Banana Mocha Macadamia Muffins

This is a great way to jumpstart your day—a moist subtly mocha-flavored muffin enhanced with macadamias and semi-sweet chocolate mini chips. It's made healthy with white whole wheat flour, bananas, and yogurt, and contains only 1/4 cup of butter, which equals only 1 teaspoon per muffin!

It's adapted from a recipe I saw in Heidi Swanson's Super Natural Cooking: Five Ways To Incorporate Whole and Natural Ingredients into Your Cooking for Espresso Banana Muffins that called for 6 tablespoons of room temperature butter to be creamed with sugar until light and fluffy. Although, this creates a lighter cake-like consistency, digging out the electric mixer first thing in the morning is a no-starter for a quick and easy focused cook like me! I also prefer my muffins a little heavier and less cake-like; they seem healthier and more satisfying somehow.

Preheat oven to 375F degrees. Lightly grease the bottoms of a 12-up muffin tin or line with paper liners.

Whisk to combine in a medium bowl:

• 2 cups white whole wheat flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1 tablespoon instant coffee powder or espresso powder
• 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup chopped toasted macadamia nuts
• 1/2 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

In a large bowl, beat with a wooden spoon until well combined and creamy:

• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 3/4 cup natural can sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup plain yogurt
• 1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 3 medium to large)

Gently stir the dry ingredients into the liquid until just combined, being careful not to over mix or the muffins will be tough.

Using a OXO Good Grips Cookie Scoop fill the muffin cups equally.

Sprinkle equally among the muffin tops:

• 1/4 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup chopped macadamia nuts

Bake until golden, about 25 minutes.

Cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes and then remove from the pan and let cool completely on a wire rack or enjoy warm.