Chocolate Banana Oat Muffins

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

Course: Baked Goods

Cuisine: American

Keyword: banana oat muffins

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Servings: 12 muffins

Calories: 220kcal

Author: Liz DellaCroce

These lightly sweetened muffins are packed with whole grains, heart-healthy walnuts and ripe bananas.

Print Recipe

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

If you want to end up with a sweeter more cake-like muffin, increase sugar to 1/2 cup and use chocolate chips instead of walnuts.

Recipe adapted from Honest Fare.

Nutrition Information:

Calories: 220kcal | Carbohydrates: 27.1g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 11.2g | Saturated Fat: 1.6g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 9.6g | Trans Fat: 0g | Cholesterol: 15mg | Sodium: 302mg | Fiber: 4.1g | Sugar: 9.2g

DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE?If you tried this recipe I would love to to see it and have you share! Tag me @thelemonbowl using the hashtag #thelemonbowl!

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