Good-For-You Chocolate Banana Muffins

I love a good muffin. A moist, sweet, dense muffin with little pops of flavor (berries, chocolate chips, you name it) baked in. But muffins can be deceptive. They appear invitingly healthy, especially next to a doughnut or scone, when in fact they can be just as unhealthy. They can be absolutely loaded with sugar and fat and empty carbs. Which is why I’m posting a muffin makeover here, right now.

As usual, I had some overripe bananas sitting in the fruit bowl last Saturday morning, and they begged to be saved. I’d made banana bread during Christmas week, so that was out. Eli isn’t a big fan of banana pancakes (although I am), and he was home, so I decided to forego those. But I needed to do something with those bananas.

I paged through cookbooks, and happened upon a Nigella recipe for chocolate banana muffins. I love Nigella – her food never fails me. But these muffins were just a little too dessert-like. Not quite breakfasty enough. Not an altogether unhealthy recipe, not too much sugar, but still full of oil and white flour. I paused. I pondered.

Thanks to my cookbook library, which has enough healthy cookbooks in it to satisfy any nutrition nut, I’ve become fairly confident when it comes to tweaking full-fat baking recipes in favor of something a little more healthy, Cooking Light style.

So I went into makeover mode.

I switched the all-purpose flour for whole grain baking flour. I added some ground flax seed. I reduced the oil to a couple of tablespoons and added some plain yogurt. I stirred in a handful of dark chocolate chips (okay, so those were more to make Eli happy than to add antioxidants). I mixed. I baked.

The result was a batch of moist, decadently chocolate muffins that no one would ever guess were low-fat, packed full of fiber, omega-three fatty acids, and potassium. Oh yeah, and those antioxidants.

We ate them warm from the oven. Eli mmmm’d. I told him how healthy they were, and he shrugged. Translation: they didn’t taste healthy.

Bake these. You won’t be disappointed, and you won’t have to feel guilty about gorging on chocolatey muffinness. Not for one second.

Chocolate Banana Muffins

3 overripe bananas
1/2 cup plain yogurt (not Greek style)
2 tablespoons non-GMO canola oil
2 large eggs
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown cane sugar
1-1/2 cups whole grain baking flour
1/4 cup finely ground flaxseed
3 tablespoons cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees, and grease a muffin pan or popover pan with spray oil. You can use the larger muffin pan if you like. I use a popover pan because I like my muffins taller.

In the bowl of a mixer, mash the bananas.

Add the yogurt, oil, eggs, and sugar. Beat until smooth.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, flaxseed, cocoa, and baking soda.

Add the dry mixture to the wet, mixing well until thoroughly combined.

Stir in the chocolate chips.

Fill the muffin or popover cups 2/3 full. Bake 15-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool for a bit before removing from the pan.

Makes 10-16 muffins, depending on size.

For a printable version of this recipe, click here.