Healthy Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

In the current working from home environment, I have been constantly searching healthy snacks on the Internet. I try to stick to a handful of raw nuts and dried fruit. My favourites are cashew nuts, almonds, apricots and black raisins. Occasionally I will munch on fresh fruit (bananas , blueberries or apples) with a spoonful of peanut butter. For a more savoury snack, I love smearing fresh cottage cheese over rice crackers with a sprinkle of smoked paprika. And then there is the constant quest for healthy bakes such as my chocolate tahini vegan fudge brownies. In this post, I am writing all about making these healthy chocolate chip banana muffins. These muffins use wholegrain flours (buckwheat), are refined sugar-free with good quality fats. Totally great for snacking! You want to make (or bake) these right now 🙂

Baking with Buckwheat Flour

I have experimented with few wholegrain flours in my baking journey. I love the nutty wholesome taste these flours produce. For example, I use spelt flour in a 1:1 ratio instead of a white all purpose /wheat flour. Spelt flour is an ancient relative to modern wheat and has a relatively lower gluten content than wheat flours. So most people allergic to wheat flour may be able to digest spelt.

In these healthy chocolate chip banana muffins, I am using gluten-free buckwheat flour and spelt flour. On its own buckwheat flour absorbs large amounts of liquid. So I try to mix in buckwheat flour with a gluten flour like spelt or even ground almonds in my baking.

What is Buckwheat Flour and its uses ? In case you are new to buckwheat flour, you may have noticed it is the main ingredient in Japanese soba noodles. Also buckwheat is not a grain or a variety of wheat. It is actually a fruit seed related to sorrel and rhubarb. When the seed is milled, fresh buckwheat flour has a subtle aroma, a rich nutty flavour and a natural, light brown colour. I find this flour a great grain-free substitute in baking muffins, biscuits and quick breads.

Baking with Unrefined Sugars

Refined sugar is the white table sugar that has undergone considerable processing and stripped of its nutrients. Unrefined sugars include sweetners like rice malt syrup, golden syrup, agave, maple syrup, honey or coconut sugar. Obviously these unrefined sugars are not sugar-free. Depending on the sweetener you pick, they will have varying amounts of glucose, fructose or maltose . Hence I wouldn’t call these sugars “healthy”, “sugar-free” or “calorie-free” but at least they may still contain some trace minerals, which is a good thing.

Fats for baking healthy chocolate chip banana muffins

Normally I like baking muffins with oils like macadamia or avocado oil which in my opinion are rich in fat, pretty neutral and quite nutty as well. Read on below my tips on helping you choose a good oil to bake your muffins with.

• I like baking with macadamia oil. Almond oil is also a great oil to bake with as it is light, nutty and subtle in taste.  These oils maybe a bit expensive , but baking is normally not an everyday affair here. Also the cost per baked good still turns out cheaper than buying from outside. So I prefer baking with these oils. The idea is to use less quantity so the oils last a while. 
• If you have a nut allergy, maybe try avocado or olive oil ? Sometimes I also use olive oil but that is if the recipe calls for olive oil and I am baking something like an olive oil cake. 
• I prefer not to use oils like sunflower or “vegetable” oil as I am not sure how these are made and seem to be artificial. 

Making these Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins Healthy

So there you have it . These healthy-ish muffins are made with wholegrain buckwheat flour, nutty macadamia oil filled with good fats and naturally sweetened with bananas and coconut palm sugar. These healthy chocolate chip muffins have a decent crumb, easy to bake and pack. Why wouldn’t you love these? I hope you give these muffins a try and let me know in the comments if you do end up trying these.

If you like this recipe, please do leave a rating below. Don’t forget to tag #urbanfoodlover and follow along on Instagram for lots of foodie inspiration 🙂