Easy Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Good-for-you banana muffins studded with semi-sweet chocolate chips! These muffins are perfect for breakfast, an afternoon snack, or even dessert. These are my usual go-to muffins when I have an abundance of ripe bananas on my counter or in my freezer. Besides the delicious, sweet flavor and fluffy texture of these muffins, my favorite part about this recipe is that it only requires one bowl! I am always a fan of easy clean up. I LOVE cooking but hate to do a ton of dishes as a result. Many muffin recipes require a separate bowl for wet/dry ingredients, but not this one! These are muffins you can feel good about. I always use white whole wheat to make these and it does not compromise the texture or flavor at all. There is NO oil or butter in these muffins; the addition of unsweetened applesauce adds moisture with no fat. The chocolate chips are optional…sortof. The muffins are still great without them, but the chocolate adds another dimension of flavor. Last year, I made these muffins before we went skiing with my husband’s parents. I opted to make half with chocolate chips and half without, thinking that since we had to wake up at 4:30am to get to the airport, it might be too early for chocolate. I was w.r.o.n.g.! We all went for the chocolate ones, because, let’s face it, they’re hard to resist. I should have known there is no such thing as “too early for chocolate”! Easy Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins Makes about 15 muffins. Ingredients:

• 3 large, ripe bananas
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 cups AP Flour (or white whole wheat!)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1). Preheat oven to 350F. Place muffin liners in muffin tin. 2). In a large bowl, mash bananas, then add sugar and slightly beaten egg.  Stir in applesauce and vanilla. 3). Stir in all the dry ingredients until combined, being careful not to overmix. 4). Divide the batter evenly until each muffin cup is at least 3/4 full. Bake at 350F for about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Nutritional information per muffin: Calories: 141 Carbs: 26g Fat: 3g Protein: 2g Sugar: 14g Fiber: 1g Points+:4 Recipe adapted from: http://www.food.com/recipe/easy-banana-muffins-8603 Just for comparison’s sake, here’s what these muffins looked like when I took a picture with my cell phone’s camera. Yikes!!