!  

The sweet potato part of the muffins might not jump out at you but much like baking with pumpkin puree, it adds moisture, subtle sweetness, and combines nicely with a touch of cinnamon.  It also adds a nice golden color and visuals are important when it comes to eating, right?  My family and I really enjoyed them and I'm happy to include them in my muffin-making rotation.  

Because we had just polished off a batch of double chocolate muffins (I think of those as our "house muffins"), I made a small batch of six of these to try them out.  I wouldn't hesitate to make an even dozen next time because these go down easy and as we all know, homemade muffins are much loved and appreciated.  I'm always happy when the cookie jar is filled and the cake dome has some muffins tucked inside.


Making these muffins is super quick and just requires a little whisking and mixing once you've got the sweet potato cooked and ready.  I roast sweet potatoes pretty much every other day.  Japanese/Korean sweet potatoes are my personal favorite but I also adore the regular orange-flesh ones (also the ones my husband and son eat regularly).  For this recipe, you want to use the regular orange sweet potatoes, which has the moisture you want for the muffins.

So plan ahead...next time you roast sweet potatoes for lunch or dinner, set one aside to give these muffins a try.

The muffin batter has mashed sweet potatoes, olive oil, sugar, eggs, whole wheat flour, leaveners, salt, and cinnamon in it.  But I have to say my favorite ingredient must be the chocolate chunks!  Stirring those into the batter was my favorite part!  I reserved some of chocolate bits for the top just to make sure there'd be plenty of chocolate visuals to appreciate.

These were fun to try and really easy to make.  I love finding new muffin recipes to incorporate into our routine because the fellas really enjoy them in the morning and on weekdays, they are a lifesaver in terms of quick and easy.

I seriously do not know what I would do in the event of some kind of world shortage on either sweet potatoes or chocolate.  I love these two things and it was fun to discover they go so well together!

Recipe:

Sweet Potato-Chocolate Chunk Muffins
Adapted from Martha Stewart

- For 12 muffins - 

1 cup mashed roasted sweet potatoes* (from about 1 sweet potato)
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (I used white whole wheat)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3/4 cup sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup (6 oz.) bittersweet chocolate (60% cacao), coarsely chopped

*For roasted sweet potato: I like to bake whole sweet potatoes, wrapped in aluminum foil, in a 350 degree oven until soft, about an hour.  Let cool, then mash with a fork.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a regular 12-cup muffin pan with liners.  

In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt together.  In another bowl, whisk together the oil, sugar, eggs, and mashed sweet potatoes.  Add the wet ingredients into the dry, stirring until almost combined.  Fold in the chopped chocolate.

Divide batter among the 12 muffin cups.  Bake until golden on top and muffins spring back slightly when touched, about 20-24 minutes.  Let muffins cool for 4-5 minutes in the tin, then remove them to a wire rack to cool completely.