Yoghurt, Banana, Cinnamon and Dark chocolate Muffins

These Muffins are absolutely delicious and make a great tasty snack between meals- not too mention they're not too bad for you! 

Natural Yoghurt is full of all those pro-biotic 'healthy bacteria' we get told to eat, helping your body to keep a healthy digestive system and fight against 'bad bacteria'.  The banana in the muffins provide a great source of potassium, which is involved with muscle control, nerve function and blood pressure in the body.  The dark chocolate is full of anti-oxidants (those molecules which prevent oxidisation of other molecules in your body, consequently inhibiting the occurrence of free-radicles and damage to cells) and helps to satisfy that 'chocolate' craving everyone gets! Cinnamon has antiseptic properties, aids digestion and supports your body to metabolize sugar! On top of all of this, they are wholemeal, adding fibre to your diet!

Ingredients:

100g dark chocolate (at least 70%) I like Green and Blacks dark chocolate range!

1/2 cup Caster Sugar

2 cups Wholemeal Flour

1 tbsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Cinnamon

1/4 cup vegetable oil (not olive oil!!)

1 1/4 cup low fat natural yoghurt

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla essence

2 large ripe bananas

Icing sugar to decorate

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
2. In a blender (Magimix or something similar), add the dark chocolate and whizz into small chunks. Otherwise use a knife to chop into rough chocolate chip sized pieces. Put these in a bowl and leave to one side.
3. In a large mixing bowl, combine all dry ingredients (sugar, flour, baking powder, cinnamon). In a separate bowl, beat together all of the wet ingredients (oil, yoghurt, egg, vanilla essence).
4. Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and beat well until a smooth batter forms. This can also be done in the magimix if you have one!
5. Peel the bananas, quarter each of them lengthways and slice into small half cm banana chunks.
6. Fold this into the mixture along with the chocolate chunks. Add any dried fruits or nuts if desired!
7. Put into muffin cases and bake for 25-30 mins until golden brown and a skewer comes out clean. 
8. Turn them out on a wire cooling rack and let them cool for a while.  Sift over the icing suger to decorate. ENJOY!

Suggestions for accompaniments:

MORE YOGHURT!! In my eyes, natural yoghurt always goes a treat with any desert! You could serve this with some raspberries to add some colour and a sprig of mint for garnish.

Peanut butter would be a delicious spread on top!

Ice cream for those with a flavour for cream....

Hope you enjoy them! X