Skinny Chocolate Fudge Banana Muffins

I was looking for another fabulous recipe for Sunday morning brunch, and I found this recipe from Sally's Baking Addiction.  Make sure you check out her blog for some amazing recipes!  It is the same blog where I found the recipe for Skinny Strawberry Banana Muffins. 

Ingredients:

3 large bananas (very ripe)

2/3 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/2 cup whole-wheat flour

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips - extra for topping

1.  Mash the 3 bananas with a pastry blender or fork.  Add in the sugar, egg, and applesauce. 

2.  Mix together the dry ingredients (both flours, cocoa, salt, baking powder, and baking soda).  Sift them into the wet ingredients and mix until just blended.  Fold in the chocolate chips.  

3.  Line muffin tins with cute cupcake liners and fill them to the top.  Bake at 375 for 18-20 minutes.  Makes 12 muffins.

4.  Cool on a wire rack.  Garnish with additional chocolate chips on top.  

They 'cost' more calories than I usually like to spend on a muffin, but they were absolutely delicious.  Definitely worth it for a splurge every once in awhile!  My niece called them cupcakes - they could surely pass as one! Make sure you make them when you have family or friends coming over so you aren't tempted to eat the whole batch! 

Nutrition (per muffin): 214 calories, 7g fat, 42g carbs, 3 g protein, 26g sugar

Some ideas for cutting the calories: Cut the chocolate chips down to 1/2 cup.  Use 1/3 cup of sugar.  Try making them as mini-muffins with mini chocolate chips.  Try them with only whole-wheat flour.  Use egg whites instead of an egg.  If you don't want to use granulated sugar, try substituting for honey.  I haven't tried any of these ways, so I'm not sure how it would change the muffin - but it's worth a try!  Any other suggestions?