Healthy Chunky Monkey Muffins

By: Natalie Monson

Healthy Chunky Monkey Muffins made with greek yogurt, bananas and dark chocolate chips.  Delicious way to pack in protein, potassium, and minerals! 

Healthy Kid-Friendly Muffins

Kids love muffins.  And what kid can resist a chocolate muffin? The key is to use ingredients that aren’t full of sugar and fat like a lot of muffins you can buy.  These muffins have delicious ingredients that are familiar to kids, while also providing them with good nutrition.   We like to make larger batches of muffins and then freeze them, so that when my kids want a muffin it is just a 30 second reheat.  These muffins have all of the basic food groups – except veggies.  So, if you are sending these with your kids for a quick breakfast or snack – have them eat a handful of baby carrots with it and boom!  Complete meal.  Plus – let’s be real.  Those ooey gooey chocolate chips have eat me written all over them.

Healthy Chunky Monkey Muffins

So what makes these muffins healthier than normal?  Well, using whole wheat flour, bananas, greek yogurt and dark chocolate chips!  Lets talk for a minute about the health benefits of these ingredients for your kids. 

Health Benefits of Bananas

• Regulates Bowel Movements-Bananas contain pectin which is a soluble fiber that helps to regulate bowel movements. Kids who suffer from constipation can benefit from eating bananas.
• Better Brain Power -Some research has shown that children who eat bananas on a regular basis perform better in school.
• Healthy Bones -High Potassium content in bananas help to neutralize the high amounts of sodium in our diet. This prevents the weakening of bones.
• Muscle Performance – Bananas are high in potassium which helps prevent muscle cramping.  Kids who are very active and involved in sports or other highly intense physical activities should eat bananas regularly before or after events.
• Natural Energy – Bananas contain three types of natural sugars-Glucose,Fructose and Sucrose .When combined with fiber, these natural sugars provide instant and substantial energy to our body.

Health Benefits of Greek Yogurt

• Protein Power – Protein is vital to cell growth, building muscle, and repairing tissue and maintaining immune system.  Kids are growing quickly and constantly building new cells.   Protein gives kids the amino acids needed to keep up with all the healthy growth!
• Probiotics – The idea behind probiotics is to boost the kind of helpful bacteria in the body that can destroy harmful bacteria and reduce infection.
• Strong Bones – We only get one chance to build strong bones — when we’re kids and teens. Children who get enough calcium start their adult lives with the strongest bones possible. That protects them against bone loss later in life.

In this recipe, t28he bananas and greek yogurt replace any added fat like oils or butter.  The greek yogurt adds protein and calcium.  Dark chocolate chips are considered to be an antioxidant-rich superfood and have several other benefits.  I love these muffins because sometimes I’m just craving something sweet and instead of reaching for overly processed cookies from the grocery store I can whip up a batch of these Chunky Monkey Muffins!

Tricks to Making Muffins

There’s one biiiiig trick to making muffins.  Don’t over-mix the batter! When you add the dry ingredients just stir until barely combined.  If you stir the batter too much the muffins will end up with a tough texture. The second trick is to make sure your eggs are always at room temperature.  This helps the ingredients to combine evenly. This trick is really important when the recipe you’re using has either coconut oil or butter, cold eggs can solidify those ingredients on contact.

One of our most popular recipes is our Sweet Spinach Muffins!  There’s a reason they’ve been pinned thousands of times and people just can’t get enough of them.  The bananas in the recipe (and this one) is the secret to keeping them super sweet and moist.

Source: https://www.superhealthykids.com/chunky-monkey-muffins/

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