I’ve made these Green Smoothie Chocolate Chip Muffins three times within the last week. The first round didn’t result in a muffin I was excited to share with you. It was okay, but not great. Truth be told, it tasted healthy. Which on one hand is fine, but I wanted a muffin that IS healthy, but didn’t necessarily taste healthy. You know, so my kids {and husband} would eat them.
The second round was a “take two”, with some alterations and swaps to see if I could get the outcome I was hoping for, and thankfully I did! They’re light yet slightly dense and and not overly sweet. However, with the richness from the chocolate chips, you get a muffin healthy enough for breakfast/snack, yet tasty enough to suffice as dessert.
And the third time? I made them exactly like I did the second time, because we pretty much devoured the last batch and I wanted more. Plus we’re packing some to take on our trip to Virginia for Christmas.
Speaking of Christmas…it’s NEXT WEEK. Can you believe that? How is that even possible?
We’ve had so much fun implementing sweet traditions with the kids this Christmas season. And as crazy as it’s been these last few weeks, I’m going to be sad when Christmas is over. With Brighton being three, he’s loving every minute of it, but it also seems like with each fun thing he gets, he just wants more. Which I think is natural, but also a little exhausting.
It’s been a bit of a learning curve to balance embracing the fun traditions that come with the season, while working to teach him the true meaning of Christmas. Keeping our focus on the birth of baby Jesus. We’re working to teach Brighton that we give and receive gifts at Christmas because we’ve been given the greatest gift of all. And while he may be young, he’s getting it! At least in pieces, and it’s so sweet to watch.
I realize my last post before Christmas isn’t necessarily festive, but hey, traditional Christmas colors are red and GREEN, sooo these sorta count as Christmas muffins, right? :)
Which by the way, being that they’re green, there’s really no hiding the fact that they’re on the healthy side, but I promise you can’t taste the spinach! And if you’ve got toddlers, they’ll likely love seeing a green muffin. Brighton thought they were great and the green didn’t slow him down for a second! They could even be fun to make and eat while watching How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
Trust me, give Green Smoothie Muffins a try!
I’ve seen a couple of green smoothie muffin recipes floating about the web over the last few months and had been wanting to try a version myself. I used my Peanut Butter Banana Green Smoothie recipe as inspiration and am loving this combo in both formats! I hope you’ll give them a try, but even more I hope you guys have a wonderful Christmas surrounded by those you love most!
Green Smoothie Chocolate Chip Muffins
Ingredients
- 2 ripe bananas
- 1/4 cup coconut oil melted*
- 1/3 cup organic brown coconut sugar*
- 1 cage free egg
- 1 flax egg {1 tbsp ground flax seed added to 3 tbsp warm water}
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 tsp lemon juice
- 1/4 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
- 2 1/2 cups organic baby spinach {lightly packed}
- 1 3/4 cups rolled oats certified gluten-free if necessary*
- 1/4 cup peanut butter powder {I used PBFit}
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- pinch sea salt
- 1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips divided
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 12 muffin holes with liners or spray well with nonstick spray.
- Blend rolled oats in a Nutribullet or high power food processor until it’s a fine flour-like consistency.
- Then add bananas, coconut oil, brown coconut sugar, egg, flax egg, vanilla, lemon juice, almond milk and spinach to high powder blender and blend until a smooth creamy consistency is reached and there are no more traces of the spinach leaves.
- In a separate bowl, combine rolled oat flour, PBFit, baking soda, baking powder, and sea salt, stir to combine. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined.
- Stir in chocolate chips, reserving a few for the tops, then divide evenly among 12 lined muffins. Top with reserved chocolate chips and bake 17-18 minutes or until toothpick is inserted in the center and comes out clean.
- Allow to cool 5 minutes or so then remove from pan and enjoy! Store in airtight container for 5 days or freeze for up 2 months.
Notes
Organic Brown Coconut Sugar: You can substitute with equal parts brown sugar if needed.
Coconut Oil: While I haven't tried it, I think you could easily swap this out for melted butter.
Ground Oats: If you don't have a way to finely grind the oats or can't find oat flour, I think wheat or white flour would work just fine.
Nutrition