Unsweetened Banana Muffins with Chocolate (Carob) Chips

I am always in search of clean eating recipes for me and my family to consume, the entire purpose of this blog. When I use the phrase clean eating, I refer to unprocessed and totally sugar free without any honey, agave, and especially without any artificial sweeteners. Sometimes though....I crave something sweet, usually chocolate...o.k. to be honest the only sweet thing I usually crave is chocolate.

When you bake muffins following this recipe, the ripe bananas add enough sweetness that you do NOT need to add sugar, honey, or sweetener of any sort. Add some cinnamon along with the bananas and the muffins are sweet enough to eat. I have made this recipe before and have even included the recipe on my blog, but this time, we added "carob" chips to the mix for a different twist and to sedate my chocolate craving. To be honest though, "carob" chips are not chocolate and I would prefer 70-80% cocoa chocolate chips with very low sugar content, but the kids find dark chocolate too bitter for their taste buds.

What are "carob" chips you ask? I am so glad you asked..."Carob" chips are made from the carob plant. It is an evergreen plant native to the Mediterranean region, but now grows in other locations, like California. To find out more about "carob" chips, visit this link at eHow Food.

There are some health benefits to eating carob chips. Carob needs less sugar than chocolate to make it sweet, carob chips have one third of the calories of chocolate, and because it is not chocolate, it is safe for animals to eat!

 Ingredients:

6 lg. bananas
2 tsp cinnamon
2 eggs
2/3 cups melted butter
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp sea salt
3 cups organic whole wheat flour
1 cup "carob" chips or dark chocolate chips (70-80% cocoa content)

Mash bananas. Add cinnamon and slightly beaten eggs. Add melted butter.
Sift dry ingredients together and add to above mixture. Add carob or chocolate chips. Mix until moistened. Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes. This makes two dozen muffins, which my kids loved as a snack!

Mix the dry ingredients together first. My kids love making this recipe!

Add the wet ingredients to the sifted dry ingredients.

My dear son loves to break the yokes with his fingers.