Banana nut chocolate protein muffins recipe

I thought I'd start this week off with a sweet and healthy recipe! Anyone who knows me knows how much I love sweets (especially chocolate). It's so hard for me to say no to sweets, especially mid-morning or mid-afternoon when I start to feel peckish. I try to graze throughout the day getting protein when I can; the only problem is, most protein snack sources aren't sweet and I still find myself still craving sweets at the end of the day.

Guess what? Problem solved! I found an awesome recipe and tweaked it to make banana nut chocolate protein muffins. Now for the good news: it's friend/husband tested, and approved! The recipe below makes 12 muffins, and ingredients can be found at Bulk Barn or your favourite local grocery store. Happy snacking!

Ingredients
1/2 cup whole wheat flour (pastry)
1/2 cup rolled oats
3/4 cup protein powder (natural or vanilla will work)
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts or almonds
1/4 cup chocolate chips (substitute carob for chocolate allergy)
3 overly ripe bananas
3 tbsp maple syrup or honey
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions
1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. 
2. Mix flour, oats, protein powder, cinnamon, baking powder, half the nuts, and salt together in a large bowl.
3. In a separate bowl, mash the bananas, then add syrup/honey, egg and vanilla extract. Stir wet ingredients into dry until just mixed. Add chocolate or carob chips and stir until evenly distributed in batter.
4. Grease muffin pan, and pour batter in until each tin is 3/4 full. Top the batter with crushed nuts. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes just out of the oven before removing from muffin pan to cool on a wire rack.