Healthy Black Sapote Muffins

Have you ever heard of a black sapote?

The black sapote, aka ‘chocolate pudding fruit,’ is just about my favorite thing. Related to the persimmon, this fruit has smooth, creamy pulp that tastes quite a bit like chocolate.

The black sapote looks like a giant, green persimmon, and isn’t ripe until very, very soft.

The edible flesh kind of looks like chocolate…

and tastes wonderful scooped right out of the peel, with whipped cream, of course.

I first encountered this fruit in Australia years ago, and I have been trying to find it in the US ever since. In January, I got lucky and found some for sale on Amazon. I ate the first several without modification (or with a bit of whipped cream). What could be better than a fruit that actually tastes like a decadent chocolate dessert? That is not something to mess with…

I froze the pulp from one sapote and stuck it in the freezer for later experimentation. I thought that I would use it to make ice cream or mousse, but yesterday afternoon I just had to have muffins.

I substituted black sapote pulp for banana in my favorite banana bread recipe and made a couple of other tweaks, and this recipe was born. These muffins are incredibly simple- just dump everything into a bowl and stir- and also incredibly moist and delicious (not to mention healthy)!

If you ever get a chance to try this amazing fruit, set some aside for a healthy, ‘chocolatey’ treat.

Ingredients

pulp from one black sapote

1/3  white sugar

1/2 cup milk of choice

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon vinegar

2 eggs

1 and 1/3 cups whole wheat flour (or combination of whole wheat and all-purpose flour)

1 tablespoon cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

dash of nutmeg

shredded unsweetened coconut for garnish

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray 24 mini muffin tins with nonstick spray (or use papers).

2. Dump all of the ingredients into a large bowl and stir with a whisk until just combined. Don’t over-mix, or the muffins will the tough.

3. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin tins and sprinkle the tops with shredded coconut. Bake for 15 minutes, or until a tester inserted at the center comes out clean.

Makes 24-30 mini muffins (depending how much you fill the cups)

A muffin pyramid seemed like a good idea…