I love chai. I love it so so much. I call it Christmas in a cup. I love it hot. I love it iced. I love it blended. I love it mixed with pumpkin spice. I LOVE IT! When I saw a Chai Banana Bread recipe, I instantly added it to my list of things to make. However… I’m calling mine Chai Inspired. The original recipe calls for cardamom, which is a chai ingredient, but dang it that stuff is expensive! My bananas were getting too brown before I could justify buying cardamon, so I improvised and they still taste spicy and yummy! I pretty much used her recipe but did a few healthy substitutes using yogurt butter, applesauce and whole wheat flour. I also made have jumbo muffins to break in my jumbo tin I hadn’t used yet and half regular sized. I enjoyed these for breakfast, snack and dessert all week. Or for three days because I ate them too quickly.
Chai Inspired Banana Bread Muffins
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana, 3-4
- 1/3 cup fat free Greek yogurt – I used vanilla but you could use plain too, or regular nonfat yogurt
- 3 tablespoons of applesauce
- 2 tablespoons Brummel and Brown yogurt butter
- 1/2 cup egg beaters (or 2 eggs)
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 2 1/4 cups whole wheat flour (or whole wheat white flour or all purpose flour, I like whole wheat because of the nuttiness it adds and it’s a power food on WW)
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Cream Cheese Frosting (optional)
- 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 2 tablespoons butter, softened
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 cups powdered sugar
Directions:
For icing, beat butter and cream cheese together with a mixer until smooth. Add vanilla extract and beat. With mixer on low add the powdered sugar a little at a time until thick enough to spread. Top muffins with icing and enjoy! I also froze a few of mine because I was going out of town and they defrosted well too!