Skinny Banana Blueberry Muffins.

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Not too long ago, I shared my Skinny Strawberry Chocolate Chip Muffins with you.  Wow, they certainly were a HUGE hit!  I love that recipe and have made several muffins from that base recipe since including today’s blueberry banana version.

What’s so fabulous about today’s muffins? Well, they are made with whole wheat flour, contain no butter or oil, use honey instead of white sugar, have protein rich greek yogurt, and are packed with vitamin-filled blueberries and bananas.

And they are virtually fat free AND only 131 calories each (using nonfat vanilla Greek yogurt & unsweetened almond milk). Pretty sweet, huh?

Well you’re probably thinking – all that “health” talk probably makes these taste like health food, right?! Wrong. They taste like soft, fluffy bakery-style banana muffins with tons of juicy blueberries.

The recipe from which these muffins are based has readers constantly commenting and writing to me saying they don’t even taste “skinny.” And today’s muffins are just the same. You’re going to love them!

What are you waiting for? Let your bananas rot, pick up some blueberries, and get to it!

I doubled the original recipe, took some items out, and added some items in. This recipe will make 15 very generously sized muffins.  Good tip: Bake the first 12, then bake the last 3 and fill your empty muffin tins halfway with water to assure even baking.

Start with 2.5 cups of whole wheat flour.  I used white whole wheat flour.  I suggest using white-whole wheat flour or a combination of all-purpose and whole wheat flour. Not ALL whole wheat flour, which may lend a tough textured muffin (not as soft).  Mix the flour with baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Always cinnamon.

For the sweeteners I used a mixture of honey and brown sugar. The original muffins use a combination of white sugar and brown sugar.  A recent sale on honey at my grocery store had me stock up on it. I’m a sucker for baking ingredient sales!  A much less refined sugar than white sugar, I knew honey would make a perfect addition to my skinny muffins. Use 1/4 cup of honey and 1/2 cup of (lightly packed) brown sugar. Not bad for a recipe making 15 muffins.

Two ingredients bringing moisture (and taste) to the muffins are mashed bananas and vanilla greek yogurt.  Both ingredients are fabulous healthy substitutes for fat in certain recipes. Fat is moisture-laden and you don’t want to sacrifice that when you cut it out.  Low fat products tend to be on the dry side, which is a texture I cannot get on board with. Especially in muffins.  1 cup of mashed bananas (2 large bananas) and 1/4 cup of vanilla greek yogurt do a fine job of keeping the muffins soft, tender, and moist.

Bananas and yogurt also keep my Skinny Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl Cupcakes moist & flavorful. Be sure to use VERY ripe bananas here – heavily brown speckled bananas are what you are looking for. The browner the banana, the better.

Mashed bananas and greek yogurt are my “skinny recipe” secret weapons!

Next, add 1 beaten egg.  The egg will act as a binder for the muffins as they bake.  I used 1 whole egg instead of 2 egg whites to bring the muffins some richness and enhance the texture.  Along with the mashed banana and yogurt, eggs are a moistening agent as well.

The last wet ingredient is 3/4 cup of milk.  You may use any sort of milk here, choose your favorite: 2% milk, skim milk, almond milk, vanilla almond milk, soy milk, light soy milk, vanilla soymilk, rice milk, etc etc. I used unsweetened almond milk because that is what I usually have on hand and the 131 calorie count reflects that.

Now, please note that the batter will be quite thick. You will ask yourself… am I doing something wrong? Did Sally forget to add an ingredient to the recipe on her blog? No worries!  The batter will be very thick and you’ll need to break out those fabulous arm muscles of yours to stir it all around.  And remember, as with ALL muffin recipes, do not overmix the batter!  Only mix the batter until the wet and dry ingredients are *just combined* and no more flour pockets remain.

Overmixing your batter will activate the gluten in the flour and overdevelop it, deflating the air bubbles in the process. This results in a tough, hard, dense muffin – not soft and fluffy like you are aiming for.

Let’s not forget those blueberries.  I added 1 overflowing cup of fresh blueberries to the batter – it probably ended up being almost 1.25 cups.  Feel free to use frozen blueberries instead; I prefer to use fresh blueberries in my muffin recipes. Each bite is PACKED with blueberries, which I love. Homemade blueberry muffins are my favorite kind.

Bake the muffins for about 17-18 minutes at 325F.  Like most banana bread recipes, we found that the muffins taste best the next day after the banana flavor had time to settle.  However, that didn’t stop me from eating two the day I made them. These muffins also freeze well. If you are only baking for yourself, you can freeze the rest for a grab n’ go breakfast or snack.

I plan to freeze the few I have left for a quick breakfast on my way to work this week.

The taste? Like a soft blueberry muffin infused with flavor-packed banana bread.

The recipe uses very familiar, easy ingredients. It’s always such a drag to find healthier recipes I want to make but noticing they require 18 trips to different specialty stores and contain ingredients I’ve never heard of.  Nope, none of my recipes include those. I like to make things as easy as possible for not only you, but for me as well. Who has time for anything more? Not this girl!

I love you Skinny Banana Blueberry Muffins.  Let me count the ways: no mixer required, taking less than 30 minutes start to finish, muffins freeze well, taste phenominal, only 131 calories, minimal fat, use honey instead of white sugar, are moist, soft, tender, skinny perfection. I could really go on and on, but I’ll spare you.

See more of my healthier recipes.

Who’s ready for a few more of my healthier recipes?  I have plenty more where these came from today.

Skinny Strawberry Chocolate Chip Muffins

Healthy Oatmeal Raisinet Cookies

Skinny Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl Cupcakes

Skinny Chocolate Banana Fudge Muffins

Maple Almond Granola Clusters

Sky High Apple Pie Muffins

Want a recipe for regular blueberry muffins?  You have to try my Sparkling Jumbo Blueberry Muffins.

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Tagged as: bananas, blueberries, brown sugar, cinnamon, egg, fruit, healthy, honey, milk, Muffin Recipes, whole wheat flour, yogurt