Procedure1 Preheat oven to 350F for 15 minutes. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners and use a non stick cooking spray to grease the liners. In a baking sheet toast the wheat germ while the oven is preheating. Have a close watch or else it might burn. Around 5 minutes should be enough.

2 In a large mixing bowl, beat the margarine and sugar until creamy using a hand held electric mixer. Stir in the buttermilk. The mixture appears to be curdled but don’t worry. Also add the prune puree. Add the 1 tablespoon water to the baby food jar and shake it well and then pour it to the rest of the ingredients. Stir in the applesauce and vanilla extract too.

3 Add the rest of the dry ingredients (flour to salt) except the wheat germ to the wet ingredients and stir until just combined; do not over-mix. Lumps in the batter is fine.

4 Divide the batter among the muffin cups. Sprinkle the tops with wheat germ (around 1 teaspoon for each muffin). I usually fill 3 tablespoons of batter for each muffin. Even though the measurement is for 12 muffins, I was able to fill only 11 cups. So fill the 12th cup with water (3/4th of the tin should be enough), to ensure even baking of the muffins.

5 Bake around 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. I baked mine for 23 minutes.

6 Remove the muffin tin from the oven and cool it on a wire rack for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes take the muffins out of the pan and let it cool on a wire rack.

Taste If you think that healthy and tasty don’t go together, you have to taste these muffins to change your belief. It is unbelievably tasty for a muffin made with whole wheat pastry flour. No raw smell or bitter after taste, right amount of sugar and amazing texture! I don’t think I will like any other chocolate chip muffin more than this one or try any other recipe, because this is PERFECT. I did skimp on the wheat germ topping because I was not sure if I would like it, but what a surprise, it blended well with the muffin and did not affect the taste. My son loved these muffins.

Another interesting thing, these muffins tasted so good on the day I baked them itself. Usually whole wheat baked goods don’t taste good the same day, it gets better the next day. I know that I cannot resist my temptation to taste it immediately, so I baked these after dinner assuming that it can cool overnight and we can have it for breakfast the following day. But I was able to be patient only for 3 hours. I skeptically took piece of the muffin and was really blown away by the texture and taste and ended up eating the entire muffin. Initially you will be able to smell the baking powder (very mild) but not after the second day.

My Notes1 As per the original recipe you can use either prunes or dates. Blend 1/4 cup chopped prunes or dates with 1/4 cup hot water and puree until smooth. I had a jar of pureed prune, so I used it instead. The 2.5oz jar measures exactly 1/4 cup.

The muffins are brown in color because of the prune puree but that does not affect the taste at all. I think using dates will leave it’s taste in the muffins.

2 The original recipe required one egg white, which can be substituted with 2 tablespoons of any egg substitute. I think the egg white acts as a binder in this recipe. So I used a tablespoon of water (to wash the prune puree jar) and 1 tablespoon applesauce. If you have extra prune/date puree you can use 2 tablespoons of the same.

Procedure 1 Preheat oven to 375F. Grease or line with paper liners 1 regular size muffin tin and 1 mini muffin tin.

2 Drain the black beans from the can, rinse it well under running water and puree it in a food processor/blender using approximately 1/4 cup of water. The puree should be very smooth without any lumps.

3 To this also add the sugar, prune puree, 2 tablespoons of water, canola oil and vanilla extract. Process/blend it again for another 2-3 minutes. Transfer it to a large bowl.

4 In a small bowl whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda.

5 Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients in 3 parts. That is, first add 1/3rd of the flour mixture to the bean and prune puree, mix it well. Then add another 1/3rd and then the last 1/3rd of the flour mixture. Having some lumps is fine. I found that using a wire whisk to mix the batter worked well than using a spatula. The batter was in the consistency of pancake batter. Initially I felt that the quantity of the wet ingredients was way too much, but once I started mixing it to the flour I was relieved to find out that the proportions were getting right.

6 Fill the muffin wells 2/3rds full, around 3 tablespoons of the batter. For the mini muffin tin, just use 1 tablespoon. I placed both the muffin tins in the same rack. The mini muffins were done by 9 minutes and the regular size muffins around 14 minutes. Oven temperatures may vary so check for doneness by inserting a toothpick in the center and it should come out clean.

7 Cool in pan for 5 minutes. Slide a knife around the edges of the cupcake and invert the tin slowly. The cupcakes will fall down, cool them on a rack. Frosting is optional.

My Notes 1 For the prune puree I used 2 jars (2.5oz each) of Beech Nut’s baby food. Applesauce can also be instead of prune puree. Use unsweetened organic applesauce, like Nature’s Promise.

2 Melted butter or any vegan butter substitute can be used in place of the canola oil. The original recipe called for soy margarine.

3 I didn’t have cupcake liners at home, so I used vegetable shortening to grease the pans instead of coating it with non-stick cooking spray. I have noticed in the past that while using the latter, pans get grease stains which are very difficult to clean.

4 I recently have found out that using 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda for each egg replaced gives the light and airy texture to the baked product. In this recipe I used 1/2 cup of prune puree to substitute 2 eggs, so I used 1/2 teaspoon baking soda in total. The result was eggless chocolate cupcakes with the spongy texture of the usual cupcakes.

5 We can also control the sodium in the recipe by using low-sodium or no salt added canned beans. Or better soak dried beans and cook it ourselves without salt and add a pinch of salt to the flour mix, because salt enhances the flavor of any sweet dish.

Procedure 1 Preheat oven to 350F/ and line a muffin tin with paper liners.

2 Melt the butter and chocolate chips together. I did this in the microwave oven, first for 15 seconds, stirred it once and heated it again for 20 seconds. Microwave oven times may differ so use caution while melting the mixture.

3 Remove from heat and let it cool for sometime.

4 In another bowl, stir together the pureed prune, vanilla, purple puree, sugar and 1 tablespoon water.

5 Combine this purple mixture with the melted and cooled chocolate mixture.

6 In another mixing bowl, stir together the dry ingredients and 1/2 teaspoon baking soda. Add this to the chocolate mixture and blend thoroughly.

7 Scoop out the dough and fill it in the muffin cups almost to the top. (I used an ice cream scoop, which measures 3 tablespoons)

8 Bake 23 to 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Mine was done exactly at 23 minutes, but anyway I baked it for another 1 minute, just to be sure.

9 Cool the cupcakes on a wire rack before frosting. Frosting is optional, you may simply dust it with some powdered sugar or leave it plain.

My Notes 1 For the prune puree I used Beech Nut brand, baby food. It’s a small 2.5oz jar of pureed prunes. It measures exactly 1/4 cup. Alternatively you may buy prunes, soak them in hot water and grind them into a smooth paste and measure 1/4 cup of the paste. We were not able to taste the prunes in the cupcakes.

2 I strongly recommend eating these cupcakes the day after baking. It is unbelievably good the next day. When I tasted on the same day the taste was definitely good, but since I had used the Earth Balance blend, that flavor was definitely dominating. Actually we (couple of testers) did not taste the blueberries or spinach. I was so sure that it was the Earth Balance because I had a similar experience with the Oatmeal Raisin Cookies. But we were in for a big surprise the next day because the cupcakes tasted very normal, like any other regular cupcake.

3 Also when tasted on the day of baking, we were able to tell that it was made of whole wheat flour, but not on the second day. The only thing which was different is the texture. I guess that’s because of the blueberries. I did grind it smooth, but I guess I should have processed it for some more time in the food processor.

4 My son ate half a cupcake on the first day. But when offered another piece after sometime he told me that he didn’t like it. I iced the cupcakes the following day, while he was in school. They were ready when he came back and he had totally forgotten that it was the same cupcakes which I had offered him yesterday. He was clearly attracted by the icing and the sprinkles and he ate 1 cupcake without complaining. To my surprise he liked it the next day and also the day after. I also tested it with another kid who is 5 and also a picky eater. He usually doesn’t eat anything including junk food like cupcakes and cookies. To his mother’s surprise he also ate it. So I guess this cupcake recipe is definitely a keeper.

5 Alternatively this batter can also be baked in mini-bundt pans and vola you have your baked donuts. For donuts, bake 12 to 14 minutes until the tops spring back when pressed lightly. Loosed the edges with a knife and turn the donuts out over a plate. I have not tried this.

6 These cupcakes are vegan if you leave out the icing.