Monday, February 06, 2012

Healthy Double Chocolate Banana Muffins—Secret Recipe Club

Healthy Dbl Chocolate Banana Muffins

I made muffins from my Secret Recipe Club blog, Veronica's Cornucopia this month.  In fact, I liked the muffins so much that I’ve made them twice and they are now definitely a go-to for overripe bananas for me.  Veronica’s blog was another new-to-me one to get as my secret blog this month.  It was really fun to read through her blog and see all the things she has posted over the years.  It was a fun way to feel like I got to know her.  If you haven’t seen her blog before, check it out.  She’s married and can sing great and has a cute dog that loves to be in pictures with them. ;)  Not only does she make and post some great things, but I enjoyed her writing.

Just like usual, I had a hard time deciding what to make.  I’d marked a few things that were possibilities and started with these Double Chocolate Banana Muffins.  I made a few minor changes to them and LOVED them.  The first time I made them, I made six large muffins tops with my muffins top pan.

Double Dark Chocolate Banana Muffin Top--SRC 1-18-12

I’ve had the muffin top baking sheet for a while, but this was the first time I’d actually made muffin tops with it.  I’ve only used it for cookies in the past.  Sam ate one of the big muffins tops one morning and declared they were the best thing I’d ever made!

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Taylor ate one after school that day and also loved them!  (These pictures were taken Christmas morning with my new iPhone that Kevin is in love with.)

DCBMT 1-18-12

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With that first batch, I made six of the big muffin tops and 11 mini muffins.

Dbl Chocolate Banana Mini Muffins

That batch of muffins was eaten in no time.  I actually found myself impatiently waiting for the bananas on the counter to ripen so I could make them again.  You know, usually you turn around and find bananas overripe.  This time it seemed like waiting for a pot of water to boil!  But as soon as I had more bananas, I made the muffins again.  I really only made a few changes from Veronica’s recipe.  She used some all purpose flour and some whole wheat flour, but I decided to use all whole wheat pastry flour.  You’d never know!  I like that these muffins have no sugar (ok, besides the chocolate chips, but you could easily leave those out!).  The only sweetener, besides the natural sweetness from the bananas is agave nectar!  These muffins are so moist they could easily be used as a healthy cupcake with just a little frosting on top. 

Healthy Double Chocolate Banana Muffins, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!, adapted from Veronica’s Cornucopia 

1  1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (180 grams)

1/2 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder (41 grams)

1 tablespoon ground flax

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup mashed overripe bananas (about 3 medium)

1/2 cup agave nectar

1/2 cup low fat buttermilk

2 tablespoons canola oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup mini chocolate chips (and more for sprinkling on tops)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray muffins tins (or muffin top baking sheet) with cooking spray.  (Since there isn’t a lot of fat in these muffins, I decided not to use paper liners, as I find they usually stick.  Veronica did line hers with paper liners and didn’t mention they stuck.)

Combine the flour, cocoa powder, flax, baking soda and salt in a large bowl and whisk together to sift.  In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the banana, agave, buttermilk, oil and vanilla.  Stir the wet ingredients into the dry just until moistened.  Fold in the chocolate chips.  Divide evenly between muffin tin cups.  Bake the mini muffins and/or muffin tops for about 12 minutes.  Regular sized muffins take about 20 minutes.  Remove from muffin tins when cool enough to handle.  Let cool completely on wire rack.

Double Chocolate Banana Muffins 1-18-12  SRC

The second time I made the muffins, I made them all mini size and put three big, dark chocolate chips on top of each.  Made for a fun look to the muffins!  These made a great snack or preworkout little energy boost for me.  Most of the boys really like them, too!  My little non-chocolate liker, Parker, didn’t even try one.  Sigh. ;)

I just happen to have three more overripe bananas ready to be turned into some great chocolaty muffins right now!

 

 

 

35 comments:

Lisa said...

Those look so good. I'd want one of the big muffin tops.

Cookaholic Wife said...

I can't wait to make these. Chocolate + bananas = yum!

Donna Elick said...

What a fun SRC post! The muffin tops look amazing!

Veronica said...

Katrina, it's so nice to meet you through the SRC and blogging! I really appreciated the write-up you did on me and my blog-that was so sweet and thoughtful. And I'm just so tickled that you made one of my very few original recipes (I steal most of them-lol) and enjoyed it! Wheee! I like that you used all whole wheat flour too! I was using stone ground whole wheat flour, which is why I used some AP too, to keep the crumb from being course, but next time I will get some ww pastry flour and follow your lead. Great idea!

Lisa~~ said...

My goodness these do sound wonderful and I would love to give them a try. Love that they have flax in them too.

If you haven't already, I'd love for you to check out my SRC entry: Crunchy Fudgy Heart Bites

Lisa~~
Cook Lisa Cook

Sue @ Cakeballs, cookies and more said...

LOL how cute are your boys! And these look so good, I will have to try them one day.

singerinkitchen said...

These look like something I have to make SOON! Great choice! Sounds like everyone enjoyed them!

Charlotte + Jade said...

These look so delicious - I always think banana and chocolate is such an underrated combination!

Lovely to see another way of using up bananas too. I'm constantly looking for more recipes as I find they go off so quickly.

Please check out fashionwaffle@blogspot.com!

Charlotte @ fashionwaffle

sarah k @ the pajama chef said...

i've been on a muffin kick lately, so i'll definitely be trying these!

Sara said...

These look wonderful - love the idea of making just the muffin tops! :)

Debbi Does Dinner Healthy said...

These look great! I can see why the kids loved them so much!

Allison @ Alli 'n Son said...

Healthy and they have chocolate? I'm in love! Great SRC post.

Wendy (pinkstripes) said...

This secret blog thing sounds interesting. The muffins sound yummy and perfect for a chocolate craving.

Anonymous said...

What gorgeous little boys!! the muffins look pretty great too :)
mary x

Fallon said...

They look so decadent, add a little peanut butter.. yummy!

Liz That Skinny Chick Can Bake said...

Gosh, I can see why you chose these for your SRC pick...so gorgeous and chocolaty! My crew would devour these, too~

Carolyn said...

Those look amazing! And healthier too...such a great pick for the SRC.

Katherine Martinelli said...

Yum!! Chocolate and bananas are a great combo. I love that you have a muffin top pan! Brilliant :-)

Amanda said...

Ohhh I just pinned these to the diet friendly dessert board, they sound wonderful! I have to get one of those muffin top pans!

Leung said...

Those muffins look amazing! They are probably the perfect naughty and yet healthy treat to have post a work out since it has bananas, fiber, and flax (oh my!).

Kim Bee said...

Muffin tops, how divine. You did a wonderful job with these. They look like something that would last about 5 minutes in this house. Yum!

Anonymous said...

For banana lovers, here’s a cool http://bananapedia.com site where you can watch different video recipes and you could simply apply them. Have fun!

marla said...

Total chocolate bliss!

Barbara Bakes said...

Now I want a muffin top pan. They look too good to be healthy.

Jennifer said...

Those look delicious! Do you think white whole wheat flour would work in place of the whole wheat pastry flour? It's not available in my market, and the cheapest bad on amazon is almost ten dollars for one pound.

Katrina said...

Jennifer, yes, try the white whole wheat. I think they would still be good. Check the website www.honeyvillegrain.com for whole wheat pastry flour. I know it isn't cheap pretty much anywhere, but I love this site--you can order any amount you want of food storage things and the shipping is always $4.49. I bought a 50 lb. bag of whole wheat pastry flour from them! That'll last me a while!

Jeanette said...

Katrina,
Love how you made these even healthier. I've found that chocolate muffins are the perfect medium for substituting whole wheat flour.

Unknown said...

These look so good, I'd have never guessed they were healthy. The 3 chips on top look seriously adorable¬

marble top dining tables said...

These look like something I have to make SOON! Great choice! Sounds like everyone enjoyed them!

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Thanks so much for a delicious chocolate banana muffin that even I could make.

great deals Paver Contractor visit site said...

Very good. Liked the flavor and how easy it was to make. Will make these really soon.

top sites, Austin Diesel Repairs service said...

I've made these at least a dozen times. Easy, tasty, and my family loves them. Great way to use those last few over-ripe bananas.

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My son can't get enough of this. He keeps asking for it everyday. We loved it a lot!

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