Protein Chocolate Chip Muffins

I love muffins just as much as the next person, but lets face it, when you're trying to eat healthy muffins don't usually make the cut. I mean, what is so unhealthy about eating a huge muffin the size of your 2 fists, toasted and then slathered in butter?? Yup, you got me, nothing!

Unfortunately, we can't all be in denial. A fresh blueberry muffin from the bakery can have upwards of over 400 calories, 18 grams of fat, 61 carbohydrates, and 37 grams of sugar. I can't imagine what the nutrition would be for a double dark chocolate or a apple cinnamon sugar muffin! 

Enter Kodiak Cakes Power Cakes. I had heard of this brand before, but I didn't want to buy it from the grocery store because a tiny box of their pancake mix was over $5. So when I saw Costco had a HUGE box of sale for $7 I grabbed it right up. Their Kodiak Cakes it mainly for making waffles and pancakes, but you can also make pizza, pot pies, and many other food items with their mix. Their mix can be substituted as a healthy alternative in recipes: swap 1 cup of flour with 1 cup of Kodiak Cakes Mix and omit the salt and baking powder. When I saw that you could make muffins, I was all over it.

Before I dive into the recipe, there are some substitutions I wanted to share with you. The recipe calls for 1/2 cup of brown sugar and 1/4 of melted butter. I did not follow that and instead I added 1 tablespoon of brown sugar, 1/2 cup of applesauce, and 1/4 cup of honey; that way I was still getting the sweetness without the extra processed sugar. 

Ingredients:

2 cups Power Cake Mix
1 cup of milk (I used Unsweetened Almond Milk)
1 egg
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup honey
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
2 ripe bananas, mashed
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
Handful of chocolate chips.

Directions:

Mash 2 bananas in a bowl until they looked pureed. Combine all other ingredients in the bowl. Grease all muffin cups with cooking spray to prevent sticking (Even if you use the muffin liners spray them as well). Fill each muffin cup 3/4 full. Bake at 350 for 14-18 minutes (I cooked mine for 16 minutes and they came out perfect). Makes 16 muffins. 

Note: I did not add chocolate chips to the batter. I filled each muffin tin 3/4 full and they I add 3 chocolate chips on top and then pressed them into the batter. Either way is fine though. 

Servings Size: 2 muffins have 12 grams of protein. 

Enjoy!