low calorie strawberry banana muffins

i work from home, but i have to go into the office a couple of times a month, so when i do i try to bring a little treat for my hardworking office colleagues. last time i was there, it seemed like EVERYONE was on a diet... so i wanted to bring a little treat, but nothing that would ruin their diet or make them feel guilty for indulging in!

i used a strawberry banana muffin recipe (which i'm sure i'll post some day ;) and made some adaptations to make it healthier and lower-calorie. i substituted apple sauce for butter, threw in some whole wheat flour, and used agave syrup instead of suger. (agave is still sweet, and as such fairly high-calorie, but it's much less processed, and because of how sweet it is, i was able to use less than the original recipe called for). if you don't have agave, you can substitute for another natural sweetener like honey or maple syrup.

i made them in my mini-muffin tin, and they came out to only about 50 calories each, which means if you made them normal-muffin size, they'd be 100 calorie muffins! not too bad!

i have not tried making these gluten free, but since they're banana-based, i'm sure it would go well. also, if you throw in some egg replacer or flax seed/water mixture, they are vegan! whoo!

ingredients:

2 bananas, extra ripe or frozen then thawed*
1/3 c apple sauce
1/3 c agave syrup
1 egg
1 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
1 t vanilla
1 c strawberries (about 5 large), chopped finely (mine were frozen, so i microwaved them for about a minute)
1 1/4 white flour
1/2 c whole wheat flour

 to make:

mash those bananas! i use a hand blender, but a fork and some elbow grease works too!

add apple sauce, agave syrup, egg, baking soda, salt and vanilla.

mix well. i use the hand blender for this step as well.

next, add white and whole wheat flours.

stir with a large spoon, until just mixed.

then, take your lovely strawberries...

and chop those suckers up nice and small!

and add them to the batter.

spoon it into your muffin tin...

and bake at 375! 17 minutes for mini muffins, 25 minutes for normal sized muffins!

try not to eat them all at once (but if you do, don't feel too bad... they're pretty good for you!)

* if you have never used a banana that has been frozen and thawed, please do it now. i debated taking action shots of the creepy banana slithering out of it's skin into the bowl, but honestly i don't know if you can fully appreciate it without seeing (and hearing!) it yourself. it'll probably be the best thing that's ever happened to you.