Whole Wheat Banana Oatmeal Dark Chocolate Chip Muffins

A coworker told me after eating one of these muffins, "these are some of your best work in quite some time."

I think that was a compliment. :) This particular coworker always raves about the baked goodies I bring to work, but he is honest and isn't just trying to butter me up! So I trusted his opinion that these were pretty darn good muffins. But don't you worry; I also taste tested them myself just to be sure! And I whole heartedly agreed with his opinion.

This recipe is adapted from a great site, Keep Your Diet Real. The ingredients I used are listed below, but the original recipe can be found here. A couple notes about my changes... You'll notice that the original recipe calls for 1 cup of whole wheat flour and 1 cup of all-purpose flour. In place of the all-purpose flour, I decided to try an experiment. In place of the AP flour, I measured 1 cup of regular oats (good ol' Quaker), and I pulsed them in the food processor until they were coarsely ground (you could pulse them until they were finely ground too). This substitution seemed to work great! They still turned out like a normal muffin, and that was how I judged whether the change worked (very scientific, huh?). Also, I used 2 teaspoons of baking powder instead of the 1 tablespoon in the original recipe (that just seemed like a lot to me). But, I think a whole tablespoon would be just fine. And finally, the original recipe calls for canola oil but I used yogurt (light, banana flavored actually!) instead.

Ingredients:

-1 cup white whole wheat flour

-1 cup regular oats (ground in food processor into "flour")

-1/2 cup packed brown sugar

-2 tsp. baking powder

-1 tsp. baking soda

-1/2 tsp. salt

-3 mashed ripe bananas

-1/3 cup yogurt

-1/4 cup milk (I used 1%)

-2 eggs

-1 tsp. vanilla extract

-1 cup dark chocolate chips

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line muffin pan with cupcake liners or grease muffin pan. Place the ripe bananas in mixer, and mix at low speed for 3 - 5 minutes until well mashed. Add the yogurt, milk, eggs, and vanilla, and mix for 1 minute on low speed until well combined.

In a separate bowl, combine the flours, brown sugar, baking power, baking soda, and salt. Add the banana mixture to the dry mixture and combine until just incorporated (do not over-mix). Mix in the chocolate chips.

Fill muffin liners until 3/4 of the way full. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let sit in pan for a couple minutes; then remove from pan and let cool completely on cooling racks.

A smiling face... :)

Cuz after you eat one of these muffins, you will be smiling.

I couldn't resist, and I ate a muffin practically fresh out of the oven. Sooo good. The texture was great and the flavor was superb. Honestly, this is like the ideal muffin (in my opinion ;)). And part of what makes it ideal? It's nutritious too! We've got whole wheat flour, oats, banana, and dark chocolate chips. Hellooooo healthy muffin. How you doin'? 

Happy Friday to you all! Only a couple more days to enter my Dagoba organic chocolate bar giveaway. Be sure to do so before midnight on Saturday, March 31st!!