You all know that I love my sweet treats. I do. I do.  And I like to throw in a "healthy'ish" recipe once in a while too.  This recipe is made simple by using a protein pancake mix.  I personally love Kodiak pancake mixes, but I've also heard great things about Birch Benders.  These little muffins pack in some great taste and they don't last long at all.  The little hands grab them quickly.

Here we go!

Ingredients
(makes approx. 24 mini muffins)
-1 2/3 cup Kodiak Chocolate Chip Power Cake Pancake Mix (or use your choice of protein pancake mix)
-1/2 cup sugar
-2 eggs
-1 cup pumpkin puree
-1 TBS pumpkin pie spice

Directions
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and prepare a mini muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray. Mix the eggs, sugar and pumpkin puree together.  Then add the dry ingredients of the pancake mix and pumpkin pie spice.  Stir together until combined.  Fill each mini muffin well approximately 2/3 full with batter.  Bake for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick can be inserted and comes out clean. I suggest watching the muffins around 17 minutes just in case (mostly because I have a habit of walking away and forgetting!).

​Allow to cool and then enjoy....if your kids save you any!

Let's talk about breakfast! It's my favorite meal of the day but it can be a tricky one because mornings are go, go, go! Ok, dinner is nuts too but there's something so soul satisfying to me about having a hot cup of coffee and a nice breakfast.  I'm a die hard fan of baked goods and I like to make my own most of the time.  This helps me control the ingredients and save on cost but I still try to keep breakfast baked goods simple.  These muffins hit the spot, kick my chocolate cravings in the teeth and my kids loved them too.

Here's what you'll need for these delicious muffins to make ahead and enjoy for breakfasts and snacks....

Ingredients
​(makes approx. 10 muffins)
-2 ripe bananas
-1/2 cup Greek yogurt
-2 eggs
-1 tsp vanilla extract
-1/2 cup sugar 
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 1/2 cup unsweetened baking cocoa
-1/2 cup milk
- 2 tsp baking powder
-1 tsp espresso powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
-1/2 cup chocolate chips or chunks

Directions
Grease a muffin tray and pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.  In a large bowl, mash the bananas and mix them with the eggs, yogurt, vanilla, milk and sugar.  Pour the dry ingredients of flour, baking cocoa, baking powder, espresso powder and salt on top.  Use a fork to lightly mix together the dry ingredients and then combine the dry and wet ingredients until mixed thoroughly.

Scoop the batter into the muffin wells.  I use approx. 1/3 cup per muffin.  Sprinkle the chocolate chips or chunks on top of the uncooked muffins. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes and remove from the oven once an inserted toothpick can be removed without batter on it (I find that 22 minutes works great for me).  Allow to cool in the tray for 20 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to complete cooling.  Enjoy!

I'm calling these Owen's blueberry muffins.  Although my sweet 15 month old is generally excited when it comes to all food, his enthusiasm seems to go up a notch when these muffins come out.  He sits in his high chair and pumps his little legs like crazy as I slice one up for him.  Soon thereafter, his sweet little face has blueberry smudges all over and a smile.  So, yes, I will be making these again....and again....and let my heart melt each time.

These muffins use very little sugar.  I gave Domino's new Golden Sugar a swirl here as a less processed sugar.  It worked great.  You could easily swap in some honey or maple syrup if you want to avoid refined sugar all together.  There is no oil in this recipe either as the bananas and Greek yogurt bring plenty of moisture.

Here's what you'll need to get going:

Ingredients
(makes approximately 13 muffins)
- 3 ripe bananas
-2 eggs
-1/2 cup sugar
-1 tsp vanilla extract
-1/2 cup Greek Yogurt ( I used Vanilla Oikos)
-2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
-1 tsp baking powder
-1/2 tsp salt
-1 1/4 cups whole milk
-2 cups blueberries

Directions
Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees and place muffin liners into a muffin tin.  Spray with non-stick cooking spray.  In a large bowl, mash the ripe bananas and stir together with the sugar, eggs, vanilla extract and yogurt.  In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.  Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix together.  The batter will be very thick.  Pour in the milk slowly as you stir together and then fold in the blueberries.

Using a large spoon or a small measuring cup (I used a 1/3 cup measuring cup), fill the muffin liners.  This recipe will give you a nice baker's dozen of 13 muffins.  Once your muffin tin is filled with the batter, bake for approximately 23 minutes at 350 degrees.  Check to make sure the muffins are done by inserting a toothpick or knife and it should come out clean.  Remove the muffins from the oven and allow to cool for 10-15 minutes in the muffin tin and then transfer to a wire cooling rack to finish cooling.  I store these in a freezer bag in the fridge for breakfasts and snacks for the week...or a few days because they don't last that long!