Whole Wheat Coconut Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

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Whole Wheat Coconut Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

It’s been a while since I shared an original recipe, hasn’t it? Last week’s tips on how I make my own homemade bread doesn’t quite count. Well, no worries, because today I’m bringing you these whole wheat coconut banana chocolate chip muffins!

Whole Wheat Coconut Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Recipe development is either feast or fast for me. I’m either brimming with ideas or I’m like, a baked potato? Another bowl of oatmeal?

There’s times when you simply need to step away from something, give your mind a break, and foster new excitement for it before diving in again. Sort of like recovery weeks after a race, when you give your body (and, honestly, mind) a bit of a break so that you don’t burn out and can hit that next training cycle hard.

I find it easy, though, for some strange reason, but slip honest and random thoughts into recipe posts. The form of a recipe post is almost like having a friend over for dinner and chatting while you sip wine and cook together. Like those days after work when Ryan and I chat as we cook and enjoy a good craft beer.

So, let’s be random and open, right smack here in the middle of some coconut banana chocolate chip muffins.

Whole Wheat Coconut Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

I like to celebrate success rather than dwell on where I fell short or what remains to be accomplished. I can get myself down too easily when I obsess over what I haven’t achieve, and that negative mindset does not foster productivity, creativity, or perseverance.

Nor does the mindset of a comparison trap. I used to compare myself heavily to other runners. She’s faster than me, she BQ’ed, she logs insanely awesome mileage each week: why can’t I? Or, more accordingly with the way my mind works, why don’t I?

Recently, as I’ve been pleased with my running and training, I fell into a bit of a comparison trap with recipes and food photography. In this day and age of Pinterest and Instagram, it’s far too easy to compare to other bloggers, especially those who churn out such utterly creative and mouth-watering recipes and who capture stunning photos of the food.

Meanwhile, I’m here rocking the auto-focus function on my DSLR because, after 18 months of this, I still struggle to focus my lens every so perfectly.

And then it just hits you, and maybe in terms of running, or blogging, or any other aspect of life: you can draw inspiration from others, but there’s no point in wasting time or emotion in comparison. Comparison is a passive action, in the sense it accomplishes nothing; inspiration, on the other hand, spurs action.

Recipes, while are important part of my blog, aren’t the bread and butter; nor is food photography the primary focus of my recipes. Rather, I want to bring simple to make, nutritious, and delicious recipes to other runners. Endurance athletes need to eat, and want to eat, quite a bit, so why not eat whole foods that taste good?

Speaking of foods that taste good, let’s talk more about these whole wheat coconut banana chocolate chips muffins. Because they taste so good it takes a Yoda-dose of willpower and control to only eat just one.

Whole Wheat Coconut Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

The idea for this recipe came to me reading Lisa’s post about meal prepping last week. She made my oatmeal chocolate chip blueberry muffins and between that and my carb-tastic half marathon hunger, I could not get fresh homemade muffins off my mind. Plus, in preparation for the Lake Sammamish Half Marathon, I bought approximately 50 (or 15, but it sure seemed like more) bananas to make sure we had good bananas for my pre-race meal.

So naturally, banana muffins had to be made. I heavily based this recipe off of the oatmeal chocolate chip blueberry muffins, with a few tweaks based on my recent love for coconut oil. (And, side note, these coconut oil chocolate chip cookies are amazing, if you’re not in the mood to make muffins.)

These muffins are made with coconut oil – no butter – and coconut milk, which lend that subtly nutty and fruity taste of coconut. Whole wheat flour and oats provide fiber and a healthy dose of complex carbohydrates, while bananas and a touch of brown sugar provide a balanced, not cloying, sweetness. And everything’s better with chocolate chips!

I used a food processor to mash the bananas, which makes the batter so perfectly smooth that you won’t find a single chunk of banana in these muffins. Rather, the dark chocolate chips stand out in these sweet, soft, can’t-stop-eating-them muffins.

Whole Wheat Coconut Banana Chocolate Chips Muffins

Laura Norris
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 12 minutes
Cook Time 18 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes

Ingredients
  

  • 1/2 cup rolled oats
  • 1 cup light coconut milk carton, not canned
  • 1 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/3 cup brown sugar
  • 3 very ripe bananas
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
  • 4 tablespoons coconut oil melted and cooled

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
  • Combine the coconut milk and oats in a measuring cup or bowl and let the oats soak for 5 minutes.
  • In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
  • Use a food processor, immersion blender, or fork to mash the bananas until smooth.
  • Beat in the egg and sugar together and add to the bananas. You can beat all of these together using the food processor to eliminate extra dishes.
  • Stir in the oat-milk mixture, vanilla, cinnamon, and melted coconut oil into the wet ingredients.
  • Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredient and gently fold together. It's alright if there are a few streak of flour in the batter, but be careful not to overmix. Fold in chocolate chips.
  • Grease the muffin tins with coconut oil or line with muffin liners. Equally divide the batter between 12 muffin tins.
  • Bake for 17-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of a muffin emerges clean. Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes and then move to a cooling rack.

Notes

Store for up to five days in an airtight container.

Whole Wheat Coconut Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

And now I’m hungry again. 

[Tweet “Whole Wheat Coconut Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins via @thisrunrecipes #recipe #muffins #bgbcommunity”]

Linking up with Foodie Friday!

Do you fall into the comparison trap?
What are your weekend plans? Is anyone racing?
What do you need to just sometimes take a break from to get inspired again?

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21 Responses

  2. I haven’t made muffins in a while! I actually haven’t baked a thing in quite some time either! I go through phases as well and right now, I am not in baking mode! funny considering I used to have a cookie business! I don’t even know the last recipe I shared but im not a food blogger which sort of keeps me in check from falling into comparison traps. I hate photography and will never use a real camera (even though I have one) it’s just not for me and not why I blog which is what I remind myself! I love to bake and eat but photographing it? styling it? nope. these muffins look great though! I should make them

    Reply

    1. Thank you! Yes, you should definitely make them, they’re so easy and so delicious! I go in and out of baking modes also! Oh styling food is so annoying, I don’t do it. I see styled food photos that look like they waste perfectly good food. I started out wanting to be a bit of a food blog and quickly realized, nope, that’s not for me.

      Reply

  3. I’m in famine land over here, but mostly that is because I just don’t have enough space in my brain for anything else! These look amazing, though. So could you just send me some? 😀

    Reply

  4. This is a delicious muffin recipe and a great recovery snack! If you want to share it with us on Sunday at Fitness and Food lInk-Up we would love to have you! Have a great Weekend!

    Reply

  5. I am so glad I don’t cook worth crap because then I’d feel the pressure to blog about food and take perfect pictures! Ha ha! I could take photos of the fires in the kitchen I guess? Tee hee… I think you do an excellent job with your foodie photos. I’m a bit partial to the Indian meals you make though. You could take a picture of a plate of food in a dark room and call it butter chicken and I’d be drooling. 😉

    Reply

    1. You’re going to love my recipe next week then! I made a lentil curry, yum 🙂 I’m pretty sure you’re a much better cook than you give yourself credit for you 🙂 And thank you!

      Reply

  6. First of all, I love the idea that a recipe post is like chatting with a friend over a meal! I think that’s why I love reading recipes on blogs so much, I’d just never put it into words. Second – coconut milk in muffins? I am so there. Genius , delicious idea. Happy weekend Laura!

    Reply

    1. Thank you, Carly! I find coconut milk is so good in muffins – a bit sweeter than normal milk (and I try to avoid cow’s milk) and coconut milk is more environmentally sustainable than almond milk. I love the slight coconut flavor also! Happy weekend!

      Reply

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