Whole Grain Banana Walnut Chocolate Chip Muffins

These bananas, ladies and gentlemen, are what prompted me to whip up these banana muffins a couple days ago.  If you're curious, my family got these bananas from Berkeley Bowl in, well Berkeley obviously.  This is a supermarket with good prices and great products.  If you're in Berkeley, I highly recommend perusing Berkeley Bowl.  I digress...  Now, to get back on the subject. I LOVE an excuse to bake.  Baking is my happy place 😊.  I especially love to bake muffins.  They're portable and portion savvy which gives them the upper hand when it comes to quick breads.  For me, in order to be considered nutritious, a muffin has to meet a few criteria.

1.  The Muffin Has to be Mostly Whole Wheat
In my opinion, this is the most crucial aspect of a healthy muffin.  After all, a muffin is mostly flour, so it might as well be made from good flour.  Whole wheat flour has more fiber and nutrients than all purpose flour.  Also, in this recipe especially, it's slightly nutty flavor perfectly compliments the chocolate, walnuts, and banana in the muffins.
2.  The Muffin Has to be Low Sugar
What I mean by low sugar, is less than a cup per dozen muffins.  And by sugar, I mean refined sugar, honey, agave, maple syrup, sweetened fruit, and candy.  Too much sugar and a muffin can turn from a nutritious start to the day to a cloyingly sweet dessert.
3.  The Muffin Has to be Low Fat
Fat is essential in muffins.  Without it, they become dry and just seem to miss something.  (Butter makes everything better, right 😉?)  For me, low fat means 1/2 cup fat or less per dozen muffins.  And fat includes oils and full-fat butters.

In light of all these criteria, I believe that this muffin recipe we are using today meets the criteria!  Which is great in  a season of butter and sugar. Hooray 🎉!
Now let's talk a little bit about the muffins themselves.  These muffins have LOTS of banana in them.  I love baking with bananas because they add sweetness, moisture, and nutrition.  They've kinda got the whole package.  If you didn't know already bananas and chocolate are a match made in heaven.  I'll be honest-normally I'm not all into the fruit with chocolate thing.  HOWEVER these muffins are the exception.
For these muffins, I use dark chocolate chips. My favorite brand for chocolate chips is Hershey's Special Dark .    I LOVE chocolate.  It's one of my favorite things.   They are  slightly sweet but have that bitter edge which livens up so many baked goods.
I also use whole wheat flour because, as I've said (er wrote?) before, it has more nutrition that all purpose flour.  In this recipe, it's slightly nutty taste and texture perfectly compliments all the flavors and textures in these muffins.  And for this recipe I sift it to give the muffins a soft texture.  Here's what the batter should look like in the muffin tin:

This muffin recipe has been adapted from Lisa Kreft's recipe  for banana crumb muffins.
Without further adieu, throw on your aprons and let's get baking!

Banana Walnut Chocolate Chip Muffins

• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour, sifted
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 3 bananas, mashed
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1 TBS. yogurt
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Lightly grease 10 muffin cups of a muffin tin
3. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt
4. In a medium bowl, using a mixer, beat together the bananas, sugar, egg, yogurt, and melted butter.
5. Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened
6. Fold in the chopped nuts and chocolate chips
7. Fill the prepared muffin cups almost to the top with batter (see the picture above for idea)
8. Bake in preheated muffin for 18-20 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean
9. Enjoy!!