Rich, festive, and completely dairy free and gluten free, this Peppermint Chocolate Muffins Recipe is the perfect holiday treat! Made with simple ingredients, these Christmas muffins have a cakey yet fluffy texture and are bursting with rich chocolate and refreshing peppermint in every bite. Baked in the oven in minutes, they’re perfect for quick breakfasts, after-school treats, edible gifts, desserts and more!
The Treat Santa Really Wants This Year
The Christmas season is in full swing! Roads are filled with people out shopping, the sweet sound of Christmas music fills your ears everywhere you go, and there just seems to be a general sense of cheer in the air. Am I right? Whether or not you celebrate, I think we can all agree that there’s just something so special about this time of year. While the festivities are fun, I know the one thing we all look forward to is the treats that come along with the season!
From peanut butter blossoms to raspberry thumbprint cookies, and more, there’s no shortage of desserts! I love cookies and treats as much as the next person. However, one of my all-time favorite Christmas recipes is these peppermint chocolate muffins! I know what you’re thinking…Christmas muffins?! Say whaaat? Yep! Perfect for breakfast, afternoon snacks, or even desserts, these chocolate muffins are as festive as can be and totally delicious, too.
Even better, they’re made with simple, gluten free ingredients and are allergy friendly to fit a wide variety of dietary needs! So, go ahead and embrace the spirit of giving and whip up a double batch – one for yourself and one for a friend.
Why You’ll Love This Peppermint Chocolate Muffin Recipe
Clearly, we’re huge fans of these chocolate muffins. Honestly, the reasons why are endless. So, to spare you, we’ll just name a few! They’re:
Key Gluten Free Ingredients You’ll Need
Made with two types of chocolate, these Christmas muffins are sweet, refreshing, and so delicious. Here’s everything you’ll need:
- Gluten Free Flour – We use a combination of almond and coconut flour to achieve a soft, tender texture and a decadent, moist taste.
- Cocoa Powder – Plain unsweetened dutch-process cocoa powder forms the base of this chocolate muffins recipe while adding a boost of antioxidants!
Note: Regular unsweetened cocoa powder is totally fine to use, but we prefer dutch process cocoa, because it has been treated with an alkalizing agent that eliminates some fo the natural bitterness found in cocoa for a sweeter flavor.
- Peppermint Extract – Just a little goes a long way to infuse a fresh peppermint flavor.
- Dark Chocolate Chips – We like to use dark chocolate chips for their added health benefits and richer taste, but any chocolate chips you like best could be used.
- Crushed Peppermint Candies – Technically optional, these are sprinkled on top for extra festive flavor and a bit of crunch.
- Baking Staples – Of course, you’ll also need a handful of baking staples including sugar, baking soda, salt, avocado or light olive oil, eggs, dairy free milk, and pure vanilla extract.
Flavor Variations, Swaps, & Add-Ins
If you aren’t a fan of peppermint, want to make these chocolate muffins all year long, or just prefer a little extra flavor, try some of our favorite variations, swaps, and add-ins below!
- Replace the granulated sugar with a sugar substitute like monk fruit or Swerve.
- Use cacao powder for an extra-rich chocolate flavor and extra polyphenols and antioxidants. Or, use hot cocoa powder for a festive swap!
- Add a little crunch with chopped nuts such as walnuts or pecans.
- Mix and match the chocolate with semi-sweet chocolate, white chocolate, or even chocolate candies.
- Make this chocolate muffins recipe completely dairy free with vegan chocolate chunks.
- Remove the peppermint extract for plain chocolate muffins you can enjoy all year long.
How to Make the Best Peppermint Chocolate Muffins
This chocolate muffin recipe comes together super quickly when you follow the instructions below. You’ll just need a muffin tin, two bowls, and a cookie scoop!
- Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl, stirring until well combined.
- In a second, medium bowl, whisk the wet ingredients until smooth.
- Working in batches, add the wet mixture to the dry, combining to form a smooth batter. Fold in the chocolate chips.
- Fill the muffin cups ¾ of the way full, and sprinkle chocolate chips and crushed peppermint on top.
- Bake the chocolate muffins until a toothpick can be inserted into the center and comes out clean.
Baking Tips
Don’t Overmix. Combine the ingredients just until they are smooth. Continuing to mix will result in dense, tough chocolate muffins.
Use Room Temperature Ingredients. This will allow for easier mixing and will help keep your muffins tender.
Let the Muffins Cool. We know it’s super hard to wait but trust us. It’s worth it! Allowing the muffins to cool completely on a wire rack ensures they don’t crumble and fall apart.
Avoid Using an Electric Mixer. This will make it difficult not to overmix your muffins. A bowl and spatula are all you need!
Use Muffin Liners. Foil or paper liners will help prevent the muffins from sticking to the tin.
Adjust the Baking Time. Every oven cooks differently. So, be sure to keep an eye on your muffins, and adjust the baking time as needed.
Storage Options
These chocolate muffins are great to make and enjoy all week or give away as gifts! Once baked and fully cooled, they can be transferred to an airtight container and kept at room temperature for up to 4 days. Or, freeze them for up to 3 months! When you’re ready to eat, transfer them from the freezer to the fridge, and let your muffins thaw overnight.
Common Questions About
Answer goAlthough they’re both baked in the oven and made with similar ingredients, chocolate cake and chocolate muffins are not the same. The primary difference is in their texture. For instance, cakes are fluffy and soft whereas muffins have a denser, bread-like texture. In addition, cakes are made with much more sugar and are significantly sweeter than muffins. es here…
When it comes to creating the perfect chocolate muffins, their texture plays a huge role. To ensure they turn out moist, be sure to follow the recipe card as stated, and follow these tips!
It’s difficult to use vegan egg substitutes to replace 3 whole eggs. So, we don’t recommend it! Instead, we suggest trying out some of our other vegan muffin recipes like these dark chocolate vegan muffins or our healthy carrot cake muffins instead.
Sure! Just fill the pan ¾ of the way full, and adjust the baking time as needed. Mini muffins are likely to bake much faster than their regular-sized counterparts.
Due to the unique texture and consistency of almond and coconut flour, we do not recommend it.
More Tasty Gluten Free Muffin Recipes
Love these gluten free muffins? Take a look at more of our favorites below!
Peppermint Chocolate Muffins (Gluten Free)
- Total Time: 22 minute
- Yield: 12–13 1x
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
Gluten free peppermint chocolate muffins are full of rich chocolate and refreshing peppermint for an irresistibly delicious festive treat!
Ingredients
- 2 cups (200 g) fine blanched almond flour
- ¼ cup (30 g) coconut flour
- ½ cup raw sugar or sugar substitute
- ¼ cup (40-45 g) dutch cocoa powder*
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 4 Tablespoons avocado oil or light olive oil
- 3 eggs, room temperature
- ⅔ cup non-dairy milk
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ¼ – ⅓ teaspoon peppermint extract
- ½ cup dark chocolate chips, more for topping
- Optional Topping: crushed peppermint candies
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F and line a muffin pan with liners or generously spray with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a large bowl, sift together the almond flour, coconut flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.
- In a medium-sized bowl whisk together the oil, eggs, milk, vanilla extract and peppermint extract.
- Working in batches, add the wet mixture to the dry ingredients and combine until smooth. Stir in the chocolate chips until incorporated.
- Using a cookie dough scoop, pour batter into prepared muffin tin, filling ¾ full. If desired, top with additional chocolate chips and crushed peppermint candies.
- Bake for 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Top each muffin with crushed peppermint candies, if desired.
- Once muffins are cooled, store in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
Notes
Substitutes – Use dairy free chocolate chips, if needed. Hot cocoa powder can be substituted for the sugar and cocoa powder – reduce the sugar to ⅓ cup and use ½ cup (86 g) hot cocoa powder (about 3 packets) for the cocoa powder.
Storage Tip – Once cooled, store muffins in a Ziploc bag in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 20-22
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: american
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 243
- Sugar: 13.2 g
- Sodium: 147.7 mg
- Fat: 12 g
- Saturated Fat: 3 g
- Carbohydrates: 18.6 g
- Fiber: 2.1 g
- Protein: 5.1 g
- Cholesterol: 42.9 mg
Keywords: hot cocoa muffins, dark chocolate peppermint, gluten free breakfast, dairy free holiday recipe, healthy Christmas recipe
Do you have questions, feedback, or tips about this recipe? Leave a comment below with any questions or feedback you’d like to share!
These LOOK delicious and I can’t wait to try them. Am I right that I’m looking for almond meal, versus almond flour? Thanks! Beautiful photos.
★★★★★
Hi Larissa,
Actually, when this recipe was first created, almond meal was more popular and easier to find than almond flour. Truly, either will work for this recipe. I hope you enjoy the muffins!
Sorry your Thanksgiving was not feeling perfect 🙁 I love peppermint and heard it was good for nausea but didn’t know about headaches. Good information to know and even better would be eating one of these muffins.
peppermint sure does wonders. Love it in baking! Thanks for the kind words stephanie.
What stunning muffins! Peppermint is my go to holiday flavor. Yum 🙂
yay, me too! glad you like MEgan!
YUM! these look fantastic, friend! I am so sorry you weren’t feeling well! I hope you are much better and are easing into the holidays…they get so hectic and that’s one thing I don’t love about the holidays. call me scrooge 😉 xoxo
I know! Ugh. We need a pause button
I did an avocado mint smoothie one time and it was delish! I’m sure I’d love this recipe too 🙂 so festive!
Ohhh that’s a good combo!
Yum! The only thing I don’t have is peppermint oil… I need to get on that! I tried making pancakes the other day with almond meal and coconut flour and they did not turn out, but I’m thinking if I follow this recipe, it will be a success! I’m determined to learn how to cook with alternative flours 🙂
You can totally is peppermint Extract too!
I have this oil in my kitchen, but haven’t used it yet. Now I know what I have it! 🙂
Perfect!! Try it
I hope you are feeling better. I am a big fan of peppermint. Your muffins look perfect. I really like the information you shared about peppermint. I didn’t know that it could help with nasal congestion.
I am not a peppermint fan but these are so darn CUTE & festive!! Great for other peeps! Course mine would not look like this! 🙂 I did not know this about peppermint!!!!
I bet you could make a great cookie out of this! Hehe
I’m so sorry that you were sick over Thanksgiving! I feel like that may be the worst holiday to have nausea with all that food around!
I’ve heard so many good things about essential oils. I really need to give them a try. Especially with this recipe! chocolate and peppermint is my favorite combination!
haha i know. I definitely avoided the food till I was able to eat.
Glad you are on the mend! I love adding peppermint to everything especially this time of year. And peppermint tea is the only kind I like. And these muffins look ah-maz-ing!
you just reminded me, i need more peppermint tea!
I hope you feel better soon! I love peppermint and chocolate together and these muffins look divine!
Thx friend
These look so gorgeous and festive! I wish I had such talent. But alas, my food pics are always un-staged and taken in a hurry with my iphone. Just one of many reasons why I shall never be a food blogger….
And I feel like I say this on all your posts – but you holiday treat recipes are making my newly GF heart so VERY HAPPY!!
Oh friend, you are so talented. That heart of yours is amazing
Looooove this idea! I used to get a lot of headaches and sucking on peppermint was one of the only things that helped. That and snorting cayenne…
Ooooh yes. So ready for peppermint everything! I have a ton of EO’s but I’ve never cooked with them.. looking forward to trying this
Man oh man, these might have to be on my to-do list to take with us this weekend!
Yes!! Do it
Not cool you were feeling so poorly over thanksgiving! I hope you feel better now and at least got some good rest in watching the films 🙂
I love essential oils but am yet to try cooking with them. This needs to change, especially with this delicious looking festive recipe 🙂
Thanks so much friend. ❤️??
I LOVE peppermint. I use it for everything and can’t live without my Doterra peppermint oil. I use it on my temples for headaches, use it for nausea and I love it in my mochas or for baking! You nailed it!
oh mochas! great idea!
Mochas!! Yes, so need to try that
I actually have a peppermint infused oil I rub on my temples when I have stress headaches. It helps, and I’m sure it would work equally as well in these muffins. Plus chocolate…holy YUM.
I hope you’re feeling all better now. Sometimes the body forces us to relax when we don’t listen huh?! I figure I’ll be getting my lesson any day now. 🙂
yes, lesson ALWAYS learned.. on repeat. haha. How are you?
So sorry you weren’t feeling well, friend :(. We go through about a bottle of peppermint EO a month in this house! Ian and I use it for headaches (especially since I haven’t been able to take ibuprofen and just had a sinus infection ?), and it was great for first trimester nausea. We also use it for fevers (along the spine), and I rub it on Norah’s throat and tummy for reflux. PLUS, I just added it to some homemade hot chocolate! Which will go great with this recipe ?
oh i bet you made homemade hot chocolate, yes? need! p.s. let me know when you come to austin next. I have healthy bites for you!
First of all, let’s just talk about how insanely gorgeous these photos are. My goodness freaking gracious. Now second…. when are you coming to the east so I can have one of these? 😀 I plan on getting my peppermint on this weekend and can’t wait!
Haha when are you coming to the south?
This is totally kookie, but I LOVE everything peppermint when it comes to sweets, but as far as the oil goes, we don’t get along…HAHA! I am always using lavender and eucalyptus…XOXO
These are my kind of muffin! I cannot WAIT to give them a try!
totally thought of you!
I love peppermint oil! I make a dark chocolate peppermint green smoothie that is to die for! What a perfect muffin flavor – I would love this with a big hot chocolate and a relaxing book! Pinning!
OMG i must try your smoothie next! is it on your blog?
Yes!!! Now I want hot chocolate
So you’re saying I can use these medicinally the next time I’m feeling a little holiday bloat, eh? I hear ya 😉 In all seriousness, though… swooning big time over here. Mint chocolate s probably my favourite holiday flavour, and these look absolutely perfect!
bring your fudge bars and let’s get our chocolate fix on. k?
Mine too! Although it wasn’t at first
These make me so happy for the holidays. I’m just going to stare at them for awhile 🙂
maybe if you stare long enough they will magically appear!
Oh yum! Adding these to my baking list! (I need to be careful because peppermint can effect milk supply but I need these!) 😉 I use peppermint oil for sore muscles!
oh i never knew that. Thanks for letting me know. I need to share with my mama friends
i drink some sort of minty tea everyday but in the form of muffins, please send some my way. love you forever 😛
Well then i’m on my way!!
Peppermint is my lifesavor! (Always have my peppermint tea before bed!) And it does help the tummy SO much!
yes, i knew you’d relate. 😉
This muffins look AMAZING. I am such a fan of chocolate and peppermint. Back when dairy and I were friends, I’d enjoy a hot chocolate with peppermint ice cream every year after Thanksgiving lunch, while we watched White Christmas! I do love peppermint oil for headaches too!
oh man, i remember those days! haha peppermint ice cream ALL DAY!
UGH – So sorry you weren’t feeling well, Lindsay! I had no idea that peppermint helped nausea – I have a friend who suffers from sever migraines and I am sending her your post – because I have a feeling she (just like me) wouldn’t turn down peppermint especially when it comes in these mouthwatering chocolate muffins!
let me know if she tries peppermint! p.s I don’t get your posts in my email box anymore. So strange! missing them
Oh no! So sorry that you’re not feeling well! I hope that you’re feeling better now that the holiday madness is over 🙂 I have a bottle of peppermint essential oil on my desk that I’ve been staring at for a while because I haven’t quite figured out what to do with it. And now I know. These look amazing!
Gahhh I love peppermint, and peppermint in muffins for breakfast would go perfectlyyyyy with my peppermint flavored coffee 😀 Overkill? Never. Feel better lady!
I am honestly not a peppermint fan but these look divine and perfect for a holiday party! Pinned for later!
confession… i wasn’t either until i started using more the oils. 🙂
Totally need to try the oil in my baking! That is such a good idea. These are the most festive and deliciously looking muffins on the planet… I LOVE IT! GET WELL SOON! 🙂
yes, i bet caleb would benefit for the oil too. Ya know? 😉
peppermint and gingerbread are my two favorite Christmas flavors! That’s all I want in all my food: oatmeal, coffee, pancakes, you name it! My favorite thing ever is making a peppermint mocha latte, so delicious! I need tot try these delicious muffins because, CHOCOLATE and PEPPERMINT!
mmm I need gingerbread pancakes now that you say that. haha
I’m so sorry that you didn’t feel well! I got a really bad headache on Friday–luckily not on Thanksgiving proper. I always used to get sick for Tgiving, though–I would get sinus infections every year!
Also, award for most festive and decadent looking muffins ever? I think so!
ugh, sinus infections. blah! but at least you got the turkey first. cause i know that’s your fav!!! haha
So sorry you weren’t feeling well! I got sick for Thanksgiving too – fever and monster respiratory infection/flu which is so persistent and I’m finally heading to the doc today. Nausea and a migraine is the worst though. I’m glad you had your healing drink! These muffins look absolutely incredible – making me feel happy just seeing the pictures 🙂
man, something must be in the blogger air! haha
I knew I loved peppermint for a reason! Hope you feel better soon! Headaches are the worst. 🙁