Chai Banana Bread Muffins

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

Original Recipe from Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice.

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: 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Add banana, yogurt, apple sauce, butter and egg beaters to a mixing bowl and  beat until blended. I used, as always, my stand mixer. Add brown sugar and white sugar and beat on medium until just blended. In a separate bowl mix flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, pumpkin pie spice, and nutmeg together. Add dry mixture a little bit at a time to the banana mixture and beat until just combined. Don't over mix! Pour into lined muffin tins and bake for 45-60 minutes, checking often to see if a toothpick comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack in pan for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely before frosting.

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!