These whole wheat muffins studded with chocolate chips are the perfect excuse to have chocolate for breakfast!

Besides biscottis, chocolate chip muffins are one of my mom’s favorite breakfast foods. So, in honor of her birthday today, I wanted to create a chocolate chip muffin that was sweet and tender enough to bring back memories of the one’s she made me growing up, yet still be a healthy option for breakfast. The key to finding this balance was – my favorite ingredient – Greek Yogurt, as well as white whole wheat flour.

I get asked often about what white whole wheat flour is, as it sounds like an oxymoron. In the nutrition realm, “white” flour is usually thought of as refined flour, in which most of the nutrients get stripped from the wheat during processing.  In contrast, “white whole wheat” flour is still a whole grain with its original nutrients intact. So what then makes it different from regular whole wheat flour and why does it matter which one to use in this recipe? Excellent questions 😉

First, the difference between white whole wheat vs whole wheat is the variety of wheat from which they are ground. Traditional whole wheat flour is ground from a red wheat variety, which when ground gives the flour that darker color we associate with whole wheat produces. White whole wheat flour on the other hand is made from a white variety of wheat, which is why it has a much lighter color. Both are still whole grains and good sources of fiber.

In addition to color differences, the type of wheat flour is ground from also affects its baking properties. Red wheat is heartier than white wheat, containing slightly more fiber (for ¼ cup of flour, whole wheat contains 4 grams of fiber compared to 3 grams of fiber in white whole wheat). This heartiness when baking results in a denser product. This density or chew is great when making pizza dough or sandwich bread, but I like my muffins on the lighter side so I went with white whole wheat flour.

Okay, enough nutrition talk – on to the muffins! You may have noticed in the pictures that the pan contains chocolate chip and blueberry muffins. When making these, I was curious if the muffin base recipe was flexible enough to substitute in other mix-ins. The result: not quite. The chocolate chip muffins are the perfect amount of sweet (I like my muffins just slightly sweet, after all they aren’t cupcakes 😉 ), but the blueberry ones were lacking in flavor. So it’s back to the drawing board for blueberry muffins – hopefully coming soon!

I hope you all have a relaxing weekend and take time in the morning to sit back, relax, and enjoy a chocolate chip muffin! So here’s a toast to my mom – happy birthday!

Print Recipe

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Muffins

These whole wheat muffins studded with chocolate chips are the perfect excuse to have chocolate for breakfast!

Prep Time10 mins

Cook Time20 mins

Total Time30 mins

Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Chocolate, Healthy, Muffin, Whole Grain

Servings: 16

Author: The Healthy Toast

Ingredients

• 2 cups white whole wheat flour
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 Tbs baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup Greek Yogurt plain
• 1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350° F. Line 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners and set aside.
• Combine dry ingredients in large mixing bowl.
• In a separate bowl, combine yogurt, almond milk, vanilla extract, and oil. Whisk in eggs.
• Slowly pour wet ingredients into the dry and stir until just combined. Carefully stir in chocolate chips.
• Divide batter evenly into prepared pan. I ended up having 4-muffins worth of batter left, which I baked in a ramekin, but you could bake in a four-cup muffin pan if you have one (just make sure to fill any empty cups with water to ensure even baking).
• Bake in oven for 15-20 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
• Enjoy!

Notes

Per muffin (1/16 of recipe): 250 calories, 12 g fat, 4 g saturated fat, 34 g carbohydrate, 3 g fiber, 15 g sugar, 5 g protein

Adapted from Baker By Nature