Recipe: Skinny Strawberry Chocolate Chip Muffins

Today's my BIRTHDAY!!! (We won't talk about my age...)

After a weekend celebrating my bachelorette and birthday in combination, I truly feel lucky to have the friends that I do...and I now also know just how OLD I am based on the amount of recovery time needed to partake in such festivities haha.

But, just because it's my birthday, doesn't mean I don't have a GIFT FOR YOU, in the form of a yummy recipe!

I've been in the mood to make muffins for a couple of weeks, and finally found a recipe that wasn't SUPER laden with total fat and badness. This recipe, to be exact. And, I got to incorporate some SUPER yummy strawberries that we got at Wegmans!

This was a super easy recipe to make (I actually made most of it while on the phone with my best friend) 

What You Need:

- 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour

-1/2 tsp baking soda

-1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

-1/4 C. granulated sugar

-1/4 C light brown sugar, packed (I had dark brown, and used that)

-1/2 C + 2 Tbsp unsweetened apple sauce

-1 egg white, beaten

-2/3 cup diced strawberries

-1/3 cup chocolate chips

*The apple sauce in here takes the place of butter, making it slightly healthier. You can use whole wheat flour if you want and have it.

What You Do:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and spray the muffin tin with nonstick spray. Set aside.

2. In a medium-large bowl, mix the flour, cinnamon and baking soda. Set aside.

3. In a separate bowl, mix the brown sugar, granulated sugar, and apple sauce until no lumps. You can use a fork if need be, but I found that mine mixed together pretty easily with just a spoon. Add in the egg white until fully mixed.

4. Add the wet mixture into the dry mixture until just combined. 

5. Fold in the strawberries and the chocolate chips.

6. Divide the mixture evenly into 10 muffin cups (about a heaping Tablespoon for each). Bake for 15-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

7. Once done, let the muffins cool and settle. Use a knife (or a spoon) to get the muffins out of the pan, and enjoy!

The muffins can be frozen. They will stay fresh for 7 days in an airtight container!

These were a tasty treat that I didn't feel guilty about during the work week when I needed a mid-morning pick me up!

Special shout out to my amazing friends (bloggy friends and IRL friends)--I wouldn't be as happy as I am today without you all in my life!