Chunky Monkey Muffins

Chunky Monkey Muffins: healthier banana walnut chocolate chips muffins

Ok I know, another post about muffins but they're are so portable and easy to make (and eat) that I can’t help myself. Also, I was inspired. A co-worker of mine had a store-bought muffin that was banana walnut with a chocolate drizzle on top and I thought, “I can make that!”  So here it is, just healthified slightly.

There's avocado (as the butter/oil sub), some whole-wheat flour, banana's and walnuts (for some crunch and those wonderful omega's) to keep these muffins on the yummy, healthy side. Although the chocolate chips aren't necessary they do taste wonderful in here... but that's also how I feel about any chocolate added to a recipe.

this avocado green color isn't as noticeable once they're baked 

(recipe after the jump)

Chunky Monkey Muffins

Makes 9 large muffins or 18-20 regular-sized muffins

Adapted from here

Recipe Notes:

- The recipe is so easy to make- all the wet ingredients get blitzed in the food processor, that way the banana and avocado are completely pureed. If you don’t have a food processor you could also use a blender.

- I thought I wouldn’t make many alterations to the original recipe but I ended up tweaking it quite a bit. I added brown sugar and dropped the amount of sugar from one cup to ¾ cup total (if you’re not using chocolate chips then you may want the full cup).

- You could definitely do the chia seed egg substitute if you want, and I subbed half the flour for whole-wheat. Then I added a teaspoon of baking powder to prevent the muffins from being too dense.

- Added salt and vanilla to amp up the flavor a bit. Oh and also the walnuts.

Ingredients:

2 Smallish banana’s (really ripe)

¾ Cup mashed avocado (I used 1 avocado)

½ Cup brown sugar

¼ Cup white sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

6 Tbs. milk + 1 tsp. vinegar (to make a sour milk mixture, i.e. faux buttermilk)

2 eggs

½ tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1 Cup whole-wheat flour

1 Cup all-purpose flour

½ Cup chopped walnuts (optional)

½ Cup chocolate chips (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350º F and prepare a muffin tin with liners or non-stick cooking spray.

2. In a food processor (see above note), combine banana’s, avocado, both sugars, vanilla, eggs and milk mixture. Puree until blended and combined.   

3. Pour pureed mixture into a large bowl and sift the flours, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Mix until combined, and then add the walnuts and chocolate chips. Try not to over mix. 

4. Fill muffin cups about 75% full and place in the oven for 12 minutes. Rotate the pans and bake another 8-12 minutes, or until a toothpick in the center comes out clean. After 10 minutes remove the muffins from the pan to cool completely.