Juanita started 2nd grade today, she bravely marched off to school this morning with her oversized backpack and several less teeth than last year. It’s not going to be easy to fit back into a box after a long, freedom-and-food-filled summer – I’m talking about fresh focaccia for breakfast, multiple-course, nonna-prepared meals twice a day: hand-made pesto, fried zucchini flowers and bottomless bottles of ice-cold rosé. The kids have been especially spoiled: ice cream every day, pasta at every meal, potato chips on the beach, chocolate milk, and all sorts of culinary debauchery.
So I decided it’s time to reset, and start the school year off on the right foot. These muffins are a little healthier than my usual butter-and-sugar-filled variety, but the kids love them just the same. I like to make a big batch and freeze the extras in order to have a quick breakfast or after-school snack on hand at all times. I used einkorn (farina di farro monococco) but you may feel free to substitute whole wheat, all-purpose, or your flour of choice. Also, chocolate chips may be swapped out for blueberries or chopped seasonal fruit as desired.
Healthy chocolate chip muffins
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons of plain low-fat yogurt
- 3 Tbsp (45) g butter, melted and slightly cooled
- 1/2 cup (100 g) apple sauce
- 1 ripe banana, mashed with a fork
- 4 tbsp (80 g) honey
- 1 3/4 cup (200 g) whole wheat flour
- 1/2 cup (50 g) rolled oats, plus extra for decorating
- 1½ tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 1/2 cup (80 g) dark chocolate chips, plus extra for decorating
- 3 tbsp raw cane sugar, for sprinkling
For 12 muffins
Heat oven to 350°F/180C. Line a 12-muffin tin with paper liners. In a medium bowl, mix the eggs, yogurt, butter, apple sauce, banana, and honey. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, oats, baking powder and soda, salt and chocolate chips. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix briefly and gently until you see no more flour, but don’t overmix. The batter will be lumpy. Divide the batter between the prepared muffin tins. Sprinkle the muffins with the raw cane sugar, the extra oats and chocolate chips. Bake for 22-25 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Remove from the oven, transfer to a wire rack and let cool. Can be stored in a sealed container for up to 3 days or frozen for 3 months.
