The Search for A Heathy Muffin

One of my best friends in the world has a serious problem- she LOVES Lifetime Original Movies.  I know....they're awful in every way, shape, and form.  But she doesn't care- if one is on, she's watching it.  Well, rewind about a year or so ago.  I'm sitting at home alone, Marshall's off somewhere, and I'm trying desperately to find something on one of the bazillion channels we get.  Of course there isn't anything, but somehow, I end up stopping on some Lifetime movie.  Kate would be so proud.....

::hangs head in shame::

I couldn't tell you a single thing about the movie.  Don't remember a thing about it.  But for some reason, one line has stuck with me.  Horrible, Washed-Up Actress #1 is comforting Horrible, Washed-Up Actress #2 because #2 got dumped by Terrible, yet Somewhat Handsome Actor #1.  In doing so, HWUA #1 brings over coffee and a muffin to HWUA #2.  But, not your normal muffin. 

No- its "One of those muffins that fools you into thinking you're only eating a muffin when it really has the same number of calories as a 16-ounce steak. "  And you know those muffins.  They're the size of your face, stuffed full of chocolate chips and nuts and they look and taste like heaven.  And I'll admit it, if I could have one of those babies regularly for breakfast without any negative impacts to my hips, I probably would.  But that is unfortuantely not the case.

So as an alternative, I wanted to find a muffin recipe that was fairly healthy but didn't taste like stale cardboard aka NO BRAN ALLOWED. 

I came across this recipe which was a standard, whole wheat muffin recipe.  However, it needed some piazz and that's where I come in.

So here's my answer to the staying away from the muffin-with-as-many-calories-as-a-16oz-steak muffin: Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Mini Muffin

How Long Is This Gonna Take:

About a half hour or so, which includes the 10 minutes baking time

But Is It Good For Me:

This recipe makes 28 mini muffins, at 3 points+ per 2 muffins, but mine were pretty big. Could probably stretch to 36-48, at 1 point+ per each muffin.

What You'll Need:

What To Do:

1.  Preheat oven to 400F. Spray muffin pan with cooking spray or line with cups (I didn't due either due to my non-stick pans and lack of liner cups).

2.  In a medium bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder & salt.  In a small bowl, whisk together milk, banana & egg. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and combine.  Mix in chocolate chips.  

3.  Fill cups 2/3 full (I used my 2 tbsp cookie scoop. It made for a very full cup, but was incredibly easy and mess-free. I highly recommend getting one. The small one would've been better suited for this job though). Bake for 10 minutes or until it passes the toothpick test. Cool 1 minute before removing from pan.