These tasty keto mini muffins are easy to make, kid-friendly, and totally nut-free! A perfect after school snack or a treat when you’re on the go. Freezable for keto meal planning too.
Mini muffins make me happy. Why? Because they’re mini, plain and simple. They’re cute and delicious. What’s not to love about keto mini muffins like these? And I have more mini muffin recipes too! Try my Chocolate Avocado Muffin recipe, or my mini pizza muffins.
Easy to make, fun to eat, and my kids are always delighted to see them at the breakfast table. It’s a win win of a recipe all around.
Better yet, these mocha mini muffins are completely nut free, and could even be dairy-free if you were so inclined. So this is a great one for the allergy crowd, and I know the parents of kids with nut allergies or who send their kids to nut-free schools are going to love me!
Nut-Free Keto Flours
With a big keto baking book due out in the late fall, I decided I had to experiment with a number of keto flours. That was the inspiration for this mini muffin recipe.
I am often asked what keto flours can replace almond flour for my recipes. Coconut flour isn’t a good replacement, since it cannot be subbed in one for one. You have to change so much more in the recipe, including the eggs, liquids, and fat content.
I’ve found that sunflower seed flour is a good one for one replacement, for the most part. You can buy it or you can make your own sunflower seed flour using a coffee grinder. The problem with this is that sunflower seeds react with baking powder and baking soda and can turn a little greenish, if you don’t offset this reaction with some acid like vinegar or lemon juice.
Sunflower seed flour is also a little higher carb than almond flour, so it’s a bit of a trade off.
This time, however, I decided to experiment with pumpkin seed flour. Yes, you heard me right, pumpkin seed flour. Trust me, people, if there is a food that can be finely ground enough, someone is making flour out of it!
I found that the pumpkin seed flour can replace the almond flour almost cup for cup. I did find I needed just a little more pumpkin seed flour than I would normally use almond flour. Just a few added tablespoons for cup seemed to do it.
Do keep in mind that it has a greenish tinge right from the start. For chocolate recipes, this isn’t an issue because the cocoa powder covers up the greenish color.
How to make Keto Mini Muffins
Well first things first, you need a mini muffin pan! My old one was on its last legs so I recently purchased a new mini muffin pan from USA Pan. Whenever one of my old pans dies and I need a new one, I go with USA Pan. Yes, they are pricier but they are worth it. They are non-stick, non-toxic, and if you care for them properly, they will last and last. Which means you save money in the long run.
But even with a good non-stick pan, I like to line it with silicone liners most of the time. It makes clean up a snap. You can also use parchment liners but don’t use paper. Keto muffins and batters tend to stick more than wheat-based treats, so you lose half your muffin to the paper.
I love whipping up keto muffin batter in my blender because it makes it more cohesive and also fluffier. You can just whisk this by hand but if you have a good blender or food processor, I highly recommend.
And the mocha/coffee flavor is not a necessity. Feel free to replace it with just water. I’m a coffee fiend and mocha is the best, but I know not everyone agrees.
You can use regular Lily’s chocolate chips here. But if you haven’t seen the new mini chips from Explorado Market, definitely check them out. Totally dairy-free and super useful for keto recipes. I’m kind of obsessed with them and tossing them into every recipe I can think of!
Want to make dairy-free mini muffins? Sub any dairy-free oil here, like avocado or melted coconut oil.
And if you don’t need to be nut-free and just want to use almond flour, I’ve provided those instructions as well.
Enjoy the little things in life. Like keto mocha chip mini muffins!
More Mini Keto Recipes You Might Like
Mini No Bake Nutella Cheesecake
Mini Chocolate Peanut Butter Dirt Cake
Keto Mocha Mini Muffins
Ingredients
- 3 large eggs
- ⅓ cup strong coffee
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 ¼ cups pumpkin seed flour (can sub 2 to 2 ¼ cups almond flour)
- ½ cup Swerve Sweetener
- ¼ cup cocoa powder
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup melted butter
- ⅓ cup sugar-free chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325F and line a mini muffin pan with silicone or parchment liners.
- In a blender or food process, combine the eggs, coffee, and vanilla extract. Blend a few seconds to combine.
- Add the pumpkin seed flour, sweetener, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Blend on high until well combined. Add the melted butter and blend again until smooth.
- If your batter is overly thick, add a little more liquid (coffee or water) 1 tablespoon at a time. The batter should be scoopable but not pourable.
- Stir in most of the chocolate chips by hand, reserving a few for the tops of the muffins. Fill the mini muffin cups almost to the top. You will get about 30 mini muffins so you may need to work in batches.
- Add a few of the reserved chips to the top of each muffin. Bake 15 to 20 minutes, until the tops are set and firm to the touch. Remove and let cool in the pan.
Erin M says
I saved this recipe on Pinterest with an image that called them avocado muffins but I don’t see avocado in the ingredients
Carolyn says
I have removed that recipe from my website. I am cleaning up this website and getting rid of older recipes that were mediocre. 🙂
Susan says
I did not realize that this was a recipe for mini muffins – I just made a dozen regular ones, and they came out great. My tastebuds still aren’t working great (more than 6 months post-COVID19), but I could tell that these have great flavor. I used Lily’s chocolate chips in place of the chopped chocolate, since baking these was a spur of the moment choice, and I used what I had. Recipe is a definite keeper. You have turned me into a muffin baker, since all your recipes I’ve tried have been so easy and so tasty. Thank you for that.
Carolyn says
I am sorry your taste hasn’t come back fully!
Allison says
These taste great and even my non-Keto relatives liked them.
Georgia says
So good! Taste like brownie bites
annie beckett says
Delish five bite wonders! I used almond flour and allulose. Love your recipes; they do what they’re supposed to!
faye rivkin says
these sound yummy but i’m not a huge fan of swerve. think i could use maple syrup? any thoughts on how much? thanks!
Carolyn says
yes but maple syrup is a liquid so you may need more flour to offset that. I don’t use maple syrup so I really can’t advise.