Banana Muffins

Muffins will always have a special place in my heart because they are the breed of pastry that sparked my baking craze some 2-3 years ago. The tragedy of sentimentality also means that I have, against good reason, ordered many a lousy muffin. 

In my experience, the 3 main grouses regarding commercial muffins are: 

1. Too sweet - Muffins are not just one big cake divided into little paper cups!

2. Too oily/buttery - I don't want to see oil-soaked paper cups. It gives me the impression that the muffin has sitting there for too long. It scares me.

3. Weak flavour- Muffins are not simply cupcakes minus the frosting! Since they don't have frosting on top, the muffin batter needs to be packed with flavour.

Banana Muffins Recipe

Makes 7, as shown in the photos. If you like muffin tops (where the batter rises out of the cup and forms and overhang), fill each cup with more batter, yielding 6 muffins

Batter

2 large bananas, mashed (I used del monte)

70g unsalted butter, softened

30g brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 egg

110g plain flour

30g rolled oats

1tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

Glaze

1 Tbsp butter, melted

1 Tbsp caster sugar

A dash of ground cinnamon 

Optional

3 Tbsp Nutella

Enough slices of banana to place atop each muffin

1. Prepare the glaze: Stir together ingredients for the glaze and brush it on the inside of the paper cups. Set aside extra to brush muffin tops later.

2. Make the batter: cream the butter and brown sugar together till light and fluffy. 

3. Whisk in vanilla extract and egg, followed by the mashed bananas.

4. Add plain flour, rolled oats, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and whisk till combined.

5. If using, add Nutella in chunks and give a gentle stir so that uneven streaks form. Avoid mixing Nutella homogeneously with the batter so that you can still taste the nutella chunks in the finished product.

6. Scoop batter into prepared paper cups and brush tops with remaining glaze. If using, set a thin banana slice on top of each muffin.

7. Bake at 180 deg c, 25 min or until a cake tester inserted at the centre comes out clean and the tops spring back gently when pressed. 

Blueberry pancake muffins

I was bored. I didn't feel like studying, so I baked. I haven't baked muffins for really long since my muffin craze last year, and mum just bought a punnet of blueberries...

Now the trouble with muffins is that they are actually little cakes wrapped in paper that get passed off as wholesome breakfast food. Especially if they have some kind of fruit or oats in them. So I wanted to bake a breakfast muffin that was actually healthy, ie. made with as little FAT as tastefully possible. And I think I've found the minimum fat threshold required for a muffin to still taste good. Plus I'm in a new habit of bringing food to school to munch on during the class break, because I regret all the money spent in the last 4 years buying bad tasting food that I had to eat out of convenience :( And I want something yummy to look forward to after listening to the Professor speak for 1.5 hours, knowing I have to go back for 1.5 more hours after.

Here's my solution:

30g unsalted butter
1 tbsp brown sugar
a huge splash of vanilla essence
1 egg
2 squirts of maple syrup (about 1.5 tbsp total)
A pinch of salt
a liberal dash of ground cinnamon
50ml whole milk
1/2 cup self-raising flour
2 tbsp rolled oats
A generous handful of blueberries

1. Cream the butter and sugar together.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients except the flour and blueberries. Whisk well to aerate and combine.
3. Add the flour and fold in gently with a rubber spatula till just combined.
4. Throw in the blueberries and spoon into lined muffin tin. Bake immediately at 180 deg c for 25 min.

Makes 4 muffins.

As you can see, it's a simple recipe that doesn't require much planning. Very little clean up too! The muffins may look pasty, but they don't brown easily because of the low fat content. The milk also makes them whiter than usual. The end product is delicate, unpretentious, and allows me to make believe that I've had the time to sit down to blueberry pancakes for breakfast.

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