Sinless Chocolate Banana Muffins

I always try to buy only 2-3 bananas at a time. Whenever I buy more than that, I inevitably end up with a couple of bananas that sit on my counter until they are too ripe for my tastes. However, this past week, I bought a whole bunch of bananas with every intention of eating them all! 

Alas, as always, two poor bananas remained past their prime. My boyfriend nearly threw them away! *GASP!!* 

Fortunately for the bananas, I intercepted them on the way to their doomed demise. Fortunately for me, I had a box of cake mix that also needed to be used up! I had such success with the pumpkin + water + cake mix recipe, I decided to give bananas a try in lieu of pumpkin!

The result? A delicious and moist chocolate banana muffin (or cupcake). These would be even MORE delicious if you added 1 tsp of chocolate chips to each muffin tin! (adds 1 Weight Watchers PointsPlus per muffin).

Sinless Chocolate Banana Muffins

Yields: 24 servings
Serving Size: 1 muffin 
PointsPlus per Serving: 2 PointsPlus (OPTIONAL: add 1 tsp chocolate chips to each tin for a total of 3 PointsPlus per muffin!)
 
Ingredients
1 box chocolate cake mix (I used Pillsbury Devil's Food Cake)
2 extra-ripe bananas, mashed (Enough for 1 cup)
1 cup water (plus maybe a little extra if the batter is too thick for your tastes)

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mash bananas thoroughly or put bananas and water in food processor/blender and blend until smooth.

Add cake mix and mix thoroughly.

Spoon into lined or greased muffin tins (regular size). 

Bake for 18 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the middle of a muffin comes out clean.

Remove muffins from the pan and let cool.

Enjoy!

Low-Fat Eggnog Pancakes with Creamy Eggnog Topping

A couple of days ago, I got a VERY tempting e-mail from my local iHop telling me about their new seasonal pancakes. Of all the pancakes to picture...their eggnog pancake was quite possibly the most tempting choice! I love eggnog... and thick creamy eggnog filling between two eggnog pancakes... how could I turn that down?! 

But, I'm on Weight Watchers, and I love to cook. So, of course I saw this as a challenge. Eggnog IN my pancake, that's easy enough... but thick, creamy, eggnogy filling that's low in points? That was going to be the challenge. And, moreover, this needed to taste real...and loaded with calories...without actually BEING terrible for me.

Well ladies and gentleman, here it is... quite possibly my favorite pancake ever. The Eggnog Pancake! Enjoy!

Eggnog Pancake

Yields: 9 servings

Serving Size: 1 pancake and 1/4 cup topping

PointsPlus per Serving: 1 pancake = 3P+, 1/4 cup topping = 2P+

Ingredients

 Filling

1.4oz box of sugar-free fat-free instant vanilla pudding mix

1 cup low-fat eggnog (I used Horizon Organic low-fat eggnog)

1 cup skim milk

1.5 cups Cool Whip Free

1/2 tsp. Nutmeg (or to taste)

Pancakes

2 cups Bisquick Heart Smart pancake mix

1 cup low-fat eggnog (I used Horizon Organic low-fat eggnog)

1/2 cup water

1/2 tsp. Nutmeg (or to taste)

Directions

In a bowl, combine pudding mix, 1 cup eggnog, and skim milk.

Mix until smooth and well-combined.

Refrigerate for at least 5 minutes. (I refrigerated mine overnight for pancakes the next day!)

Fold Cool Whip into the pudding mixture.

Add 1/2 tsp nutmeg (or as much as you want depending on your tastes), and mix until smooth and pudding-like

Put pudding mixture in fridge until ready to serve.

In a separate bowl, combine pancake mix, 1 cup eggnog, water, and 1/2tsp nutmeg (or more if you prefer).

Mix Well - until all pockets of pancake mix are gone and the mixture is smooth and well-combined.

(NOTE: The filling in and of itself makes a GREAT eggnog pudding!)

Spray a non-stick pan or griddle. Place on stovetop on medium heat.

Ladle 1/4 cup of pancake mixture onto the non-stick pan or griddle. Allow to cook until small bubbles begin to form on top of the batter (NOTE: Batter MAY not bubble - I had about 50/50 occurrence of bubbling like with a normal pancake. When pancake begins to rise and bubble on the edges, flip!)

Allow pancake to cook on griddle for about 1 more minute or until the underside is golden brown when lifted off of the pan.

Remove pancake and repeat process. Should make about 9 pancakes using 1/4 cup of batter each time.

Top your pancake with 1/4 cup of the pudding topping. I put mine in a baggie, cut a tiny piece of the corner off, and drizzled that way. But it works just as well as a dipping sauce or non-fancily spread across the top :)

Enjoy!

P.S., A tablespoon of fat-free whipped cream doesn't add any PointsPlus, but somehow makes these pancakes taste even naughtier ;)