Paleo Overnight Healthy Chocolate Muffins (soaked)

I may receive a commission if you purchase through links in this post. I am not a doctor; please consult your practitioner before changing your supplement or healthcare regimen.

Overnight Healthy Triple Chocolate Muffins are as healthy as chocolate comes! These muffins contain resistant starch and provide complex carbs for sustained energy! The cocoa in Overnight Healthy Triple Chocolate Muffins gives you more potassium and magnesium, because of the overnight soaking!! (We’ll talk more about this!) And these muffins also provide some protein and great fats. Served alongside protein, you’ve got yourself a super special weekend or weekday breakfast! Or throw these muffins into lunches, or serve them alongside soup.

You know: Muffins are as useful and versatile as they are delicious. Now, let’s talk about just how healthy these muffins are…

WAIT! Whoops, sorry. These are so healthy, unusually so, that I forgot to mention something that will be more important for some of you, and that is quite prominent in my mind when I’m in the presence of these muffins: They are SO DELICIOUS. Overnight Healthy Triple Chocolate Muffins are so delicious that I don’t ever need a piece of chocolate cake again. I’m not kidding. You might. But with that crazy (easy to make) glaze on top and their middle texture and the oh-so-CHOCOLATE flavor, these babies are IT.

Fermentation of Batters

I’m wild about fermentation. The fact that breads and quick breads can be fermented is tremendously magical and healthy. The purpose? Fermentation of breads makes the ingredients healthier. Healthy is a vague word. When it comes to the fermentation of flours, healthy means that the nutrients become available! Our bodies can easily digest and assimilate the nutrition in a fermented batter.

What’s Happening? — We start out with a bowl full of dry ingredients: flour, cocoa, baking soda, sea salt. We also have some wet ingredients: yogurt (or dairy-free yogurt) or another acid like apple cider vinegar, plus eggs, fat etc. When we combine the dry and wet ingredients and then let them sit … the acidity in the yogurt or apple cider vinegar changes the flour and cocoa! The acid neutralizes the phytic acid in the flours.

Phytic acid is the storage form of phosphorus in many plants. This compound is now called an anti-nutrient by many because it binds with minerals while it’s being digested in our guts, and actually robs our bodies of those minerals. By neutralizing phytic acid, our bodies not only get the minerals in the other foods we’re eating, our bodies can also access the nutrition in the flours used, because that nutrition has become more bioavailable.

The short story is: Allowing our cassava and cocoa to soak overnight in a batter with yogurt (or dairy-free yogurt) allows us to get more nutrition from these flours and from the other ingredients in our meal.

When it comes to cocoa powder, this means we get more magnesium, copper, potassium, sodium and calcium, more antioxidants and the increased potential for cardiovascular benefits — from a food touted to revive and nourish (source). As you may know, cocoa comes from a seed. And all seeds need to be “awakened” for us to access their nutrition. Read more about this here. Cacao beans undergo an initial fermentation shortly after their harvest. But fermenting the flour of the seeds/beans further enhances its nutrition and our body’s ability to assimilate that nutrition.

Personally, I have experienced the electrolyte balancing properties of cocoa. Cocoa is actually higher in potassium than other minerals! Recently, I was completely enervated by too much sun at my son’s track meet. A tiny bit of honey and dark chocolate is what revived my energy, fluid balance and cell integrity, which then further allowed me to be re-hydrated and revived by my mineral water. (A few of these are a great thing to carry around in the hot summer months, for emergencies, seriously! I will forever be amazed and grateful for the way the two ingredients revived my body. [The little packets hang out in my purse for months and never open. I don’t have a sweet tooth. So they just stay there until they’re needed.]) I now have personal evidence that chocolate and honey, in tiny amounts, help to restore the body’s fluid balance. Fermented cocoa offers our bodies healing minerals!

And, by the way (favorite topic), these wafers are our favorite Keto, Paleo, GAPS Diet snack EVER! They’re not sweet. But let them melt in your mouth, and toward the end as you’re chewing them, they’ll come to life as chocolate! And the fat is super nourishing. Read more about it here.

Lastly, fermentation of cocoa also heightens its flavor. You’ll love the chocolate flavor of these muffins: The chocolate has been fermented twice, once shortly after harvest, as mentioned above, and a second time in your kitchen! You’ll notice the flavor and the perfume heightened …

The chocolate SMELL! The muffin batter smells amazing in the morning, after the overnight ferment! I put the batter directly into the muffin pan the night before I bake, and set the pan in the oven, (so it can’t be raided by pests during the night). In the a.m., I pull the pan out of the oven to preheat it. And do you know what greets me? The almost heavenly aroma, SO RICH, of chocolate. That perfume conveys the seeds’ release of flavor, the bloom you’ll soon taste! Watch out, too, while these muffins are baking! The fragrance of them permeates the whole house!!! You’ll always want to ferment your chocolate batters after you smell and taste the difference it makes. (And your body will appreciate the added nutrition!)

Eggs

This batter, as mentioned above, ferments overnight at room temperature.

What about keeping the eggs in the batter at room temperature? This is a matter of personal preference. Here’s what to do: If you have farm eggs, just keep them at room temperature after collecting them. Then an overnight ferment is not an issue.

The conflict otherwise is that once eggs have been refrigerated health departments don’t recommend keeping them at room temperature for more than four hours. Personally, I am not concerned about this. I have been fermenting batters for years and never once had an issue with food poisoning. The probiotics and acid in the yogurt (or ACV) help to keep any negative bacteria at bay. But if you are concerned, simply give your muffin batter the four hours it needs at room temperature; then bake; OR then refrigerate until morning and bake at that time. Your choice.

Muffins

Lastly, what makes a chocolate muffin a muffin and not a cupcake? This is an important discussion, yes? Well, as young and lovely as I feel 🙂 , I am too old to mess around with cupcakes! I’ll keep making you cupcake recipes, don’t worry. But for me, and my body, and my health history, I am completely content with the healthier the better, as long as it tastes good. Muffins mean: soft, moist interior texture that doesn’t require butter or other condiments (unless you want to). Muffins mean less sweetener! Muffins mean: nutrient-dense. You add cocoa that’s been awakened (so its nutrients are bioavailable), and we have a slam-dunk-no-need-for-cupcakes-treat! “Perfect texture,” is what my hubby says. So enjoy muffins for breakfast or anytime, because muffins this good satisfy the need to treat ourselves while also being good to our bodies.

What’s with the “Triple Chocolate” in the title? Yeah, that kind of puts these muffins over the top into the “Treat” department, but without the guilt. Inside the muffin batter is shaved chocolate (please see the recommended brands below the recipe, and be very careful what you choose to buy when it comes to chocolate); it’s optional and delicious. On TOP of the muffins: the Glaze. I do NOT think the glaze should be optional. It’s incredible, and it’s easy to make! (And then, of course, the cocoa in the batter; that makes, “Triple”!)

Paleo Overnight Triple Chocolate Muffins (soaked & nutrient-dense)

Print Recipe

5 from 13 votes

Paleo Overnight Triple Chocolate Muffins {Soaked}

Prep Time15 mins

Cook Time25 mins

Total Time40 mins

Servings: 6 large muffins or 10 smaller muffins

Author: Megan

Ingredients

Overnight Chocolate Muffins

• 1 cup cassava flour Otto's preferred: see link below in Recipe Notes
• ½ cup butter or coconut oil, melted and cooled
• ½ cup cocoa powder Fair Trade only please
• ½ cup yogurt or dairy-free yogurt (or if you can't find dairy-free probiotic yogurt, use ½ cup minus 1 Tablespoon coconut milk + 1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar)
• ⅓ cup maple syrup
• ¼ cup collagen see link and discount code below in Recipe Notes
• 3 eggs preferably room temperature
• 1 ounce unsweetened or bittersweet chocolate shaved (see Recipe Notes below and post info below recipe for sourcing)
• 1 Tablespoon real vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon baking soda sifted
• ¼ teaspoon sea salt
• flake salt for optional garnish (delicious!!); see link below in Recipe Notes

Chocolate Glaze

• ¼ cup cocoa butter melted (to measure, place wafers (see link below in Recipe Notes) in ¼ cup measuring spoon so they are slightly heaping; then melt very gently (over low heat) in dry small skillet or saucepan; make sure all your cooking tools are dry, no water
• ¼ cup cocoa powder Fair Trade
• 4-6 drops stevia to taste (If you don't like stevia, I think you'll still love this! My husband is in this camp. Only 4 drops makes a bittersweet topping. You shouldn't taste the stevia, just all the good chocolate.)

Instructions

(Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit only if baking the muffins immediately.) Either way, line muffin cup pan with squares of torn parchment paper, or muffin cup liners. Set aside.

• Combine in bowl: eggs, yogurt, fat of choice, maple syrup, and vanilla.
  
• In separate bowl sift together cassava flour, cocoa powder, collagen, baking soda, and sea salt. Add shaved chocolate.
  
• Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and use spatula to mix together thoroughly, without over-mixing.
  
• Fill lined muffin pan with batter. Place muffin pan in room temperature oven overnight (or for 4 hours) to ferment. (Muffins may also be baked immediately, if you don't wish to ferment the batter.)
  
  

If your muffins were stored in the oven for their overnight ferment, remove them now. Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.

• Bake muffins until toothpick inserted into the center of one comes out clean, about 25 minutes for large muffins (start checking at about 18 minutes for smaller muffins). Allow muffins to cool slightly.
  
• Chill muffins 15 minutes in freezer to help glaze to set. Dip cooled muffins in glaze, or use spoon to ladle it over the tops, tilting muffins to the side so any extra runs off. As the glaze sets, sprinkle with flake salt. Allow to come to room temperature, and serve.

Chocolate Glaze

• In small bowl combine melted cocoa butter, cocoa powder and stevia. Whisk together until combined well. Set aside until muffins are chilled, before using. (Important Note: Make sure your bowl, whisk, spatula, melting pot [any and all tools used to make the chocolate glaze] are completely dry, no drops of water.)
  

Notes

Here's a link for Otto's Cassava Flour. 🙂

Here's the discounted collagen! (Use discount code BEAUTIFUL10 at checkout for 10% off your entire purchase.)

Here's a good affordable Fair Trade Cocoa Powder.

Here are Fair Trade Cocoa Nibs.

Here's one of my ALL TIME FAVORITE KETO snacks!! ~ Fair Trade Cocoa Butter Wafers! 🙂

Here are Sea Salt Flakes (delicious!!).

Chocolate Bars to buy for this recipe and general use

We can affect some things in life. And buying a luxury item like chocolate is one area we should affect. I list below the chocolate bars I recommend. Unfortunately, there aren’t more unsweetened Fair Trade ones. Did you know that many of the small chocolate companies that seem Fair Trade are actually owned by the egregious ones (see below)? It’s true: Avoid Dagoba and Scharffen Berger, to name two examples. A lot of the Fair Trade bars have a bit of sugar in them (I really like this one if you can have 88% dark) or this one is good and uses honey! I actually love unsweetened chocolate bars in baked goods, but SunSpire Organic is the only one I know of that’s truly Fair Trade and unsweetened. See if you can find it at your local natural foods store.

Chocolate

I don’t use the word “should” too often, because we often need to let each other figure out life, and give each other grace in the process.

BUT: Why is it that some of us are more affected (more convicted) by certain social issues than others; and some people don’t seem to be moved by the human rights issues that bother us? Our consciences speak more or less loudly, more or less frequently; and some people listen more often or better. To some extent, we are in control of how well we listen. To some extent, if we listen well, we can be thankful for our empathy. Empathy is a gift.

Do you understand and feel acutely what it means to buy Fair Trade? Do you actually picture enslaved children working long hours without proper food, rest or sanitation, exposed to chemicals, sometimes whipped, sometimes locked up, sometimes kidnapped? (Read more on this HERE.) I can’t help picture them, and it’s so easy to support good cocoa husbandry. Will you join me? We shouldn’t need it to be easy, to help other humans from suffering. But in this case, if that helps us to act, it is easy: Just buy ONLY Fair Trade Certified chocolate and cocoa (and from companies that aren’t owned by bigger companies who don’t care), and you’ll be making a small change in the world that affects other humans!  🙂 Find Fair Trade cocoa HERE.

I love this topic and feel passionately that for how much most of love chocolate, it is our responsibility to care about how it’s sourced. If chocolate is feeding us its riches on the backs of abused children, then shame on us. None of us should eat chocolate unless we, with open eyes, know we’re not supporting a willingly money-hungry corporation and the deforestation of West Africa.

I have some great links for you. Updated just recently, HERE is a list of chocolate companies you CAN and CAN’T trust. Notice: Companies like Ben & Jerry’s, Trader Joe’s, Clif Bar, NuNaturals, Enjoy Life, Starbucks, Hail Merry, Kirkland (Costco), Valrhona, Whole Foods Market, Green & Black’s, LÄRABAR, Nuts.com, PROBAR, Scharffen Berger, Shakeology, Sunbiotics and Talenti Gelato can NOT be recommended. Most of us know to avoid Hershey’s, Nestle and the companies they own, like Dagoba. But add to your list these others, that are still not compliant with human rights issues, even though these violations were first revealed in 2010! Reminder: Stop buying chocolate, and chocolate flavored products, from these sources. (Shocking, right??!! Some of these companies pass themselves off as healthy, Paleo, whatever. They’re hypocrites, in it for making money.)

As a side note, I do know what it’s like as a business person to need to succeed and balance the cost of inventory with profit. My husband and I owned a Fair Trade ice cream shop for 8 years. We would rather have failed than buy conventional cocoa. It was a joy to us to spend more on Fair Trade. This choice is foundational to a company’s values.

The Good Guys

Buy with pride and delight from companies that have made an impact on other humans’ lives by intentionally supporting Fair Trade efforts. Buy from companies like Bulletproof, Divine, Gemini, Global Organics, GloryBee, Go Raw, Holy Kakow Chocolate, Hummingbird Wholesale, Kroger, Lakanto, Late July, Nature’s Path, Newman’s Own, Nutiva, Teeccino and Terrasoul. Buy chocolate bars and similar treats from Alter Eco, Eating Evolved, Equal Exchange, Heavenly Organics, Pure 7, Taza Chocolate and Theo Chocolate.

Also, I used to link to THIS Fair Trade cocoa powder sourced from Ecuador. I subscribed to its delivery every 3 months, which meant I got a discount of 15%. Living wages for small farmers — Amen. It is now unavailable, so I’m buying this one now.

Please consider bookmarking this post, pinning it here or copying and pasting the above lists to a Notes page on your computer, so you have them ready for easy reference! Know who you support and why, and who to avoid (until they hopefully shape up!). When it comes time to stuff stockings or fill Easter baskets or buy chocolate gifts, refer to the above lists, and I’ll keep them updated. My husband said that it’s possible some of the companies that are still supporting the harm in West Africa are unaware. As a former food producer, I find that hard to believe. But I guess it’s possible. Either way, I won’t support their ignorance or the evil it causes. What about you? If you didn’t know, is it time to make a change now that you do?

Other Sources
https://www.icco.org/faq/61-physical-and-chemical-information-on-cocoa/106-physical-and-chemical-information-on-cocoa-beans-butter-mass-and-powder.html

Will you buy cocoa, chocolate and chocolate products differently now that you know which ones are Fair Trade and which ones are not?