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This is the third muffin recipe in three days! I tried to pick a true variety of muffins, to go with the ones already posted, but even beyond these I have created several others! If people enjoy these let me know and I’ll post more!

Without rehashing this topic too much (there’s more details in the write up on the OG of my muffins — the “Better” Blueberry Muffin recipe) it’s important to start with reason I call my muffin “better” muffins. Foods are neither intrinsically “good” nor “bad” — it’s all about context. These recipes are the results of taking a typical muffin recipe, swapping out a number of ingredients with some slightly “better” ones, and those small changes add up to a healthier option.

A typical double chocolate chip muffin will run around 600 calories, 75 carbs (the simple fast-burning kind), with up to 30 grams of fat and sugar. My “better” version comes in at just 106 calories and three grams of fat, 15 complex (slow-burning) carbs, eight grams of sugar and six grams of protein. How is this accomplished? By replacing the all-purpose flour with a combination of oats, whole wheat flour and pea protein. Replacing the granulated sugar with maple syrup, and replacing the oil and butter with non-fat Greek yogurt and no-sugar added applesauce.

Would I call it a “healthy” muffin or classify it as a “good” food? No. There’s really no such thing. Plus, let’s face it… even my version has a half a cup of chocolate chips in it! I hope you enjoy the taste and the texture, and that it is hunger-satisfying thanks to the protein and the belly-satisfying carbs. So in that regard, if you’re choosing between a regular double chocolate chip muffin and this version, hopefully you’ll agree that this one is, well… “better”… and give it a try!

Ingredients (Yields 19 muffins)

• 1 1/4 cup old-fashioned oats
• 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 3 scoops Naked Pea protein powder
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp 100% cocoa powder (unsweetened)
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup non-fat plain Greek yogurt
• 1/2 cup chocolate unsweetened almond milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup no-sugar added applesauce
• 1/3 cup maple syrup

Equipment Check

Despite the relatively long list of ingredients, this is a simple and quick recipe to make. Before you start, you’ll want a pair of muffin pans (12 muffin capacity), a large mixing bowl and a medium mixing bowl. It would also be quite useful to have a whisk on hand, as well as a mixing spoon. That’s really it!

Combine the Dry Ingredients

In your large mixing bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients – the oats, the whole wheat flour, the pea protein, cocoa powder, the baking powder, baking soda, salt and the chocolate chips. Mix until well combined.

Once done, set the large bowl aside.

Next Up – Wet Ingredients

In your second bowl, combine the wet ingredients. Whisk the eggs until well blended. Then add the yogurt and whisk until smooth. Finally, add in the remaining wet ingredients – the almond milk, the vanilla extract, the applesauce and the maple syrup and whisk together until the mixture is smooth. It should have the appearance of a light brown pancake batter.

Batter Up!

Next, pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and gently stir together until completely combined. Make sure to get all the way to the bottom of the bowl so that there are no pockets of dry ingredients remaining. The batter should be sticky and loose but not runny if properly combined. If it feels too dry, add an additional splash of almond milk.

Let’s Bake!

You’ll want to cook in one (or two if you prefer) ovens preheated to 375 degrees. So get your ovens going before you start on the batter. As for preparing your muffin tins I’ve gone about this both ways. The first few times I made these, I used paper muffin cups. They’re obviously easier for clean up, but the downside is I found that occasionally the muffin would stick to the paper when trying to take it out. I finally decided to, instead, simply coat my muffin tins with cooking spray (using a paper towel to make sure it was evenly applied) at it worked quiet well.

One final note on this topic. In terms of order of operations, once I have my dry and wet ingredients prepared, that is the point at which I normally prep my pans. Once they are ready, then I combine wet and dry and proceed to baking. I don’t like to let the batter sit any longer than I have to before getting it in the oven.

Every time I’ve baked these I’ve ended up with 19 muffins. You easily could make each of the first 18 muffins a bit larger to get to a nice even number… but I like having that extra “tester” muffin that I can immediately tear into to check for taste and texture without breaking up the complete set. But that’s just how my brain works.

Timing-wise, the muffins tend to take around 13-15 minutes to cook. I normally rotate the pans after about 10 minutes, and start testing them around 12 minutes. When a cake tester comes out clean in the middle of the muffins, I pull them out.

Let the muffins rest for a minute or so that they will pull away from the tins, and then pop them out and let them cool. I tend to refrigerate my muffins (to extend their life a few more days) but with no fresh fruit in these, you could just put these in an air tight container on the counter and they should be good for a 3-4 days at least.