Whole Wheat Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

A few days ago I made Banana Pancakes which were really good and my kids loved them. I decided since I still had some bananas left and they had been a hit I would try another banana recipe. I came across Whole Wheat Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins and they sounded good and looked gorgeous! Plus Danya had been asking me to make chocolate chip muffins lately so I figured I would give it a whirl. Of course I don't know how to follow a recipe without changing it so here is what I made:

Whole Wheat Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

2 ripe bananas, mashed
1/4 C. canola oil
1/4 C. milk
2 Eggs
1 Tbls. Vanilla
1 C. Whole Wheat Flour
1 C. Flour
1/2 C. Silan
1 Tbls. Baking Powder
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1/2 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Ground Flax Seed
1 C. Chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and grease or place liners in a muffin pan. Mash the bananas in a bowl. Add oil, milk, eggs and vanilla. Mix until combined. Add the flours, silan, baking powder, baking soda, salt, flax seed and chocolate chips. Mix until combined but don't over mix. Fill each muffin up about 3/4 full. Bake about 10-15 minutes or until the tops are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Place muffins on a cooling rack and allow them to sit for 10-15 minutes before attempting to remove the wrapper. Makes 12 large muffins.


These were absolutely delicious and got rave reviews from the kids and husband.

Do we think these are an acceptable substitute for cereal for breakfast??

Cookies

Today I attempted making my regular blondies with half the fat and sugar. I announced to my husband that half the sugar was replaced with splenda, all the brown sugar was replaced with silan, half the oil(which used to be margarine, but I stopped using that a year ago) was replaced with apple sauce, half the white flour was replaced with whole wheat flour. I then agreed with him that if they came out edible it would be miraculous. Then we tasted them and couldn't believe how good they were. Now I am going to be honest and say that they tasted a little more like chocolate chip cake than chocolate chip blondies however they were so good. 2 of my 3 kids tried them and loved them. I rarely make this cookie recipe into cookies mostly out of laziness however I think they might make soft cookies. I'll give it a try next time.

So here is my healthier version of Nestle Toll House Cookies:

1/4 C. plus 1/8 C. Splenda
1/4 C. plus 1/8 C. Sugar
3/4 C. Silan (Date Syrup)
1/4 C. plus 1/8 C. Apple Sauce
1/4 C. plus 1/8 C. Canola Oil
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
1 1/4 C. White Flour
1 C. Wheat Flour
1 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1 bag Chocolate Chips

Mix Splenda, sugar, silan, apple sauce, canola oil and vanilla. Add eggs one at a time. Add flours, salt and baking soda. Mix well. Add chocolate chips. Bake in 9x13 pan at 350 for 20-30 minutes(if it wiggles when you shake the pan you need to cook it more). If making cookies bake 8 minutes.

I would also like to add that this is my first time using silan and I was very pleasantly surprised. I am curious to hear how you use silan and at what equivalent. After today's experiment you can expect to see it showing up more in my recipes.