Banana Chocolate Chunk Muffins

I apologise for the delay in this post.  With the wedding being less than a week away now I've been caught up in all the last minute preparations, including baking 480 mini shortbread biscuits.  If you've seen the updates on twitter or facebook, you know I'm still not finished yet.  And of course there is still the cake to do as the absolute last minute thing to guarantee freshness on the day.  But there will be more about that in the wedding post when it comes.  For now, let's focus on delicious muffins!

As you may be aware I went to Glasgow a little over a week ago to see the lovely Rainbow Rowell.  All the gushing detail of said visit can be seen in the Pumpkin Mocha Brownie blog post.  I was not alone on said visit though.  I invited my very best friend Jess to accompany me.  Our last jaunt together had been just after I finished my final school placement back in May and just before the awful week I spent working on my e-portfolio.  She had then run off on holiday for 3 weeks so by the time the Rainbow Rowell trip rolled around we were well overdue for seeing one another.

Now that I am temporarily free of academic commitments I was actually able to find the time to bake her a gift, something I was unable to do last time and can feel awful about because she always gives me the cutest presents.  Last time it was a pig she had made and it is so adorable!  But I was devastated I had nothing to give in return.  I just had no time.  So this time around I was determined to bring something (other than that one birthday present that had escaped the package I sent).

The idea to use bananas is down to Facebook.  I'm still getting the hang of Facebook and have only recently started using my personal page (as opposed to the blog's page) for things.  Hence it needed some decoration and I used a picture of my banana cupcakes from last year for a header image, since it is nice and yellow.  Upon seeing it, Jess had remarked that she liked banana cake and thus I knew I would need to include it in whatever I chose to make.

I decided on muffins because it has been ages since I last attempted muffins, it was a bit different from making cakes and because I found a nice, easy looking recipe from Nigella to try out.  I added the chocolate chunks myself though to give it a little something extra.

Now, banana recipes often require really ripe bananas as they give a stronger flavour.  However, I don't keep bananas in my house because neither the fiancé or I eat them and I did not acquire bananas until the day I was needing them.  So of course they were not ripe enough.  So I ripened them myself!  A trick I learnt a while ago is that you can ripen bananas in the oven.  I put the oven on its lowest setting, put the bananas in a ceramic dish and 'cooked' them for about 20 minutes.  They turned completely black on the outside and beautifully soft inside, which made mashing them up very easy.  I would do this in advance of baking so they can cool down again before you use them.

And the final result? Delicious apparently!  They can be a little sticky around the edges after coming out the oven but all in all they are a good muffin.  Jess really liked them and so did the fiancé, and he's not really a fan of the chocolate and banana combination.

Recipe - adapted from How To Be A Domestic Goddess
Makes 12 

• 30g/1oz unsalted butter
• 60g/2oz honey
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 very ripe bananas 
• 150g/5oz plain flour
• 1 heaped tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• Pinch of salt
• 100g/3.5oz chocolate chunks

1. Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F/Gas Mark 5 and line a 12 hole muffin tin with muffin cases.
2. Put the butter, honey and vanilla extract into a small pan and then place over a low heat to melt.
3. Stir together, remove from heat and set aside for a few minutes to cool slightly.
4. Mash the banana in a small bowl.
5. In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon and salt.
6. Mix the honey butter mixture into the mashed bananas and then add it to the dry ingredients.
7. Mix until just incorporated (try not to overmix). 
8. Reserve some of the chocolate chunks to sprinkle on top and then add the rest to the batter, folding in gently.
9. Distribute the batter between the cases, filling them about two thirds full.
10. Add a few of the saved chunks to the top of each muffin.
11. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
12. Allow to rest in the tin for 5 minutes before removing and transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Strawberry and Cream Muffins

I love sunny days.  Not really hot ones but blue skies and bright sunshine usually put me in a good mood.  Today's bake was decided at the weekend when I was thinking what to make for the boyfriend's weekly trek to Dundee and this one sounded nice.  And I don't make muffins very often so it made a change from cake.  It just seems very appropriate that today is a sunny day because strawberries and cream have a very summer feel to them.  Sunshine also makes for great looking photographs.  I shall miss such good light when the winter months start to roll around.  My pictures will look much duller I'm sure.

Quite an easy bake this one, which is nice.  Pretty quick too.  There's just some waiting between cooking and putting the cream on otherwise it'll melt and go everywhere.  I also only put half a strawberry on top of each, rather than a whole one because I didn't have 13 small ones in my box (the recipe is for 12 but I made an extra one for tearing apart for photos).  I think the halves look nice though.  And the red and white cases offset everything really nicely.  A very attractive result.

Recipe - adapted from Cupcakes and Muffins

Makes 12

• 85g/3oz butter
• 150g/5.5oz strawberries
• 280g/10oz plain flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• 115g/4oz caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 250ml/9 fl.oz single cream
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 125ml/4 fl.oz double cream
• 6 small strawberries to decorate

1. Melt the butter in a small saucepan and then set aside to cool.
2. Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas Mark 6 and put cases in a 12 hole muffin tray.
3. Wash and cut the tops off of the strawberries.  Chop into small pieces.
4. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl.
5. Add the sugar and chopped strawberries and mix together.
6. In a jug, lightly beat the eggs.
7. Add the single cream, vanilla extract and cooled melted butter to the eggs and beat together.
8. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients in the bowl and pour in the wet ingredients.
9. Mix together until just combined.  Do not overmix.
10. Spoon the mixture out evenly into the cases a tablespoon at a time.  It is quite runny so be careful because it will go everywhere.
11. Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
12. Allow to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.
13. When muffins have cooled, whip the double in a bowl until it is stiff and then either pipe on top of each muffin or spread on top with a spoon.
14. Wash the 6 small strawberries, remove the tops and cut in half.  Place half a strawberry on top of the cream on each muffin. 

 

Muffins! Blueberry, Parmesan and Herb, and Parmesan and Bacon

Yesterday I made muffins!  Three lots in fact as there were a few I wanted to try.  I made 6 blueberry muffins for my boyfriend, 12 wheat free mini parmesan and herb for his mum, and then 12 mini parmesan and bacon for me...or his sister when she comes home on Wednesday.

The recipes for these came from Good Food magazine (February 2005 issue), and are something I've been wanting to try out for a couple of weeks since I picked it off the shelf.  All the recipes in the magazine worked off of one basic recipe (the one for the blueberry muffins) but made substitutions depending on the type of muffin you wanted.

Blueberry Recipe - makes 6 full sized muffins

Ingredients:

• 70g/2/5oz caster sugar
• 125g/4.5oz self-raising flour
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 42g/1.5oz butter
• 1 large egg
• 100ml/3.5fl milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 75g/2.6oz blueberries

1. Melt the butter in a saucepan and then leave to cool.
2. Preheat the oven to 200°C/390°F/Gas Mark 6 and place 6 muffin cases in a muffin tray. 
3. Combine the sugar, flour and bicarbonate of soda in a bowl.
4. In a jug, beat the egg and add the milk, cooled butter and vanilla extract.
5. Pour the jug ingredients into the bowl with the flour mix and stir until just combined.
6. Fold in the blueberries.
7. Spoon the mixture into the cases and then bake in the oven for 15-18 minutes.  You want the tops to be golden and a skewer inserted into the centre to come out clean.
8. Cool on a wire rack.

Parmesan and Herb - makes 12 mini muffins or 6 full size muffins

Ingredients:

• 125g/4.5oz wheat-free self-raising flour
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 42g/1.5oz butter
• 1 large egg
• 142ml/4.8fl.oz buttermilk
• 50g/1.75oz grated parmesan
• 1 tbsp thyme
• 1 tbsp basil

1. Melt the butter in a saucepan and then leave to cool.
2. Preheat the oven to 200°C/390°F/Gas Mark 6 and place 12 mini muffin cases in a mini muffin tray (or grease the tray if you don't have the cases).
3. Combine the flour and bicarbonate of soda in a bowl.
4. In a jug, beat the egg with the butter and buttermilk.  
5. Add to the flour mix and stir until combined.
6. Fold in the parmesan, thyme and basil.
7. Spoon into the cases/greased tray and top with additional grated parmesan.
8. Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes.  You want the tops to be golden and a skewer inserted into the centre to come out clean.
9. Cool on a wire rack.

Parmesan and Bacon - makes 12 mini muffins or 6 full size muffins 

Ingredients:

• 125g/4.5oz wheat-free self-raising flour
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1 tbsp caster sugar
• 42g/1.5oz butter
• 1 large egg
• 142ml/4.8fl.oz buttermilk
  
• 50g/1.75oz grated parmesan
• 2-3 rashers of crispy bacon

1. Melt the butter in a saucepan and then leave to cool.
2. Preheat the oven to 200°C/390°F/Gas Mark 6 and place 12 mini muffin cases in a mini muffin tray (or grease the tray if you don't have the cases).
3. Combine the flour, sugar and bicarbonate of soda in a bowl.
4. In a jug, beat the egg with the butter and buttermilk. 
5. Add to the flour mix and stir until combined.
6. Cut up the bacon and fold it into the mix along with the parmesan.
7. Spoon into the cases/greased tray and top with additional grated parmesan.
8. Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes.  You want the tops to be golden and a skewer inserted into the centre to come out clean.
9. Cool on a wire rack.