If you love chocolate, you’ll love these double chocolate muffins. Ultra moist, soft and pillowy, these gluten free and vegan muffins are made to impress. Made with a hot chocolate mix and studded with marshmallows and chunks of dark chocolate, they may just be more cupcake than muffin? Regardless, you definitely need to try these hot chocolate muffins to see for yourself!
Hot Chocolate Treats
Winter time is the perfect time to enjoy a cup of hot chocolate. But what if you find yourself with some hot cocoa mix and you don’t exactly want a cup of it? You can use that mix in other baked goods too! Any recipe that calls for cocoa powder, can easily be replaced with hot cocoa mix.
Have a look at my hot chocolate cookies for instance. These cookies are soft, with those gorgeous ripples around the centre. I love these cookies so much, I knew I had to keep the hot chocolate theme going! So I created these hot chocolate muffins and stuffed them with mini marshmallows and chunks of dark chocolate. The result is absolute muffin perfection!
The Ingredients
The ingredient list is short and sweet! Here are the ingredients you’ll need (plus salt and baking soda), how great is it that it’s under 10 ingredients?!
Be sure to source a gluten free oat flour for this recipe if you need to be sure that there is no gluten. You can of course make your own flour from gluten free oats, but you’ll need to be sure that it’s very finely ground. Oat flour provides some earthiness to the cookies.
I like this brand of oat flour.
Hot Chocolate Mix/Cocoa powder
Depending on the type of hot chocolate mix you use, you may want to lessen the amount of sugar you add. Most hot chocolate mixes have sugar in them already.
There are so many to choose from, this is the one I used for these hot chocolate muffins.
You can also use cocoa powder if you don’t have hot cocoa mix. I also added in extra cocoa powder in addition to the hot cocoa mix for a richer chocolate taste.
Dairy-Free Milk
Any type of dairy-free milk will work, I use oat milk because that’s typically what I have on hand. This helps with the overall texture and keeps the muffins moist and delicious.
This helps to provide a lot of moisture to the recipe and gives the muffins great texture.
I like this brand for avocado oil.
Maple Syrup
I use maple syrup to sweeten these healthy hot chocolate muffins and love the taste this provides.
What’s a hot cocoa without marshmallows?! Adding just a few to each cookie makes a big difference and the texture is SO good.
I use these mini vegan marshmallows.
My go to when baking is to use a good quality 70% dark chocolate. It has so much flavour and the texture of the rugged chocolate chunks is far superior to chocolate chips. If you only have chocolate chips, use them, but if you can, I highly suggest using dark chocolate and roughly chopping it yourself. These are what you’ll need for those dark pools of chocolate on the muffins.
I like using this dark chocolate.
How to Make These Gluten Free Chocolate Muffins
You’ll need just two bowls and about 5 minutes to prep these hot chocolate muffins, you ready?!
Line a muffin tin with liners and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl, add the dry ingredients and whisk to combine.
In a medium size bowl, add the wet ingredients, from the milk through to the maple syrup. Mix well.
Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and whisk to combine until just combined.
Pour the batter into your prepared muffin tin, filling until about 3/4 of the way up. This will give you big muffins with high tops. Leave some batter for filling up more after you add the marshmallows. I had enough batter for 6 large muffins. See my notes at the end for the muffin tin I use.
Top with marshmallows and then pour additional batter on top and then add a square of dark chocolate. The batter will now be filled all the way to the top.
Place in the oven to bake for 18 to 20 minutes. Start checking at 16 minutes to see if they’re done.
Let them cool in the muffin tin for about 20 minutes, then remove and place then on a cooling rack.
Tips for Making These Muffins
- Don’t over mix: when adding the wet to the dry, don’t over mix the batter. Mix until just combined and flour has been incorporated.
- Checking your muffins: when checking the muffins, use a toothpick to check for doneness. Be sure to check the center and if it comes out clean, it’s done, be sure not to press the toothpick into the chocolate chunk. Check at the lower end of the timeframe and then bake for 1 to 2 minutes longer if they’re not done.
- Marshmallows: you can use mini marshmallows as I have, or large ones, but cut them in half and place them on one side of the muffins.
- Muffin size: I use a large muffin tin for this recipe. As a result, I had enough batter for six large muffins. The muffins had a nice big top which I prefer, feel free to use what you have and adjust accordingly.
The Muffin Tin I Use & Recommend
The muffin tin I use and recommend is this one. It is THE ONLY one that I have tried that doesn’t require you to use liners or even to grease the pan. This muffin tin is also the only one that I can make egg muffins in without them sticking and me wanting to pull my hair out after trying to clean the pan.
Muffin Substitutions
Dairy-free milk: use any type of dairy-free milk for these hot chocolate muffins. Almond milk, coconut milk (the refrigerated kind), cashew milk or oat milk will all work.
Hot chocolate mix: use regular cocoa powder if you don’t have a hot chocolate mix on hand.
Avocado Oil: use extra virgin olive oil or melted coconut oil.
Marshmallows: you can omit them for this recipe if you wish.
Can I use another type of sweetener? Absolutely! Honey would also work, although then they wouldn’t be vegan. I haven’t tested with a powdered sugar, like granulated sugar or coconut sugar/brown sugar. I think it would work, you may need to increase the amount of dairy-free milk if the batter seems too dry.
If you make these hot chocolate muffins, I’d love to hear from you. Feel free to tag me on Instagram, and/or leave a comment, rating or review below.
This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. I only share products and services I have personally used and love. Disclosure here.
Hot Chocolate Muffins
These delicious hot chocolate muffins with marshmallows and dark chocolate are easy to make and have less than 10 ingredients!
Ingredients
For the Dry Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cup oat flour very fine, gluten free if needed
- 3 tbsp hot chocolate mix
- 3 tbsp cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
For the Wet Ingredients
- 1 cup oat milk or other dairy free milk
- 3 tbsp avocado oil or melted coconut, or extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
For the Add-ins
- 24 marshmallows mini (vegan)
- 6 squares dark chocolate
Instructions
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Line a muffin tin with liners and preheat the oven to 350ºF (177ºC).
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In a large bowl, add the dry ingredients (oat flour through to the salt) and whisk to combine.
-
In a medium size bowl, add the wet ingredients, from the milk through to the maple syrup. Mix well.
-
Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and whisk to combine until just combined.
-
Pour the batter into your prepared muffin tin, filling until about 3/4 of the way up. This will give you big muffins with high tops. Leave some batter for filling up more after you add the marshmallows. I had enough batter for 6 large muffins. (See my note about the muffin tin I use).
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Top with marshmallows and then pour additional batter on top and then add a square of dark chocolate. The batter will now be filled all the way to the top (see photos for reference).
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Place in the oven to bake for 18 to 20 minutes. Start checking at 16 minutes to see if they're done. Insert a toothpick in the center to test for doneness, if it comes out clean they're done.
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Let them cool in the muffin tin for about 20 minutes, then remove and place then on a cooling rack.
Recipe Notes
I use a large muffin tin for this recipe. As a result, I had enough batter for six large muffins. The muffins had a nice big top which I prefer, feel free to use what you have and adjust accordingly. The muffin tin I use and recommend is this one.
When checking the muffins, use a toothpick to check for doneness. Be sure to check the center and if it comes out clean, it’s done, don’t press the toothpick into the chocolate chunk. Check at the lower end of the timeframe and then bake for 1 to 2 minutes longer if they’re not done.
You can use mini marshmallows as I have, or large ones, but cut them in half and place them on one side of the muffins. I use four mini marshmallows per muffin.
I use hot cocoa mix and cocoa powder as the blend I use has other ingredients in it and I wanted a deeper chocolaty flavour. You can use just one or the other depending on your preference.
Like this recipe? Here are more baking recipes to try:
- Easy, Vegan Homemade Pecan Turtles
- Gluten Free Pumpkin Chocolate Chunk Cookies
- Hot chocolate cookies
- Banana Nut Muffins
- Peppermint Vegan Chocolate Truffles
I made these muffins and they are delicious. I did not miss the regular flour taste.
Thanks so much for letting me know you liked them 🙂