peanut butter + chocolate. enough said? well, how about if i add in that these are really yummy and healthy and may result in you being granted the title of "super parent" of the year? protein-packed, these are really great for breakfast to keep you going through all your morning busyness, including climbing the giant snow mountain on the playground at recess.
BUCKEYE MUFFINS - (makes 12+ respectably-sized muffins, or 24+ minis)
*this recipe is a tangent of our lowfat yogurt muffins
- 1 egg
- 1 cup nonfat plain greek-style (thick) yogurt (*mickie's yogurt works great)
- 2/3 c sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 3 Tbsp oil
- 2/3 c peanut butter
- 1 + 2/3 c unbleached flour
- 1 Tbsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 c ground flax meal (optional)
- two handfuls (about 1/2 cup total) of dark chocolate chips (60% or greater)
preheat oven to 400. in a bowl, stir together wet ingredients with a wooden spoon, then add the peanut butter and combine. sift together the dry ingredients, then add that to the mixture and stir until combined. fold in chocolate chips. divide mixture evening among 12 muffin cups. you may have a little bit extra left over - we'll talk about what to do with that later. bake the muffins at 400 for 12 minutes - watch carefully because overcooked peanut butter is not a good thing. take out of oven and enjoy immediately and one-a-day after that until they're gone.
another way to make these - or a great way to use up whatever leftover batter is in the bowl after you scoop out the dozen muffins - is to make muffin cookies. yes, you read that right. muffin cookies. i credit my lovely friend Kaye with teaching me her muffin cookie method. (she also taught me to sereptitiously incorporate flax meal whenever possible, smart mama.) basically, you just dollop tablespoonfuls of muffin batter onto your cookie sheet instead of scooping into muffin cups. you bake the muffin cookies at the same temp, but less time (about 7-8 minutes). it really depends on the size of them + your oven, so watch them closely. the amount of batter that goes into one muffin makes about 3 muffin cookies. today's batch yielded 12 muffins + 4 muffin cookies. in our house, that should last four days. should.
soft + cake-like + perfect size for an after-school snack. i prefer muffin cookies for myself because they are not as big a commitment as an entire muffin, so if you are being conservative with your calories, you can still enjoy a treat and not fall off the wagon. i have been known to wreck myself with peanut butter and choclate in the past (haven't we all), so having a buckeye muffin cookie is a better choice for me. the muffins are for the family, but these are mine. xoxo
