Name: Whole Wheat Chocolate-Kale Banana Muffins
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 30 min
Ingredients: 1/2 cup cocoa powder (40g); 1 cup whole wheat flour (120g); 1 tsp baking powder; 1 tsp baking soda; 1/4 tsp salt; 3 medium ripe bananas; 200 g kale (thick stems removed); 4 eggs; 1/4 cup coconut oil (melted (56g) (butter or any fat would work)); 1/2 cup sugar (96g); 1 tsp vanilla

These muffins are brought to you curtesy of a holy-crap-what-am-I-going-to-do-with-all-this-kale moment.

Last week I bought one of those giant bags of pre-washed, cut kale and it's been staring me in the face for a week. With the expiration date fast approaching, it was time to make a move.

I googled Kale Muffins yesterday morning just to see if anyone else had the same dorky idea I did: puree it up for muffins! It seemed like an easy way to use a bunch AND get a bit into the kids as well. I've done it with spinach so why not?

This recipe inspired me to whip something up!

The result came out better than I ever expected! I'm actually kind of mad I didn't take more photos of the process but at the time I had this guy bugging me to play so I was juggling too much to snap away.

Anyway, I was surprised at the perfect muffin texture and loved that they were just sweet enough for snacks without entering into the too-sweet dessert realm.

Surprisingly BOTH kids liked them!

My new approach with the boys is simple: I don't get my hopes up. I simply bake away and put the result out with no hoopla.

The 4-year-old grabbed one first. His exact quote was:

"These muffins are good!"

He proceeded to eat 2-3 throughout the morning. I kept finding halves on the counter.

The 10-Year-Old was excited when he first saw the plate. Then he noticed the color was slightly off (adding purred kale will do that to a chocolate muffin). He took a bite and said,

"Not bad. They would be better with some chocolate chips though."

"Everything's better with chocolate chips." I said.

He also ate them throughout the day. By the evening there were only 4 of the 15 muffins left!

Again I'm reminded that when I put out healthy things, they eat healthy things. Having these on the island all day prevented the pantry raids that normally happen on the weekend.

Here's what I did...

Ingredients

½ cup cocoa powder (40g)
1 cup whole wheat flour (120g)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
3 medium ripe bananas
200g kale, thick stems removed
4 eggs
¼ cup coconut oil, melted (56g) (butter or any fat would work)
½ cup sugar (96g)
1 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Prepare 15 muffin tins with liners or non-stick cooking spray.

Whisk together (or sift) the cocoa powder, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl to remove any clumps and set aside.

Puree the banana and kale in a food processor or blender. (I wish I had a photo of this -- it was awesomely green!) I was never able to get the mixture 100% smooth. Small specks of kale are fine.

Whisk the eggs, oil, sugar and vanilla together until smooth.

Add the banana-kale puree to the egg mixture and whisk together until well incorporated.

Pour the dry ingredients into the wet and mix until just combined.

Evenly distribute the batter across 15 muffins using an ice cream scoop. One scoop per muffin was perfect!

Blake for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when stuck in the middle of a muffin.

Remove from tin and let cool.

Enjoy!

📖 Recipe