Gluten-Free Sneaky Chocolate Peanut Butter Muffins

Name: Gluten-Free Sneaky Chocolate Peanut Butter Muffins
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 18
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 1 16-ounce jar all natural peanut butter; 1 can 15-ounce butternut squash puree (or 2 cups home cooked and pureed); ½ cup cocoa powder (or raw cacao powder); 1/3 cup organic granulated sugar; 4 eggs (see notes for substitution); 1 teaspoon vanilla extract; 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda; 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar; 1 cup miniature chocolate chips (I used Enjoy Life)

Shirley Braden

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Next up for March Muffin Madness we have gluten-free Sneaky Chocolate Peanut Butter Muffins from Kathryn of ChaCha’s Gluten-Free Kitchen. Okay, I’m going to confess and tell you this recipe is my favorite so far. I know, I know … that’s clear bias and all the muffins to date have been fantastic, right?

Yes, they have been and I’ve been just as delighted as you all have been with each and every one of them, but these muffins from Kathryn are flourless and there’s a special place in my heart—and tummy!—for flourless recipes.

You’ll find many flourless recipes here on gfe. Flourless recipes are naturally gluten free and have richer, fuller flavor from real food ingredients without flour weighing them down or “interfering” with other flavors so to speak.

I am sure that Kathryn’s Sneaky Chocolate Peanut Butter Muffins will live up to every expectation of flourless recipes! Her recipe is gluten free, grain free, and vegetarian, with a dairy-free, egg-free, vegan option.

Gluten-Free Sneaky Chocolate Peanut Butter Muffins from ChaCha’s Gluten-Free Kitchen

Enjoy learning more about Kathryn and her Sneaky Chocolate Peanut Butter Muffins and see the whole line-up of bloggers, blogs, and muffin recipes.

If memory serves correctly, I met Kathryn about 2 years ago via my gfe Facebook page. She was such a positive reader from the start, always leaving lovely comments on my posts there. But it wasn’t until she left a similar kind comment here on gfe that I realized that she had her own blog. I’ve been following ChaCha’s Gluten-Free Kitchen ever since and have really enjoyed not only her simple and delicious recipes but also her very helpful product and restaurant reviews.

Since she’s a real food person, her product reviews are few, but they’re always worthwhile. And after I read and commented on so many of her restaurant reviews, Kathryn and I are certain that we’re going to meet up some time in the future for a wonderful meal together. Kathryn lives in North Carolina, the home of Mr. GFE’s college alma mater and, therefore, one of our frequent destination spots as most of his college buddies still reside there.

Update: Kathryn and I did get to meet a few years ago. In fact, she invited Mr. GFE and me to have breakfast with her and her son while we were in the area. What a special morning that was for all of us, and she served the Sneaky Chocolate Peanut Butter Muffins shared in this post! Yes, they are as good as they look. In fact, they are fantastic!

Here are just a few of Kathryn’s other popular recipes:

~ Chocolate Chip Date Granola Bars

~ Ice Cream Pie in Cocoa Coconut Crust

~ Jumbo Peanut Butter Oatmeal Muffins (yay, more muffins, right?)

~ Le Gravier Apple Tart

And now I’ll give the floor to Kathryn so she can share a little bit about herself and her blog and then tell you how she created her Sneaky Chocolate Peanut Butter Muffins. Seeing how others create recipes can be so helpful in learning how to bake gluten free. It can even lead you to create your own delicious creations!

Kathryn Mueller, Her Husband, and Grandbaby

Kathryn Mueller, Her Husband, and Their Adorable Grandbaby

ChaCha’s Gluten-Free Kitchen

I started ChaCha’s Gluten-Free Kitchen as a way to share the recipes that worked for my family with friends. We are not only gluten free but have other food and chemical sensitivities. As a long time Feingold Association member and volunteer, I share recipes that are free of artificial dyes, flavors and sweeteners. Like Shirley, I found using whole foods that are naturally gluten free the best way to stay healthy and enjoy our meals.

As an aside, my blog name came from my sweet little neighbor friend who was unable to say my name and renamed me ChaCha. It has stuck and now he, his sister, and many others use it. It’s the only name my grandbaby knows me as.

Kathryn’s Sneaky Chocolate Peanut Butter Muffins Recipe

This is my new love—a healthy muffin that tastes like a peanut butter cup! Using butternut squash is the sneaky part. Years ago when we were beginning our journey to better health, I found this recipe on Pecan Bread. It was fast and full of protein so it made me happy—it tasted like a regular banana muffin to my family so they were happy.

It was an easy recipe to adapt depending on what type of nut butter I had on hand and what type of fruit or veggie was handy. Carrot pulp straight from the juicer was actually a favorite—they were just like little carrot cakes. I made dozens of them in all shapes and sizes and flavors and eventually just stopped making them and forgot about them.

But then I checked out the Pecan Bread site again for a friend and saw my old favorite. I realized it was the perfect base recipe for an idea I had been playing with. I wanted to sneak butternut squash and all the vitamins and minerals it contains into a muffin. I also wanted a peanut butter cup flavor but not an overly sweet muffin. These muffins came out exactly as I’d hoped.

They call for baking soda and apple cider vinegar which may sound funny. However, the chemical reaction between them gives the muffins those wonderful tiny bubbles and soft texture of regular flour baking. If you’re Feingold Stage 1, you can substitute any approved vinegar. Anyone—gluten free or not—will really enjoy these gluten-free Sneaky Chocolate Peanut Butter Muffins!