Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Mini Muffins.

I have a new favorite treat. (Pssst! It’s healthy!)

Our fabulous anniversary trip to Seattle and Orcas Island (see part one here) was basically a tour of incredible food. When we got home, we thought it might be wise to clean up our diets a bit, especially with the indulgent holiday season quickly approaching. We’ve cut way back on gluten, so no bread or pasta (sniff). But when I woke up to snowflakes falling yesterday, I immediately wanted to spend some time baking sweet treats in the kitchen.

Enter Averie Cooks.

Averie’s photos of the miracles that come out of her kitchen will make you drool. My “sweet stuff” Pinterest board is full of them. I made these puffy vanilla peanut butter chip cookies and often use this recipe for THE BEST chocolate chip cookies. What I like about Averie’s blog is that she offers plenty of alternatives to using flour or processed sugar. I came across a recipe for peanut butter chocolate chip mini muffins that are gluten-free and under 100 calories each. Winner winner! Take a look at the tiny ingredient pile for these muffins.

That’s it! I preheated the oven, prepped my adorable mini-muffin pan, and got to work.

Into the bowl: a banana, creamy peanut butter, honey, vanilla, an egg, baking soda, a pinch of salt. Blend. (Averie uses an actual blender, but my hand mixer worked just fine!)

Stir in chocolate chips. I love these teeny guys!

The batter is done. It took like 3 minutes.

I filled each muffin cup ¾ full and sprinkled a few chocolate chips on top, and in they went to bake. As Averie mentions, the muffins did puff up in the oven but settle back down into flat little yummies.

How cute is this?

I couldn’t resist tasting a muffin while it was still warm. It was completely moist, springy (not dense at all), with just the right amount of sweetness. The banana flavor kind of fades away, leaving the stars to shine: peanut butter and chocolate.

These muffins came together ridiculously quickly. I love how few ingredients were involved, and the muffins are so good that they feel like an indulgence. The challenge is to stop at just one.

Ok, fine. TWO. They’re mini, after all.

What’s your go-to “healthy” treat? Do you have favorite gluten-free or Paleo recipes? Share with me!

Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Mini Muffins (from Averie Cooks)

You’ll need:

• 1 medium ripe banana, peeled
• 1 large egg
• heaping ½ cup creamy peanut butter (storebought works better than natural or homemade)
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• pinch of salt
• heaping ½ cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray mini muffin pan with floured cooking spray.

In a blender, add first 7 ingredients through salt and blend on high speed until smooth and creamy, about a minute. (I used my hand mixer.)

Add chocolate chips and stir by hand.

Fill muffin cups ¾ full with batter. Sprinkle a few chocolate chips on top of each muffin.

Bake for 8-9 minutes, until tops are springy to the touch and a toothpick comes out clean. Try not to eat them all (but a few at a time is fine- they’re MINI). YUM!

**Hungry for more? Check out the FOOD BLISS link above!**