One of my favorite recipes from Feed the Belly is my Chunky Monkey Muffins. They are incredibly healthy and decadent at the same time, letting you get your chocolate and fiber fix all at once.
Apparently I'm not the only fan. In fact, one fabulous reader recently got in touch with me and shared that she loves them and has made them in various iterations. Here are some of her remixes:
* Substitute approximately 7 ounces of applesauce for the banana; fold in approximately 1 cup blueberries
* Substitute approximately 7 ounces of applesauce for the banana and ¼ cup orange juice for the milk; omit the chocolate chips and peanut butter; fold in approximately 1 cup cranberries plus orange zest to taste
* Substitute approximately 7 ounces canned pumpkin for the banana; add cinnamon, clove, and ginger to taste; if desired, add raisins and walnuts to taste
And for those of you who don't have a copy of the book, here's the original recipe. And if you create your own spin on them, I'd love to hear it!
Prep: 10 minutes
Cook: 20 minutes
Makes 15 muffins
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups whole wheat flour
- ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ cups packed brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons ground flax seed
- 1 ½ tablespoon cocoa powder
- 2 t baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ⅔ cup semisweet chocolate chips
- 6 ounces low-fat vanilla yogurt
- 2 medium overripe bananas, mashed (~ 7 ounces)
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons canola oil
- ¼ c soy or lowfat milk
- ⅓ cup natural smooth peanut butter
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line muffin tins with paper liners. Coat liners with cooking spray and set aside.
- Measure out the flours, leveling with a knife, into a large mixing bowl along with the brown sugar, flax seed, cocoa powser, baking soda, salt, and chocolate chips. Whisk together until combined.
- Combine the yogurt, bananas, egg, vanilla, oil, and milk in a separate bowl until thoroughly mixed (it’s okay if there are a few chunks of banana left).
- Fold the banana mixture into the dry mixture just until combined. Fill the muffin cups ½ full with batter. Spoon 1 teaspoon of peanut butter on top. Fill the cups with more batter until ¾ full.
- Bake for 20 minutes or until the tops of the muffins look dry and spring back when touched in the center. Allow to cool on the stovetop.