BANANA MUFFINS

A friend who lives a few doors away from us had a mishap with her Tesco delivery the other week.  She ordered five bananas and they delivered five bunches of bananas instead.  So she shared them out amongst her neighbours and I qualified for two bunches.

We ate a few but when we came to France for Easter there were still quite a lot of rapidly ripening bananas left so I brought them with me, thinking I would have more time to do something creative with them.

So I decided to make some banana muffins.  The recipe comes originally from a Weightwatchers cookbook that belongs to a work colleague – she gave me a copy of the recipe but I have never actually seen the book. 

It makes great muffins and they keep quite well for a day or two so there’s no urgency to eat them up on the day they are made.  You can of course freeze them but I don’t have a freezer here in my tiny French kitchen.

 

I made some full size muffins and a tray of mini muffins.  A whole muffin can be a bit too much at times, especially for visitors who might already have had their breakfast or lunch when you plonk a plate of muffins in front of them.  However, most people can’t resist a couple of mini muffins and they are gone in two bites so then they can manage a couple more !!

The brown sugar in the recipe gives them a lovely rich flavour and I always think that the next time I make them I will put in half a teaspoon of ground cinnamon – but then I usually forget.  I think it would be worth a try though.

Tea Time Treats is a monthly baking event put on by Karen of Lavender and Lovage and Kate of What Kate Baked.  The theme for April is “fairy cakes, cupcakes and muffins” and is hosted by Kate – you can see the details here.  Banana muffins are just right for an afternoon in early spring, sitting by the wood burning stove and enjoying a cup of tea because it’s wet and chilly outside.  Which is what it is today !!

Using up my bananas also means my post qualifies to enter April’s No Waste Food Challenge, created by Kate of Turquoise Lemons.  This month the theme is “fruit” and is hosted by Elizabeth of Elizabeth’s Kitchen.

Ingredients

250g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

½ tsp salt

1 egg

5 tblsp water

80g soft brown sugar

3 medium, very ripe bananas (peeled!)

4 tblsp corn oil (I used sunflower oil as I didn’t have corn oil)

Method

Preheat the oven to 190°C / 170°fan / gas mk 5.  Put muffin cases into a 12-hole muffin tin, or grease two 24-hole mini muffin tins, or do half of each.

Sift the flour, baking powder, bicarb and salt into a large bowl.

In another bowl, mash the bananas to a pulp.  Add the egg, water and sugar and beat until well combined.  Add the oil and stir well.

Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and stir until just combined.

Divide the mixture between the muffin cases and bake until firm and springy.  The mini muffins will take 15-20 minutes and the full sized muffins 20-25 minutes.

Remove from the tin and cool on a rack. 

Makes 12 regular muffins, 40 mini muffins, or 6 regular and 20 mini muffins.  Each regular muffin is 3 Weightwatchers points – you will have to calculate the points value of the mini ones for yourself !!