For those health nuts out there who also have a huge sweet tooth, and for those who may not love vegetables but are willing to give them a try if they're masked by the decadent taste of chocolate, these recipes are for you.
About a third of Americans report eating less than one serving of fruits and vegetables daily. Fruits and vegetables are key components of diets, lowering risks of developing chronic diseases and contributing important nutrients to the body.
And then there's chocolate, a guilty pleasure that gets a bad rap for its association with dessert, sugar and weight gain. But really, chocolate in moderation has plenty of health benefits, including its antioxidant potential and its aid in lowering the risk of heart disease.
So with these two nutrient-providers as a pair, any recipe should be a match made in heaven.
1. Chocolate Pumpkin Bites
Chocolate and pumpkin pair well together, whether it's Thanksgiving season or all year round. Pumpkin is packed with antioxidants and potassium, as well as vitamins C and E, and these bites do the trick for a quick snack or dessert to satisfy any sweet tooth.
2. Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffins
Zucchini is a great vegetable to sneak into baked goods, like breads and muffins, because it makes the recipe moist without bringing in an overpowering taste. For those of you who may not want to know that vegetables are involved, once these muffins are made, hide the recipe, forget zucchini is in there at all, and just enjoy.
3. Black Bean Brownies
This recipe takes me back to 8th grade, when I started experimenting in the kitchen, failing 100 percent of the time. It took about 7 years, but I've successfully mastered the recipe and revived my reputation in the kitchen. These brownies are so good, they're worth all those years of resurgence.
4. Vegan Chocolate Beet Cake
This cake tastes just as moist and chocolatey as the next one, and not only is there the hidden vegetable ingredient, but the entire recipe is vegan and plant-based. For those of you who may be missing the sweet-tooth satisfaction factor, this cake recipe may be the answer to your vegan dessert dilemmas.
5. Dark Chocolate Avocado Truffles
I know what you're thinking here. This sounds sort of crazy. This round up got progressively weirder from start to finish. But take my word, these truffles are smooth and rich and the perfect bite sized dessert. There's no seeming trace of avocado, just chocolatey fingerprints and happiness left as evidence.