A Healthy Start to 2014: Skinny Banana Chocolate Chip Cuffins

A lot has been accomplished that I am extremely happy with, first and foremost being the much required facelift of Joie De Vivre. I found that this look and feel reflected so well  the french inspiration behind the name of the blog, and the colours that manage to be feminine, with its soothing pastel shades, its organised layout with easy manoeuvring capabilities.

Its the beginning of 2014, and as habit has it, we have all managed to over indulge during the hectivites of December. So alleviate some of the pressure of keeping that new year’s weightloss resolution, here is an easy and healthy way to satisfy that mid month craving, as a reward for your self restraint and dedication so far, giving you a new lease of life to continue that resolution through, at least for a little while longer! 😉

This is a muffin in concept – i.e. it has no frosting. But in texture, its more like a cupcake, as the bananas lend rich moisture to the batter, and the result is more moist than an average muffin, which is why the title has no typo in it- it is a Cuffin indeed! The original recipe called for a bit more sugar, but I think 1/2 cup works perfectly fine, especially if you bananas are just a little riper and sweeter than usual.

Adapted from here. Makes 12 regular sized muffins.

Ingredients:

1. 3 large or 6-7 small bananas, well mashed
2. 1/2 cup granulated sugar
3. 1/4 cup canola oil
4. 1/2 cup cream cheese
5. 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
6. 1/2 cup all purpose flour
7. 1/2 cup dark/dutch processed unsweetened cocoa powder
8. 1/2 tsp salt
9. 1 tsp baking soda
10. 1 tsp baking powder
11. 1 cup chocolate and peanut butter chips (mixed)

Method:

1.  Preheat the oven to 175*c and line a muffin pan with paper liners.
2. Mix together the bananas, sugar, oil and cheese until smooth. Sift in the flours, cocoa powder, salt, baking soda and baking powder. Mix gently till incorporated.
3. Fold in the chocolate peanut butter chips. Fill the liners till 3/4th full and bake in the centre of the over for 22-23 minutes, or until a skewer interred in the centre of a muffin comes out clean (ignoring the melted chocolate/peanut butter chips).
4. Let cool in the tray for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

If you liked this post, you may also enjoy:

1. Banana Bread
2. Blueberry Muffins
3. Peanut Butter & Jelly Cupcakes

Feedback:

1.  If you’re not able to get your hands on chocolate & peanut butter chips, opt for good old dark chocolate or semi sweet chocolate chips.
2. Retain about 1/4 of the chips for topping the muffins before baking.
3. Skinny recipes are great, and they allow you to experiment with different flavours, textures and combinations.