Detox-friendly Food that Actually Tastes Good (Recipe)

When Joy McCarthy tells us to eat something (or not), we listen.

With her long shiny hair, big smile and glowing skin, the Toronto-based nutritionist makes clean living look darn appealing. Giving up things like dairy, sugar and gluten is no easy feat, but Joy’s new cookbook promises it’ll be pretty delish. Joyous Detox is filled with non-judgy advice and family-friendly recipes like spicy cacao chicken tortillas, chickpea blender soup (so easy to make!) and a chocolate chia mousse that’s so decadent you’ll totally forget it’s sugar-free. Best of all, we love how meals focus on flavour over depravation, and (most thankfully) they’re kid-approved. Wee ones will love the fantastically freezable pumpkin chocolate chip mini muffins—a recipe Joy has generously agreed to share with Vitadaily readers.

Get your joyous bake on (and get the cookbook at Indigo)! —Marianne Wisenthal

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Mini Muffins

Excerpted from Joyous Detox by Joy McCarthy. Copyright © 2016 Joy McCarthy. Photography by Chris Bodnar. Published by Penguin Canada, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited. Reproduced by arrangement with the Publisher. All rights reserved.

Vegetarian, gluten-free, dairy-free and refined sugar-free, the regular-size version of these muffins is a Joyous Health blog reader favourite. I’ve revamped them a bit by making them in mini muffin tins. Perfect as a dessert or as a quick snack! You can always leave out the chocolate chips, if you prefer. Makes 30 to 35 mini muffins.

Ingredients:

1⁄2 cup (125 mL) coconut flour
2 1⁄2 tsp (12 mL) pumpkin pie spice (see tip)
2 tsp (10 mL) baking powder
1⁄4 tsp (1 mL) fine sea salt
6 eggs
2⁄3 cup (150 mL) pumpkin purée
1⁄2 cup (125 mL) real maple syrup
1⁄2 cup (125 mL) coconut oil, melted
2 tsp (10 mL) pure vanilla extract
1⁄2 cup (125 mL) mini chocolate chips

Method:

Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Line a mini muffin pan with paper liners. In a large bowl, whisk together coconut flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder and sea salt. In a separate bowl, whisk eggs, then whisk in pumpkin purée, maple syrup, coconut oil and vanilla. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir just until combined. Do not overmix. Fold in chocolate chips. Spoon batter into mini muffin cups. Bake for 18 minutes or until a fork inserted into the middle of a muffin comes out clean. Turn out onto racks to cool.

Joyous Tip:

Coconut flour is a highly absorbent flour and expands a lot. This is why the amount of flour in this recipe is so small. If you want to make your own pumpkin pie spice, combine 1 1/2 tsp (7 mL) cinnamon, 1/2 tsp (2 mL) nutmeg, 1/4 tsp (1 mL) ground ginger and 1/4 tsp (1 mL) ground cloves.