Easy Chocolate Banana Muffins

Easy food is good food.

That's why I try to make the bulk of the recipes of this site pretty simple.

But let me tell you, when you want some dessert, and you want it fast, sometimes even the easy recipes on this blog take too long to prepare.  But fear not, my fellow dessert lovers, for I have solved the problem.  This recipe for Chocolate Banana Muffins has six ingredients, comes together in less than 10 minutes, uses only one bowl, and tastes delicious to boot.

Total success!

Next time you're in need of a quick chocolate fix, look no further than these delicious muffins!

Easy Chocolate Banana Muffins

• 2 banana
• 2 cups flour
• 1/4 cup special dark cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F.  Grease 12 cups in a cupcake pan, or line a muffins pan with cupcake liners.  In a large bowl, mash bananas until smooth.  Add flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, honey, and milk and mix until a smooth batter forms.  If you have trouble mixing it together, add some more milk by the tbsp. Mix in chocolate chips.  Scoop batter into prepared pan or liners until about 3/4 full.  Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, until firm.  Recipe makes 12 cupcakes.

Enjoy y'all!

Blueberry Muffins with a Hint of Ginger and Lemon {Monk Fruit in the Raw}

{I received free samples from Cumberland Packing Corp., maker of Monk Fruit In The Raw. By posting this recipe I am entering a recipe contest sponsored by Cumberland Packing Corp. and am eligible to win prizes associated with the contest. I was not compensated for my time.}

Stories from blueberry muffin baking:

1. Lemons have decided to hate me.  I don't really understand, honestly, we've always had such a great relationship, but the day of these muffins?  Yeah, not so much.  I got squirted in the eye with juice at least 4 times while I was zesting them.  Like, there wasn't even any juice exposed and it still managed to somehow hit me in the eye.  I repeat, they hate me.

2. For some reason, the folks down at Trader Joe's thought it would be a good idea to make curry powder and cinnamon look really similar, so much that I almost put freaking curry powder in these muffins!  The spices in our house are pretty jumbled up and so as I dug through the chaotic plastic bin that is our spice rack I spotted something that looked like cinnamon and grabbed it.  Upon (somewhat) closer inspection I saw that the label had some word that started with a 'C' on it, further confirming that this bottle held cinnamon.  Thank god I caught a whiff of it's very not cinnamon-y smell or these muffins would have been a lot worse and also quite spicy.

3. I hereby proclaim myself a blueberry fanatic.  That's right, it's official now.  After adding 1 1/3 cups of blueberries to this batter (which, admittedly, was probably too much), I came to the realization that I put more blueberries on my oatmeal in the mornings.  Yes, more.  No wonder my family goes through frozen fruit so fast.  I eat almost 2 cups per meal.

4. MONK FRUIT IN THE RAW.  I like this stuff, I really do.  It gives me pleasure to use only a couple tablespoons of "real" sugar per recipe and than still have the result taste perfectly sweet.  I don't know if you realize this, but that's really cool.  Low calorie is cool too because it means I can eat more (!!). Also, when you pour the Mink Fruit in the Raw it looks like little tiny snowflakes (actually, more like fake snow, but whatever) and that makes me happy.

5. Blueberry muffins are good, but blueberry muffins with a hint of lemon and ginger are really really really good.  Really.  (P.S. they smell perfect while they cook.  Don't blame me if you decide to camp out in front of your oven while they're baking)

Blueberry Muffins with a Hint of Lemon and Ginger

• 2 cups spelt flour
• 1/3 cup Monk Fruit in the Raw
• 3 tbsp turbinado sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp powedered ginger
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup milk
• 3 tbsp vegetable or coconut oil
• 3 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp vinegar
• 1 tbsp lemon zest
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 - 11/3 cup frozen blueberries (I used 1 1/3 and it was probably too much, but I love blueberries so I didn't mind.  Use whatever you see fit)

Preheat oven to 350F.  Grease a muffin pan.  In a large bowl, mixtogether all dry ingredients until completely incorporated.  In another bowl, whisk together milk, oil, lemon juice, vinegar, lemon zest and vanilla.  Let sit a couple minutes to let the vinegar mix into the milk.  After a couple minutes, add wet ingredient to dry and mix just until incorporated. Don't overmix.  Gently add in blueberries.  Scoop about 1/4 cup batter into each muffin hole.  Bake in preheated oven for 16-18 minutes, until firm.  Let cool before remiving from pan and storing in an airtight container.  Makes 12 large muffins.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

I'm going to be completely honest.  I've got no clue what to write about this post.  At this point I've probably written and then erased four different beginnings.  Sorry?  Though delicious, I've got no sentimental connection to these muffins, and nothing weird happened while baking them.  In fact, as my recipes go these guys are pretty darn normal.  Maybe that's it.  I've got no clue what to write when I actually make something that's not weird.

Forgive me if this is somewhat boring, but I've got to find some way to use up the space between pictures.

Soooo... muffins!  Muffins with sweet banana and melty chocolate chips.  Muffins that, providing you're a frozen banana hoarder like myself, you probably have every ingredient for in your kitchen already.  Muffins that no one will ever be able to tell are non fat, whole wheat, and healthy.  That's the best type of muffins.

Make them, eat them, and then freeze any leftovers for later snacking (although i doubt they'll be any because these muffins are delicious).  It really is that simple folks.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

• 1 3/4 cup spelt flour
• 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup mashed banana (3 large bananas)
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/3 cup greek yogurt
• 1/3 egg whites (2 egg whites)
• 2 tbsp maple syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2/3 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F.  Grease 2 muffins tins (you'll need all of one and one or two cups on the other).  Mix together flours, baking soda,  and salt in a large bowl.  In another bowl, mix together all remaining ingredients except chocolate chips.  Add wet ingredients to dry and mix until a smooth batter forms.  Mix in chocolate chips.  Scoop about 1/4 cup batter into prepared muffins tins.  You should get 12-14 muffins.  Bake in preheated oven for 16-18 muffins, until muffins are firm and a toothpick comes out clean (except for melted chocolate).  Store muffins in an airtight container for 3 days before freezing the leftovers.

Revisited Recipe of the Day:

Apple Currant Bran Muffins

Zucchini Raisin Muffins

You know what's weird?  I'm crazy about putting weird stuff in my desserts, but when it comes to vegetables that are commonly used in sweets (zucchini, carrots, etc), the recipes on this blog are seriously lacking.

I'm 90% sure the absence of carrot cake and/or zucchini bread has to do with my aversion to grating vegetables.  It's just so annoying.  If I had that handy-dandy shredding blade for a food processor then everything would be super easy, but I lost that thing so now I'm stuck doing everything by hand.

It really throws a damper in dessert baking.

But anyway, with zucchini in abundance this time of year, I decided to suck it up and make some zucchini muffins.  And... they were really yummy!

It's been a while since I posted a recipe that's specifically meant for breakfast (as supposed to a dessert that's healthy enough for breakfast, I mean), so I'm glad to present you with some muffins that will definitely spice up your mornings.

Things you should know about these muffins:

• They're hard-core muffins.  They're not petite little muffins that won't keep you full.  Nope, these guys are whole wheat, dense, and packed with zucchini and raisins.
• This isn't one of those recipe where you can't believe it's healthy.  After all, you've got whole wheat flour staring you in the face.  Instead, this recipe is one that makes you rethink how delicious healthy can taste.  Like "Oh my god, even though these are whole wheat and have a vegetable in them, they taste super duper good!"
• Just 24 hours after making these muffins, only 4 were left.  They. Were. Devoured!
• Minimal vegetable grating is required.  Yay!!

Basically, this is an awesome use for zucchini and you should make these muffins this instant.

Zucchini Raisin Muffins

• 1 cup spelt flour
• 1/2 whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 cups shredded zucchini, drained of excess liquid
• 4 egg whites (12 tbsp if using egg whites from a carton)
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 2 tbsp applesauce
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/3 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 350F.  Grease a muffin tin.  Mix together dry ingredients in a large bowl.  In another bowl, combine zucchini, egg whites, maple syrup, applesauce, and vanilla.  Add wet ingredients to dry and mix until a thick batter forms.  Do not overmix.  Gently mix in raisins until incorporated.  Distribute batter between grased muffin tins untiul all batter has been used.  Bake in preheated oven for 10-15 minutes, until muffins have browned and a toothpick comes out clean.  Store in fridge.  Recipe makes 10-12 muffins. 

Revisited Recipe of the Day:

Mini Carrot Cake for One

Chocolate Pumpkin Muffins

I hope you don't mind more muffins.  I certainly don't.  After all, muffins are basically cupcakes you can eat for breakfast.  What's not to love about that?

And these particular muffins are chocolate.  Chocolate!  Are you getting all this?  So far we have a recipe that is essentially a chocolate cupcake that's ok to eat for breakfast.  Now who's complaining about two muffin recipes in a row?

But I'm not done yet.  Oh no, not even close.

As if little guys don't have enough going for them already, I also made them, you guessed it, healthy!

Instead of using all spelt flour, which is what I would normally do, I decided to switch it up with a half whole wheat, half spelt flour mixture.  Let me tell you, you cannot tell there's whole wheat in these guys.  The texture is just perfect!  None of the dense and gummy stuff that sometimes comes along with whole wheat flour.

The awesomeness continues with the fact that these muffins are 100% fat free.  There aren't even any chocolate chips it them to ruin that claim (although if you'd like to add them I won't complain).  But like with the flour, you can't tell.  PERFECT texture.

Can you tell I just love these muffins?

It's just so much fun when you find a recipe that's healthy, but doesn't taste it at all.  And it's even better when said recipe entitles you to chocolate "cake" before 9am.  Hey, these muffins do have pumpkin, whole wheat flour, and no fat.  Totally breakfast acceptable ;)

Fat Free Chocolate Pumpkin Muffins

• 3/4 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/3 cup honey (if you like things really sweet, you may want to add more)
• 1/3 cup egg whites
• 3/4 cup plain greek yogurt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup spelt flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 350F.  Grease a muffin tin well (!!!).  In a medium sized bowl, mix together pumpkin, honey, egg whites, yogurt, and vanilla.  In another large bowl, combine cocoa powder, flours, baking soda, and baking powder.  Min until incorporated.  Add pumpkin mixture to flour mixture.  Mix until a smooth, but thick batter has formed.  Your batter should be almost like brownie batter, it's so thick.  Scoop batter evenly between 12 muffin tin cups.  Bake for about 15 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.  Let cool before removing from pan and storing muffins in an airtight container.  Muffins will keep for 3-4 days on the counter, and can be frozen as well.

See that texture up there?  You must make these!

Revisited Recipe of the Day:

More muffins for you: Nutella Swirl Banana Muffins

Oat Flour Blueberry Muffins + Some Info on Oat Flour

I want to take some time to talk about oat flour.  Maybe you've noticed some recipes on this blog using it, and maybe you haven't.  Either way, oat flour is one of my new favorite ingredients.  I was going to dedicate a whole post to it, but instead I decided to just shove everything I want to share into one big post with a recipe for blueberry muffins at the end.  Sound good?  Good.

So for starters, what is oat flour?  It really is as simple as rolled oats ground into a fine flour.  I've read that you can use a blender, food processor, or coffee grinder to make it, but I've really only had success with a coffee grinder.  Sure, a food processor or blender will break down the oats, but if you really want a fine constituency, one that's like other flours, a coffee grinder is the way to go.

Once your oat flour is made you can store it in a container until its time to use.  I usually don't think that far ahead, though, so most of the time I make just as much flour as I need for a certain recipe right before baking said recipe.  Oat flour is easy enough to make that this isn't a huge hassle.

Made with gluten free oats, oat flour can be made completely gluten free, which is great if you don't want to use a bunch of funky flours.  I'm also 90% sure that's it's lower in calories than other flours, bt you'd have to double check on that one.  My favorite part about using it, however, is the taste it lends baked goods.  Oats have this slight sweetness which comes though when you bake with oat flour, especially if the recipe doesn't have any super strong flavors to cover up the oats.  I love the taste and it also means I don't have to use as much sweetener which is always a plus in my book.

Sooo, that's about it.  Hopefully you'll consider using oat flour in some recipes in the future now that you know a bit more about it.  Maybe a delicious oat flour blueberry muffin recipe will help motivate you?  I'm thinking that's a definite yes.

Oat Flour Blueberry Muffins

• 1 1/2 cups oat flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup arrowroot starch/flour
• 1 cup milk
• 1 1/2 tbsp apple cider vinegar (or another mild tasting vinegar)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 egg white
• 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

Preheat oven to 350F.  In a large bowl, mix together oat flour, baking powder, salt, and arrowroot.  In another bowl, combine milk and vinegar.  Let sit 5 minutes.  Add vanilla, honey, and egg white to bowl with milk.  Add wet ingredients to dry.  Mix until a smooth batter forms.  Mix in blueberries until incorporated.  Divide batter evenly between 12 greased muffin tin cups.  Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean and muffins are firm.  Store in an airtight container.  Makes 12 muffins.

Note:  These muffins do not rise very much, so they're more like bluberry cakes.  That does not, however, make them any less delicious!

(Sorry for an weird formatting on this post.  I'm travelling right now and am using a different computer than normal)

Nutella Swirl Banana Muffins

I found another way to eat Nutella for breakfast.

Saying of the Day:

When Breakfast gets boring, just add Nutella.

Seriously guys, it's true.

When, a couple of days ago, I felt as though my breakfasts were getting a bit boring, I used some of my delicious Date Sweetened Nutella to whip up a batch of Banana Muffins with a Nutella swirl.  Ummm, yum.

Boring breakfast no more!

And... just to make things even awesomer (because that's totally a word), these muffins are also:

• sweetened only with fruit
• vegan (when using vegan yogurt)
• whole wheat
• super easy 
• can be frozen for quick breakfasts

I think I know what you'll be baking tomorrow!

Nutella Swirl Banana Muffins

• 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/2 cup spelt flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tbsp ground flax
• 2 ripe bananas
• 1/3 cup plain yogurt (greek, vegan, etc)
• 1/2 cup milk
• 3 tbsp date paste
• 1/4 cup Date Sweetened Nutella or regular Nutella

Preheat oven to 350F.  Place dry ingredients in a large bowl, and mix together.  In another bowl, mash bananas.  Add yogurt, milk, and date paste.  Add wet ingredients to dry and mix until a smooth batter forms.  Scoop batter into lined muffin tins until about 3/4 cup full.  Add a dollop of Nutella and swirl a bit.  Bake for 15 minutes.  Store in airtight container for up to 4 days, or freeze to laste longer.  Recipe makes 10 muffins.

Muffin + Banana + Nutella = Best Day Ever!

Revisited Recipe of the Day:

Not Your Average Blueberry Muffins

Whole Wheat English Muffins

If I learned one thing from this recipe, it's that toasted English Muffins taste really good with warm peanut butter.  Really good.

Call me crazy, but I've always overlooked English Muffins.  I mean, they're sorta boring, right?  People always put jam on them to make them good, and I'm not really a jam person, so I didn't really know what to do with them.  Well, I know now.

Two words: Peanut Butter.

Oh my god, so good.   It's all melty, and sticky, and just plain yummy.  Can you guess where all my homemade English Muffins went?

Yeah, along with all my Peanut Butter.

Ok, so let's talk about the actual recipe I'm sharing today.  It's one for Whole Wheat English Muffins.

They're tasty, they're healthy, they're surprisingly easy.  You should make them and then slather peanut butter on top.  Enough said.

Whole Wheat English Muffins

• 1/2 cup warm water (115F)
• 1 tbsp honey
• 2 tsp active dry yeast
• 2 cups spelt flour (or all purpose)
• 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup rolled oats
• 1/4 cup wheat bran
• 1 tsp coarse salt
• 2 tsp ground flax
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• cooking spray
• 1/4 cup cornmeal

1. Combine warm water, honey, and yeast in a large bowl.  Let stand for 5 minutes or so, until yeast has dissolved.  In another bowl, mix together flours, oats, wheat bran, salt, and flax
2. Add dry ingredients to bowl with yeast.  Pour buttermilk into yeast bowl.  Mix until flour is almost completely incorporated.
3. Turn mixture onto a well floured surface and knead until a smooth ball of dough forms.  
4. Lightly coat a large bowl with cooking spray.  Place dough in bowl, cover with a damp cloth, and let rise until doubled in size, 1-2 hours.
5. Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for another 1-2 minutes.  Roll out dough to a 1/2" thickness.  Use a 3-inch round cutter (I used the top of a cup) to cut out rounds of dough.  Continus to roll out and cut the scraps until all dough has been used.
6. Place rounds on a baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise until puffy, about 20 minutes.
7. Heat a large griddle or 12 inch skillet over low heat.  Dust rounds with cornmeal before placing on griddle in batches of 3-4.
8. Cook for 8-10 minutes on each side, until dry anf slightly browned.  Let cool at least 30 minutes before slicing.
9. English muffins will keep for about a week in the fridge.

Revisited Recipe of the Day:

Lemon Zucchini Bread

Not Your Average Blueberry Muffins

Blueberry muffins have a special place in my heart.

I can remember eating one by the beach on vacation, buying jumbo sized ones at the local bakery in town, and munching just on the muffin top while parading around the house as a five or six year old.

Because of those memories I've been hesitent to "re-do" or "healthify" the classic Blueberry Muffin.  I do, however, want a tasty substitute to satisfy any craving I may get, because, as you may know, despite the appearance of superfood blueberries, blueberry muffins cake be incredibly bad for you.

I came up with the perfect plan: Don't take on the classic jumbo blueberry muffin, but instead create a similar recipe with healthier touches, that can be eaten guilt-free at any time.  The result was absolutely delicious, and didn't hurt my fond memories one bit.  I give you...

Not Your Average Blueberry Muffins!

Like the title suggests, these muffins are definitely not your average ones.  If you were to walk into a bakery, I'm postive there wouldn't be a single blueberry muffin that tastes like these.  So, If you're looking for a remake of the classic treat, this may not be quite what you want.  However, if you'd like a healthier blueberry muffin recipe (or even just a muffin recipe) that won't ruin your diet, you need to read on.

These just may be the yummiest healthy muffins ever!

Not Your Average Blueberry Muffins

• 1/2 cup spelt flour
• 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 tbsp ground flax
• 2 tbsp turbinado sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/3 cup frozen cauliflower, thawed
• 3/4 cup + 2 tbsp milk
• 3 tbsp yogurt (soy, greek, etc)
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg
• 1 tbsp maple syrup
• 1/2 - 1 cup bluberries (frozen or fresh)

Preheat oven to 350F.  In a large bowl, combine flours, baking soda, salt, baking powder, flax, and sugar.  Mix together.  In the bowl of a food processor, combine cauliflower, milk, yogurt, spices, and maple syrup.  Blend until completely smooth.  Pour wet ingredients into dry, and mix until a smooth batter forms.  Fold in blueberries.  Scoop batte rinto greased muffin tins.  Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes.  Makes 10 muffins.

Revisited Recipe of the Day:

Cinnamon Sugar Muffins