Woohoo, I did it, guys! I successfully put together a yummy protein treat recipe that’s not only (mostly) healthy, it’s SO simple, anyone can make it!
So…while in truth this recipe isn’t likely to be featured on The Food Network or Bravo anytime soon (I’ve got to up my culinary wizardry game before that can happen), it was so simple, healthy AND delicious that I felt it HAD to be shared.
I’ll be honest, I got the idea to make these because I was having some sweet treat cravings and I wanted to make something that was at least remotely healthy to help curb those cravings. I also noticed that we had 3 ripe bananas on hand, and if we waited any longer to use them we’d have to trash them. So, since I detest wasting food, I figured it out! I’d concoct some sort of healthy protein banana bread recipe.
Since you guys are probably aware that I like to keep things simple in the kitchen and don’t bake a ton, you’re probably wondering how (or why) I ended up concocting my own recipe, right?
Well, to be perfectly honest, a quick scan of recipes online turned up with several options, but none seemed to fit the “keep it healthy” and “use protein powder” bill because they all either A) were full of sugar, butter and only a few tablespoons of Greek yogurt (in order to qualify it as a “protein” option, I suppose), B) had a laundry list of ingredients I didn’t feel like going to the store for or C) were so loaded down with protein powder and bland ingredients that I was fearful that they would be so healthy that they wouldn’t provide the sweet treat fix I was after (or worse yet, turn out to be super dry as so many uber healthy protein powder “sweet treat” recipes do). You see, protein powder can be a tricky item to bake with- some things turn out delicious, but other more “meathead-esque” recipes end up loaded in protein but dry and lacking taste. I wanted some sort of happy medium, so alas- I concocted my own version of healthy(ish) Chocolate PB protein banana bread muffins.
This will take under 30 min (that’s including prep, cook and clean up time) for a dozen delicious muffins that the whole family will enjoy.
Here’s what you do:
Preheat over to 350 F
Line muffin tray with muffin cups
In one large mixing bowl, combine wet ingredients.
In separate bowl, whisk together all dry ingredients.
Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredient bowl, stirring until everything is completely blended. Fold in chocolate chips.
What you’ll need:
Dry ingredients:
1/2 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup Cellucor Chocolate PB whey protein
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/3 cup dry oats
1/4 tsp salt
2-3 tbsp mini chocolate chips
Wet ingredients:
3 ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup Plain/nonfat Greek ygourt
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp honey
Bake in oven at 350 F for 15-20 min…once you remove muffins from over, if you want to add a couple extra chocolate chips on each muffin top, they’ll melt right away and enhance the overall sweet treat factor, too!