Whole wheat Banana Hemp Chia Seed Muffins

Blogging Marathon #42: Week 3/ Day 2

Theme: Healthy Snack box Recipes for Kids

Dish: Whole Wheat Banana Hemp Chia Seed Muffins

Following up yesterday's healthy cookie for the kid's snack box. I have a healthy muffin today. The muffins is made with whole what flour and uses not one but two of the very recent health raves - Chia and Hemp Seeds. You can refer my post on the Health Benefits of chia seeds here. I am planning to write a similar post on Hemp seeds which has long been overdue. But as an introduction - Hemp Hearts are shelled hemp seeds that are a great source of protein, essential fats and vitamins. 4 tbsp of hemp seeds yields more protein than eating 5 eggs. It provides energy and vital nutrients and especially good if given to kids.

The best way to provide this to kids is by mixing it up in their oatmeal, conceal it in smoothies etc.But I had a few ripe bananas on hand, and my kid always loves banana bread, so I decided to bake the hemp seeds into a delicious and moist muffin for my kid, and not only the little one, but all of us loved it, and it was gone in a day.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#42

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line a 6 cup muffin tin with muffin liners.

Whisk the dry ingredients: whole wheat pastry flour, baking soda, salt in a bowl. Whisk the wet ingredients: melted butter, brown sugar, egg, egg white, mashed bananas and vanilla extract together in another bowl. You can use an electric hand held mixer to mix the wet ingredients. Using a spatula, add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until just combined. Don't mix too much or the muffins will become tough. Finally add in the chia seeds, 1/4 cup of hemp hearts and the chopped almonds. Scoop this batter into the prepared muffin liners, filling 3/4th of the way. Sprinkle with the 2 tsp hemp hearts on the top.

Bake for 15 - 20 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes clean. It is ok if the top is cracked a bit. It happened for me too.

Verdict: These muffins were sweet and moist and filled with nutty, seedy goodness. The topping with hemp hearts gave a nice crunch on the top of the muffin. These can also be made into little mini muffins which would be perfect for the kids snack box. I am planning to try that the next time I make this.