Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl Banana Muffins
These Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl Banana Muffins are guilt-free, ultra moist, and darn tasty.
It can’t always be cookies and buttercream, right? Maybe in a fairytale land far, far away where high cholesterol and weight gain don’t exist, but this isn’t a fairytale. Don’t get me wrong, I love me some cookies, but even I have limitations. Well, that is, my hips have limitations. If they’d let me, I’d probably snack on cookies all day; however, that’s not the case.
Sometimes I want to snack on something without feeling guilty about it later, so I’ve been experimenting with guilt-free quick breads in the kitchen lately. Breads full of whole grains, yogurt, fruit, and healthy proteins. Breads that will fill me up without leaving me full of eater’s remorse later. I love baking quick breads for the very fact that they involve little to no planning. They don’t require kneading, rising, or waiting, and can usually be whipped up in one bowl.
An challenged us to make a muffin using bananas this week, and I instantly knew that I wanted to make a muffin that combined chocolate, banana, and peanut butter. The epitome of all flavor combos. Last week I came across this recipe for Skinny Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl Cupcakes by Sally’s Baking Addiction. I instantly fell in love with them and knew I had to make them for #MuffinMonday this week.
I made a few minor changes to make the recipe more muffin-like. I added some dark chocolate cocoa powder, white whole wheat flour, and brown sugar. They’re healthy and delicious all at the same time.
The muffin is dark and moist and, my favorite part, swirled with melted peanut butter. Guilt-free Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl Banana Muffins… Now, that’s my kind of breakfast.
Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl Banana Muffins
Ingredients:
- 2 ripe bananas, mashed
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 egg white
- 3/4 cup greek yogurt, vanilla or plain
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup white whole wheat flour
- 1/2 cup unsweetened dark cocoa powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 cup dark or bittersweet chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter, melted
- 1/3 cup peanut butter chips
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line 16 muffin cups with papers.
- In a small bowl, whisk together whole wheat flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, mash the bananas. Whisk in the brown sugar, egg, egg white, greek yogurt, and vanilla extract. Mixture will be slightly lumpy.
- Using a rubber spatula, gently stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Fold in the chocolate chips.
- Fill the muffin cups 2/3 of the way full with batter. Spoon 1/2 tablespoon of the melted butter on top of the batter. Using a knife or a toothpick, swirl the peanut butter into the batter. Sprinkle with peanut butter chips.
- Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow the muffins to cool for 3 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container at room-temperature for up to 3 days.