These lightly sweetened muffins are packed with whole grains, heart-healthy walnuts, rich cocoa powder and ripe bananas.
My two year old loves drinking smoothies for breakfast so inevitably we end up with a few extra ripe bananas each week. Normally I freeze them for future smoothies but there is something about a snowy weekend that gets me in the baking mood. In lieu of making my favorite chocolate chip cookies, I decided to be a good girl and create a healthy breakfast muffin packed with bananas, oats and a little chocolate for good measure.
This recipe is adapted from Honest Fare to make them slightly less sweet with an extra dose of Omega-3’s from flax seed meal and walnuts. Because they are made with less sugar, they won’t cause that addictive “OH-MY-GOD-I-NEED-1000-MORE” response. If you’ve ever had more than one Girl Scout cookie in a sitting, you know what I’m talking about.. ;-)
These muffins are perfect for on-the-go snacking or a healthy breakfast to eat during your commute or in the school drop off line. Oh and PS: they taste incredible with a smear of creamy natural peanut butter on top. You can thank me later.
No fork required.
Banana Oat Chocolate Muffins
Ingredients:
- 1 1/4 cups oats
- 1/2 cup plain yogurt low fat
- 1/2 cup skim milk
- 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1/4 cup flax seed meal
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 2 ripe bananas mashed
- 1/3 cup oil
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or chocolate chips
Instructions:
- Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees and line a muffin tin with 12 baking cups.
- In a large bowl, mix together oats, yogurt and milk. Set aside to soak for 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, whisk together remaining dry ingredients in a small bowl: whole wheat pastry flour through ground cloves.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together mashed bananas with oil and egg. Add to the soaking oat mixture and stir to combine.
- Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Stir in walnuts or chocolate chips.
- Using an ice cream scoop or 1/4 cup measuring cup, pour batter evenly into 12 lined muffin tins. Bake until toothpick comes out clean, about 18-20 minutes.
- Let cool in pan 2 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes:
Nutrition Facts:
C. Marie
Baked some, and all I can say is . . . wow! So good—and, yes, eating with peanut butter is definitely the way to go!
Liz DellaCroce
Oh I’m so glad you enjoyed it!!!!
Sara Kuijten
trying to cook healthier food for my family and came across your website- loving all the healthy recipes! Is wholewheat pastry flour the same as normal wholewheat flour? (I’m from the UK and haven’t heard of this) thanks!
Liz DellaCroce
Oh thank you I’m glad you like it! No it’s not the same – it is better for baking and has a lighter end result. If you can’t find, I suggest using half regular white flour and half regular whole wheat flour. :)