The Healthy Deep-Dark Chocolate Plum Muffins covered with Fresh Plum Curd are Super-Delicious, Flavorful, Low-Calorie, but Super-Sweet and Super-Indulgent! It’s love from the First Bite!!!
…I hope that you’re enjoying this beautiful summer’s weekend! But… just in case you’d like to sweeten your days a little bit (more)…
Or if you might need something to inspire you to roll out of your cozy bed tomorrow morning; 🙂
…Or maybe something to look forward to for when you get back home from the day of running your errands… (And I know how exhausting it may be when it’s still super-hot outside… At least here, in CA…)
I got something that I can’t wait to share with you! Because these Healthy Chocolate Plum Muffins (or an indulgent Quick Bread) aren’t anything that I’ve ever made before! And it’s not just the muffins (that came out surprisingly good, too, for their low fat&sugar content!)
…It’s The Topping!
And I need to confess here: I always loved an idea of making a curd. Any curd – lemon, rhubarb, berry… It just always looks so delicious on top of all sorts of pies and desserts! But somehow I’ve never-ever made it before! Perhaps I was a bit concerned about my ability to make it right (you have to cook, but not to over-cook the eggs for a curd)… Or maybe I thought that it’d take too much of my effort… (Yes, lazy me!! 🙂 )
But… I had all those pretty plums that I bought for my kids. (They wanted them in the market – they changed their mind at home… That usually story…) And although I ate a few of them, I obviously knew that I couldn’t eat ALL of them before they were overripe… So… I decided to put them to use and make something really beautiful out of them…
But what?…
A PLUM CURD! Yes, that sounded so intriguing and delicious! And so, I’ve put all my will together and… made the curd! But you know what? It didn’t take as much effort as I thought it would!
And also, although I’ve adapted my recipe from a cookbook’s classic curd recipe, which called for just the yolks and for a decent amount of butter… And I decided to use the whole eggs to add more protein and less fat to my curd and no butter, my plum curd came out DELICIOUS! Really! When I first tasted it (and I wasn’t really sure what to expect), the way it tasted came as a great surprise! It was just so-so-so-so YUMMY!!!!
And the muffins… Because my curd has this gentle-pink hew to it… I decided to make my muffins EXTRA-DARK to create an interesting contrast to the overall look of them once they’re topped with the curd.
These muffins are also super-low fat as well as they’re low in sugar… But they came out truly decadent and so… RICH!
…I decided to make both, the Chocolate Plum Muffins and the Chocolate Plum Quick Bread (just because I felt like I wanted to try it in both small&handy AND in a sliced form as well!) And you know what? I loved how both kinds tasted, but I think that my kids preferred the small&handy muffins (it might also be because it was easier for them to make sure that The Brother doesn’t get a bigger slice!). And for me, I think that it was easier to deal with the slicing because this way I can adjust how much exactly I’d like to eat at a given moment (will it be three or four slices?) 🙂
…As always, if (and I hope it’s WHEN!) you decide to try these beauties out… I can’t wait to hear what you think of them! 🙂
- 4 medium-size plums
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup brown sugar*
- 1 1/2 cup chopped plums
- 1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour*
- 3/4 cup dutch-processed cocoa powder
- 1/4 cup oil
- 2/3 cup maple syrup
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1 pinch salt
- To make the curd peel the plums (if you'd like your curd to be extra-smooth, but if you don't mind it a little chunky - you can leave the skin on the plums) and cut them into chunks. Don't forget to take out the pits! 🙂
- Put the plums in a pot and bring them to a boil. Add the sugar, stir and leave the plums cooking over the low heat while you are beating the eggs.
- Whip the eggs until they are foamy.
- Start adding the hot plums to the eggs while still beating them, a spoonful at a time. Once you've added all the plums to the eggs, pour the plum and egg mixture back to the pot and slowly, over very low heat, bring it to simmer. And most importantly (you'll need a little patience here!) don't forget to be stirring or beating the mixture with a hand-mixer while it's been heated! Once the mixture comes to a simmer and thickens, pour it out of the pot into a glass container.
- Let your curd cool to a room temperature and then stick it in the fridge.
- To make the cupcakes heat up your oven to 350F. Take the pits out of the plums and put them in a blender. Add the eggs and the egg white, oil, syrup and vanilla extract. Blend until everything is smooth.
- Whisk the flour with cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and stir well until everything is incorporated.
- Pour the dough into the muffin tins or in a loaf pan and bake, about 20 minutes for the muffins and 60 minutes for the quick bread, making sure to check your muffins/quick bread for doneness toward the end of cooking time.
- Once the muffins/quick bread have cooled down, spread the plum curd over their tops (or you can also cut the bread into slices and smear the curd over each slice, - I tried it and it was so GOOD!!! Enjoy!!!
*For the Paleo Version substitute the whole wheat flour for the coconut flour (I haven't tried it with almond flour, but the coconut flour version didn't taste very different from the wheat flour version). 🙂
Please, comment!