I make a lot of muffins. I share a lot of muffins here on the blog. I have a lot of muffins in my freezer. They are one of my go to foods for my picky eaters for breakfast, and for years I’ve been playing with muffin recipes to create muffins that are yummy enough to be eaten without a second thought, but also have whole grains and at least half the fat of standard muffins knocked out of them. I’m often asked if we eat everything I make on the website, and while we taste test everything, no, the kids don’t get to eat cake pops for breakfast. But the muffins, those we eat. All of my muffin recipes were created for my kiddos and therefore are truly some of my favorite recipes.
The one recipe I’ve really struggled with making over is a chocolate muffin recipe. I’ve made countless versions that my daughter has loved, but I haven’t felt were good enough to share here. I’m happy to announce that the day has finally come. I’ve finally come up with a chocolate muffin recipe that I think rocks.
These were so yummy that you could throw frosting on them and call them a cupcake. Yum, yum, YUM.
Most of the fat you would normally find in a chocolate muffin was replaced with pumpkin, bananas and Greek yogurt. You can taste a bit of the banana, but the pumpkin flavor fades away (which is why I’m not referring to them as chocolate pumpkin muffins). If you don’t have bananas on hand, you could probably just use extra pumpkin in place of the bananas. And speaking of bananas, I always puree mine when I use them in breads. I like the flavor and moistness they add, but am not a huge fan of the texture and the food processor takes care of that.
As is usual for my muffin recipes, these are simple and straight forward to whip up. Combine the wet ingredients, combine the dry ingredients, mix the two together, pop into your muffin tins and bake. Sweet and simple.
Brief side comment, do you realize how many chocolate chips you have to put on a muffin prior to cooking to make it look like it’s covered in them? The answer is way more than I thought, as evidenced by my sparsely covered muffins. I put a ton on and that’s what I ended up with. I probably needed half the bag. In case you are wondering, only a few get those extra chips, the kiddos eagerly eat them even without the half a bag of chips on top. š
I hope you enjoy these as much as we do. I think this will be a very regular muffin recipe in rotation here at our home.
Made Over Chocolate Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder I prefer a dark chocolate cocoa
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt optional
- 1/3 cup butter softened
- 2 eggs
- 2 large ripe bananas smashed or pureed
- 1 cup pumpkin puree not pumpkin pie mix
- 1/2 cup vanilla Greek yogurt
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a large bowl, combine flour, sugars, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix well to combine.
- In a separate bowl, combine butter, eggs, bananas, pumpkin puree, Greek yogurt and vanilla extra. Mix with electric mixer to fully combine.
- Combine wet ingredients and dry ingredients, along with chocolate chips, and stir until just combined. Do not over mix.
- Scoop batter into greased or line muffin tins.
- Bake for approx 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of muffins comes out clean and tops spring back lightly when touched.
Nutrition
Disclaimer
Nutrition information is estimated as a courtesy. If using for medical purposes, please verify information using your own nutritional calculator. Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Would you like more muffin recipes? Here are some of my faves…
Chocolate Chip Cookie Muffins Three Ways
Jennifer says
These are awesome! My one daughter does not like even a hint of banana flavor, so I used all pumpkin in place of the banana. The only other change I made was to use half dark chocolate morsels and half butterscotch chips. My little girls (6 and 8) and I devoured these! They liked them so much that I made them as the dessert for my little one’s birthday party. Both the little partygoers and their mamas asked for seconds. Solid recipe. Thank you!
Christi says
Jennifer, I’m so happy to hear that! I always say that my muffin recipes are really the ones that are the most personal to me, because they’ve come out of having to come up with something to feed my picky eaters. Mornings are just one heck of a hard time to have battles at the breakfast table. So I’m thrilled when someone else shares that their kids love them too! My girls don’t like butterscotch (crazy children) but man, that sounds AMAZING!
annabelle says
I became a fan long before pinterest…around the time of your levain bakery inspired choc. chip cookie, and your recipe was divine. I just made these muffins…
oh. my. goodness.
You’ve done it again.
The batter speaks for itself: It was like a mousse going into the cupcake papers.
Amazing…truly decadent. Thank you for another awesome recipe!
Christi says
Annabelle, ah, first thank you for being a reader from so earlier on – that was at the beginning! I am so happy you enjoyed this recipe. Out of all my recipes, the muffin ones are the most personal to me as I make them specifically for my girls. They aren’t fancy or exciting, but they are breakfast for two little ones and thus matter the most. We just depleted our stash, I am hoping my bananas will be ripe enough to make another batch tomorrow. š
Averie @ Averie Cooks says
About two weeks ago I set out to make chocolate banana bread. What came out of the oven was more like chocolate banana brownies. I used Greek yogurt and cocoa powder in them and it’s interesting to compare these with those. It was one of those baking ‘experiments’ I really didn’t know what was going to emerge! These muffins look fabulous, Christi! Love the big chunks of chocolate chips!
Jessica@AKitchenAddiction says
I love using pumpkin and yogurt to replace fat in baked goods! These chocolate muffins are great!
sue@cakeballs, cookies and more says
they look amazing, yummy!
Kyllie says
Awesome muffins!
sally @ sally's baking addiction says
I am SOLD! A healthy chocolate muffin decadent tasting enough to call dessert! Making these ASAP. Christi, thank you so much! You are the queen of muffins! Guess what? I made your oatmeal pumpkin cookies the other day and am blogging about them this week! I added chocolate chips and dried cranberries. š
Christi says
Sally, cranberries sound SO yummy in them, I might have to try that (now I’m thinking I need to go to Trader Joe’s, and goodness knows that will lead to all kinds of
troubleshopping). I love muffins, easiest breakfast ever!!!Katarina says
Wow, this is a great recipe with surprise ingredients!