Cacao & orange vegan muffins recipe with buckwheat

This cacao and orange muffins recipe is a perfect vegan, healthy winter treat. The muffins are made with buckwheat and no refined sugar, which is perfect if you want to stay healthy during the winter holidays.

I want to emphasize the winter period here, mainly Christmas and New Year  because that time is when home smells like oranges and cacao (I associate cacao with chocolate, sorry about that :D).

Things I love about buckwheat cacao & orange muffins recipe

• It’s healthy. I can eat as many muffins as I wish with no guilt. It feels so good.
• No refined sugar. We’ll use bananas and a bit of maple syrup for sweetness. The muffins aren’t sweet by themselves, so you may want to add some more sweetness to them if you wish.
• No gluten. Sometimes I do consume gluten, but I feel better if I don’t (guilt-free muffins, as I said!)
• No dairy & eggs. Yup, the recipe is vegan.
• Easy to make. Without tons of dirty dishes and a messy kitchen.
• Delicious. No kidding, I love the taste of buckwheat in desserts. The taste is even better than the flour.
• Freezer-friendly. You can freeze the muffins and then warm them up in the oven for a couple of minutes.
• Perfect as a snack, dessert, breakfast, or for a fest. All-purpose muffins!

What’s more?

I love oranges.

And cacao.

Especially the combination of the two of them.

In a “muffin shape”.

More precisely during winter.

What is buckwheat?

This is probably the first question that you asked yourself when clicking this blog post.

So, buckwheat is a grain that is actually very healthy.

It has a lot of fiber, minerals and also it is gluten-free (ironically, because the name suggests that it contains wheat, which is not true).

The grain is commonly used by raw vegans.

They soak the buckwheat overnight and add it in smoothies, raw desserts and sprinkle on salads.

But it is also used by people who care about their health.

There are a lot of recipes with buckwheat as the main ingredient in desserts.

It is a perfect substitute for all-purpose flour and, in my opinion, buckwheat tastes better in desserts than oat flour.

I just love it!

If you are curious to find out more about buckwheat: what is it, types of buckwheat, how to soak it, how to sprout it, and recipe ideas with buckwheat, check out this article. 

Can I freeze buckwheat muffins?

Yes, you can freeze them for up to 3 months.

When you want to serve them, just preheat the oven at 175 C or 350 F and warm them up for 5-7 minutes.

Also, you could warm them up in the microwave if you feel that it is easier for you.

For how long can I store buckwheat muffins?

I would say that you can store the muffins in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 4 days.

Or up to 2 days at room temperature.

Buckwheat muffins recipe

Prep time

15 min

Baking time

20 min

Total time

35 min

8-9 muffins

Ingredients for buckwheat muffins recipe

• soaked buckwheat
• ripe bananas
• maple syrup
• salt
• cacao powder
• fully fat coconut milk (or vegetable oil)
• lemon juice or vinegar
• baking soda
• Orange zest
• Cubes of orange

Instructions

1. Soak the buckwheat overnight
2. In a bowl (or directly in a blender), add the soaked buckwheat, bananas, maple syrup, salt, cacao powder, dates and coconut milk.
3. Mix everything and then (if you used a bowl), pour the mixture into a food processor and blend on high for 3-5 minutes, until the mixture is smooth.
4. Place it back into the bowl and add the lemon juice and baking soda. It will start forming bubbles. Stir quickly so the bubbles dissolve into the mixture (make sure to be quick here, start stirring right after you add the soda).
5. Add the lemon zest and stir again.
6. Into a muffin form (I use silicone muffin form), start forming layers out of the dough and oranges. First, pour at the bottom of the muffin form the mixture (1/3 part of the muffin form). Then, add the orange cubes (squeeze the extra juice from the oranges so the muffins won’t be too moist).
7. Repeat the procedure: add one more layer of mixture, then orange cubes.
8. Lastly, cover the cubes with the mixture.
9. Place the muffins in a preheated oven. For the first 10 minutes, I use the ventilation mode of my oven, and then I switch to heat from up and down.
10. Let them cool and serve with some tea or coffee, but they are also very delicious by themselves. 

Tips on making buckwheat muffins recipe

1. The muffins are sweet enough for me, but if you wish to make them sweeter, you can add an extra 3-5 tbsp of maple syrup. Don’t worry, the mixture is not going to become too liquid. 
2. My muffin form has place for 6 muffins. But the dough is for 8-9 muffins. So, just for you to know, I made pancakes with the rest of the dough. Very delicious.
3. If you are a chocolate lover, add some chocolate chunks or chips on top of the muffins before placing them in the oven.
4. Squeeze extra juice from the orange before adding it to the muffins. Otherwise, the dough will not bake as uniform.

Also, find out how to make:

• 3 ingredients energy balls
• apple pie
• snickers candies
• date syrup
• carrot bread
• stuffed baked apples

Calories per muffin: 180 cal

Fiber: 20% of your daily dose

Iron: 5% of your daily dose

Calcium: 2% of your daily dose

Vitamin A: 2% of your daily dose

Vitamin C: 15% of your daily dose

Folate: 6% of your daily dose

Potassium: 10% of your daily dose

*please note that these numbers are estimated 

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