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Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Banana Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins

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What kind of a student were/are you? As for me, I was the super over-achiever, type-A student who usually had assignments completed weeks ahead of time. It was no accident that I was voted “Teacher’s Pet” for senior superlatives, as lame as it is (in my defense, I was also voted “Most Dependable”…that’s a little less lame, right?).

I’m back in school again, working towards my master’s degree in Management and Leadership. My classes are all online and I’m about halfway through the program. This time around, however, I am QUITE a different student. Unfortunately, my heart is not in this. I’m doing this because of potential doors it could open in the future and because my company pays for it, but if I had my choice, I would absolutely NOT be spending my time this way. As a result, I seem to lack that over-achieverness that I once had. Granted, I still turn in assignments early and I still have all A’s, but that’s more the result of me being wise enough to know what to say and how to say it in order to get the good grades.

The biggest difference between previous student Natalie and current student Natalie? The procrastination! Yes, I still get stuff done, and early, but I used to be the type who would do ALL work first and play later. Now, I find myself dreading Sunday afternoons filled with homework I’m not at all interested…and instead I find myself baking. Several times I’ve caught myself using baking as a procrastination device. These peanut butter banana muffins are case in point! Muffins > Homework.

Because I used dark chocolate dreams peanut butter (from my ever-favorite PB&Co), I felt like the peanut butter flavor didn’t come through as strongly as I had hoped. My sister bit into one and claimed she tasted the banana, but not the peanut butter. You may have better luck with regular peanut butter, or feel free to up the pb amount a bit! You’d never guess these had half whole wheat flour and thanks to yogurt and only minimal butter, these are a pretty healthy muffin!

With another several months of school ahead of me, you can expect to find several procrastination-related baking experiments on here! 

Want to hop on the banana train with me? There are a ton of other great banana recipes found on Well-Being Secrets here!


One Year Ago: Bombay Sloppy Joes (not your average sloppy joe!)
Two Years Ago: Indonesian Chicken with Peanut Sauce

Banana Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins
slightly adapted from Picky Palate
*makes about 18 regular sized muffins
Ingredients:
-4 tbsp butter, softened
-2 eggs
-2 ripe bananas, mashed
-1 cup plain low-fat vanilla yogurt
-2/3 cup sugar
-heaping 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter (I used dark chocolate peanut butter!)
-1 cup all purpose flour
-1 cup whole wheat flour
-3/4 tsp salt
-1/2 tsp baking soda
-1/4 tsp baking powder
-1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350F. In a large bowl, mix butter, eggs, yogurt, sugar, bananas, and peanut butter.
2. In a separate bowl, mix flours, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Add to wet ingredients, mixing just until combined. Stir in mini chocolate chips.
3. Scoop into muffin tins lined with paper cups. Bake for 20-25 minutes until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.