Low Fat Whole Wheat Honey-Banana-Choco Chip Muffins!

Do you guys feel guilty after you over-do something? I do feel so to a great extent. For instance, when I got my hair shortened beyond the level I had planned, I rushed to the super market on my way back home to buy the most advertised hair oil  for a super fast hair growth. Aah, yes, the crazy me! :-D Similarly, I get all conscious when I over-feed myself during my Kerala visits. This time around, I was on Good-Food search in Kerala, now you can imagine what I was up to the whole of this weekend! So I have declared this month as "Guilt-Free Low Fat Month" and I am on the go... ;-)

And the whole wheat idea in this recipe is sponsored by my empty all-purpose flour container. When you crave for muffins and when the yummiest recipe calls for ingredients, which you are short of, it's quite natural to be heart-broken and depressed and look away from the food picture. I did the same for a while, but the wheat flour refused to stay away from the corner of my eyes.. ;-) Gee, I grabbed it!

It turned out to be tender, light, fluffy, incredibly delicious muffins and bread! This is a lesson for me, when you are short of an ingredient or a couple, don' you worry. Pull out all somewhat look-alike, taste-alike, feel-alike ingredients from the kitchen rack and choose and use. After all, this is how all the interesting recipes were invented !!! ;-)

Before we begin, please note that I used both loaf pan and muffin cups for this recipe. If you are using a loaf pan, name it as "Honey Whole Wheat -Choco-Chip Banana Bread" or use muffin cups and name it as "Honey Whole Wheat -Choco-Chip Banana Muffins"... ;-)

Ingredients

Vegetable Oil: 1/3 cup 
Honey: 3/4 cup
Eggs: 2 large
Banana: 3 medium or 2 large, mashed
Chocolate chips: 1/2 cup
Vanilla Essence: 1 tsp
Salt: 1/2 tsp
Cinnamon powder: 1/2 tsp
Whole wheat flour: 1 3/4 cups
Baking soda: 1 tsp
Hot water: 1/4 cup

Method

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit (165 degrees Celsius) and grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan or muffin cups.
2. In a large bowl, beat oil and honey together. Add eggs and beat well.
3. Stir in banana and vanilla, then stir in the salt and cinnamon. Finally, stir in the flour, just until combined.
4. Add baking soda to hot water, stir to mix, and then mix briefly into batter until it is evenly distributed. 
5. Fold in chocolate chips into the batter.
6. Spread batter into the greased loaf pan or muffin cup.
7. (Optional) Sprinkle some cinnamon powder and swirl with a toothpick for a pretty marbled effect.
8. Throw some chocolate chips on the top of the batter.
9. Bake for 60 to 65 minutes. A toothpick inserted should come out clean if the bread/muffins are done.
10. Let it cool for 10 minutes, then transfer the loaf to a wire rack to cool for 15 minutes before slicing. Don' wait for so long if you are baking muffins. ;-)

Make a steaming cup of tea and have this along... :-)