My kids love chocolate chips and I wanted to find a way to give a boost of nutrition to a chocolate chip muffin recipe that I often use. I decided to add white chia seeds to the batter since they are often unnoticed in a baked good. Black chia seeds stand out, which might cause a child to say “What is that?”
The key to using them with baked goods is to let them soak overnight with a liquid. For this recipe, I used buttermilk because it adds so much moisture to a bread. Make sure to mix the buttermilk every couple of hours when soaking so that all of the chia seeds have time to soak. If the chia seeds don’t soak well, they can be crunchy in the bread.
For kids, this is a great recipe because they will love the chocolate chips and won’t know about the chia seeds!
According to Allison Topilow, MS, RD, CDN, Nutrition Consultant, chia seeds will help boost your omega 3 fatty acid intake to help keep your heart healthy! They also provide fiber, protein, and minerals such as calcium and iron. Canola oil is a healthful fat source and the applesauce in the recipe adds flavor and moistness, while keeping total fat moderate.
Carryover Picture Books: Betty Bunny Loves Chocolate Cake, I Love You Better Than Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients:
2 cups of all purpose white flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon of baking soda
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of salt
Dash cinnamon
1 1/4 cup buttermilk (can be substituted with milk, almond milk or kefir)
2 tablespoons of white chia seeds
2 large eggs
1/4 canola oil
1/4 cup applesauce
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
Preparation:
- Mix the chia seeds in a bowl with the buttermilk until combined. Let soak for about 6-8 hours. Make sure to mix it periodically. If you do not mix it periodically the chia seeds will taste crunchy in the bread. The seeds need adequate time to soak.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease one standard loaf pan or three mini loaf pans.
- In one bowl combine flour through cinnamon.
- In another bowl add the buttermilk-chia mixture with the eggs, oil and applesauce.
- Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients until incorporated. Add vanilla extract. Fold in chocolate chips.
- Add batter to greased loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees or until done. For the mini loaves it took about 15-20 minutes but it will take longer with a standard loaf.
- Let cool on a cooling rack and eat!
Enjoy. Also, your baking time may vary according to your oven.
Like what you read? Sign up for our free newsletter so you can be informed of the latest FREE webinars & teleclasses, parenting articles, & weekly raffles.
Becca Eisenberg is a certified speech language pathologist and mom of two.Through her own personal challenges at mealtime with her two young children she ventured on creating a website to help parents facilitate language and make mealtime fun. Her website gravitybread.com focuses on facilitating and encouraging language with fun and easy recipes, educational books and recommended toys and apps.
* Healthy Living is section of our website co-hosted by Mott’s. Mott’s has compensated Mommybites to be a partner in this awesome Healthy Living section on our website. This partnership does not influence the content, topics or posts made on this blog. We always give our honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on all topics, products, and services.
The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the blog contributor’s. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer or provider. Writers may have conflicts of interest, and their opinions are their own.