Banana Buttermilk Muffins

I found my new favourite banana muffin recipe!
It was on a blog called Alida's Kitchen and I love it and so do the kids.
The main reason I made them was because I had buttermilk in my fridge, two ripe bananas and half a cup of chocolate chips. Clearly a sign that I had to bake muffins. I just had to do it. And I cannot wait to bake them again!

Here is a link tot the recipe and here is a copy:

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup low-fat buttermilk
1 cup well-mashed ripe banana (I used 2 large bananas)
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, divided (I used plain chocolate chips)

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 180 C.
Spray 12 standard muffin cups with cooking spray or line with paper liners and set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk flour, sugar, baking powder and baking soda.
In a separate bowl (or in a liquid measuring cup), whisk together buttermilk, banana, oil, egg and vanilla.
Add buttermilk mixture to flour mixture and fold until just blended. Add 1/4 cup chocolate chips, and fold until combined.
Divide batter evenly among prepared muffin cups. Sprinkle the tops with remaining chocolate chips.
Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Let cool in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes and then move muffins to a wire rack to cool completely. completely.

Chocolate Yogurt Muffins

The kids wanted muffins a couple of weeks ago and I wanted to bake something.
I had chocolate chips in the pantry and a big tub of plain yogurt in the fridge.
So I found a recipe which incorporated both!

This is a very easy recipe and the muffins turned out very tasty.

Here is a link to the recipe on allrecipes.com and here is a copy:

Ingredients:

 2 cups all-purpose flour
 1 cup white sugar
 3/4 cup chocolate chips
 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
 1 teaspoon baking soda
 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
 1 egg
 1 cup plain yogurt
 1/2 cup milk
 1/2 cup vegetable oil
 1/4 cup chocolate chips (I left this out since I ran out of chocolate chips!)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease 12 muffin cups or line with paper muffin liners.
Combine flour, sugar, 3/4 cup chocolate chips, cocoa powder, and baking soda in a large bowl.

Whisk egg, yogurt, milk, and vegetable oil in another bowl until smooth; pour into chocolate mixture and stir until batter is just blended. Fill prepared muffin cups 3/4 full and sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup chocolate chips.

Bake in preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack.

I made 24 regular muffins but it depends on the size of your muffin tin!

Basic Muffins

Two weeks ago I had two friends drop by for coffee.
It was wonderful to catch up and chat and exchange ideas.
I whipped up a batch of muffins before they arrived and it went down very well with our cappuccinos. Since I had a few strawberries just hanging around I decided to chop them up and throw them in the batter. Not sure that it worked that well although nobody complained. Especially not my kids when they came home from school and devoured the remaining muffins!

Here is a link to the recipe which I found on King Arthur Flour's website.
Here is a copy - I added a handful of diced strawberries and my baking time was 25 minutes:

King Arthur Flour's Basic Muffins

2 cups All-Purpose Flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil or softened butter (optional)*
2 large eggs

*If you leave the oil out, you can reduce the calories in your muffins by about 30%; the flavour will still be excellent, but muffins won't be quite as tender, and won't keep as well should you happen to have any left over.

Preheat your oven to 500°F (250C).

Blend together the dry ingredients as long and as vigorously as you want. If you use a little whole wheat flour in your mixture, it's easy to tell when everything is thoroughly mixed.

Beat the liquid ingredients together -- milk, oil or butter, and eggs -- until they are light.

Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Take a fork or wire whisk and blend the two for 20 seconds -- no more! The secret to light and tender muffins lies in this final blending. It's OK if you've left some lumps that look as if they want more stirring; they really don't. So, no matter how hard it is, resist the impulse.

Fill cups of a lightly greased muffin tin two-thirds to three-quarters full. Place muffins in the oven and immediately drop temperature to 400°F* (200C). Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until muffins test done. Yield: 12 muffins, 24 mini-muffins, or six "crown" muffins.

*When you put muffins in a very hot oven and immediately drop the temperature, you help create the high peaks that make them so appealing.

Rhubarb Muffins

In my surprise crate from the Streekmolen I received two stems of rhubarb amongst a lot of vegetables.

You know it.

The first thing that came into my head was to make muffins.

The last time I made rhubarb muffins I used dark brown sugar. It worked well but I felt like trying a different recipe and in my search found this one posted by the Telegraph.

It is very easy and I had only had to make one tiny adjustment for the crumble since I did not have any demerara sugar in the house. Plain sugar works perfectly well.

They turned out beautifully.

Sadly I am on a diet and had to remove some of the temptation. Lets face it, in a family of 4 you don't really need 16 muffins. Heidi and I knocked on two of our neighbours doors with a few freshly baked muffins. The surprise and the smiles on their faces was definitely worth it.

Here is a copy of the recipe:

Rhubarb crumble muffin recipe, makes 12 to 16

Ingredients:
For the crumble topping:
50g cold butter, diced
50g plain flour
25g porridge oats
50g demerara sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon

For the muffins:
375g self-raising flour
125g soft light brown sugar
1 medium egg, beaten
250ml milk
100g butter, melted and cooled
200g rhubarb, sliced lengthways and chopped
50g caster sugar

Instructions:
* Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6. Line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper cases.
* To make the crumble, rub the diced butter into the plain flour and oats until mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs.
* Add the sugar and cinnamon, mix again and set aside.
* For the muffins, sift the flour into a bowl, add the soft brown sugar and mix.
* Whisk together the egg, milk and cooled, melted butter.
* In another bowl mix the chopped rhubarb with the caster sugar and 2tbsp of cold water.
* Add the egg, milk and butter to the flour and sugar. Add the rhubarb mixture and stir to combine. Do not over mix.
* Divide this mixture between the muffin cases and then sprinkle over the crumble mix, pressing it gently into place.
* Bake for 20-25 minutes. Leave in the tin for 5 minutes then move to a wire rack to cool.

Apple and Banana Muffins (again)

Isn't it nice when you just know a recipe that will always turn out well?
This apple and banana muffin recipe remains one of my favourites.
I tend to vary the apple and banana ratio, because that totally depends on what fruit I have in the house.  In my opinion grating the apple is best.
And this time round I used wholewheat flour.
Delicious indeed.

So delicious I had to hide them from Stella when she kept coming back for more.

Luckily I was able to send most of the muffins along with Heidi when she went on a playdate with two of her friends from school. Happy faces all round.

Click here for the recipe which I posted in June 2011.

Ham and Cheese Muffins

I am on a roll.
Muffins - sweet and savoury.
This week it is ham and cheese muffins.
I thought they would be a good breakfast for the kids.
And I was right.
Plus you can freeze them :-)

Of course the recipe called for buttermilk which I did not have. In fact, I never have buttermilk. Like ever. Luckily there is a way to simulate buttermilk and it is dead simple.
Add one tablespoon of lemon juice in a one cup measure and fill up with milk. Let it rest for 5 minutes and you will have curdled milk a.k.a buttermilk substitute.

The muffins are perfect kids food - go on, make some!

Here is a link to the site where I found the recipe and here is a copy:

TIP: make sure you use cheddar cheese or an aged cheese!!

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
2 eggs
1/4 cup vegetable or canola oil
2 tablespoons maple syrup or honey
1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
1 cup ham, chopped fine

Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine the first 5 dry ingredients in a bowl and stir to combine.
3. In a separate bowl whisk the eggs, oil and maple syrup and stir to combine.
4. Add the buttermilk to the egg mixture and stir.
5. Add the buttermilk mixture to the flour and stir until just combined.
6. Fold in the cheese and ham.
7. Scoop the batter 2/3 of the way up into greased muffin cups and bake for 18-20 minutes (15 minutes if using mini muffin cups).
8. Cool on a wire rack and serve.

Simple muffins

I can't decide whether to call them muffins or cupcakes... but they made the kids very happy.
It was a Friday afternoon and Heidi had a friend over.
How could I resist baking muffins with them?

They helped me all the way, and left a pretty messy kitchen in their wake but I think they had a good time doing it and that's fine with me.

We added a few finely sliced strawberries on top and placed them in the oven.
The kids could hardly wait the 25 minutes it took to bake them!

I had to do everything in my power to distract them while I let the muffins cool for a few minutes. The TV is pretty good for that ;-)

In the end they devoured their muffins, every little crumb so it must have been good.
Me on the other hand just looked at them eating the muffins because I'm on a diet.
I enjoyed them with my eyes :-)

Here is the recipe and a link to the page where I found it:

Ingredients:
2 cups self-raising flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract

Method:
Preheat oven to 180°C or 160° fan-forced. Place muffin papers in one 12-hole muffin tray.

Combine flour, sugar and salt in a bowl.

In a jug, mix egg, milk and oil.

Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just combined.

Pour 1/3 cup measures into muffin liners and smooth over top.

Bake for 22-25 minutes. Leave to cool in tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to continue cooling.

Chocolate Muffins - a Delicious Magazine Slimmed Down Version

I stumbled across a 'slimmed down' chocolate muffin recipe in the delicious magazine and I've been looking for an excuse to try it out. So when my friend Alida stopped by for coffee it seemed like the perfect occasion for some muffins.

There is no oil or butter in the recipe, instead they used beetroot and low fat yogurt.

It was pretty easy to make and quite delicious. The beetroot has a very subtle earthy taste. It requires some effort to grate raw beetroot... use a food processor if you have one and try to grate it as finely as possible. Last but not least, watch out for stains on your hands!

Here is the recipe straight from the pages of the magazine.

Ingredients:
3 medium free range eggs
175g soft light brown muscovado sugar
150g fresh beetroot, peeled and finely grated
175g self-raising flour
50g good quality cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
100ml low-fat natural yogurt
1 tbsp vanilla bean past (I used vanilla essence)
100g plain chocolate (70% cocoa solids), chopped

Method:
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius
Line a muffin tray with paper cases
In a large bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar together for 10 minutes until the batter is light and fluffy and has expanded in volume. Whisk in the grated beetroot.
Sift the flour, cocoa and baking powder, then carefully fold into the mixture. Fold in the yogurt, vanilla paste and chocolate.
Spoon the batter into the muffin cases until they are three quarters full, then bake for 15-20 minutes.
Remove the muffins from the oven and allow to cool slightly in the tin. When they are cool enough to touch, remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Enjoy!!

Rhubarb muffins on a Sunday afternoon

Walking around the local grocery store I came across some rhubarb.
I am ashamed to admit that I have never used rhubarb before today. Growing up in South Afica where there is an abundance of exotic fruit, rhubarb just never featured.
So, standing in the Albert Heijn, I decided to buy rhubarb and use it for the very first time.

Needless to say, I spent quite a bit of time browsing the Internet looking for recipe ideas.
It was hard deciding what to make but eventually I decided upon muffins.
I found a Jamie Oliver recipe and modified it to work with what I had in the house.

Here is a link to the original recipe: Rhubarb and Ginger Muffins

Here is my version... slightly tweaked.

Ingredients:
• 350g whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 325g dark brown sugar
• teaspoon lemon juice
• 250ml long life milk
• zest of 1 orange
• 1 piece of stem ginger, finely grated
• 1 large egg,
• 100g butter plus 1 tablespoon extra, melted
• 300g rhubarb, finely chopped

Method:
Preheat the oven to 190ºC and line a muffin tray with muffin cases.

In a small pan, heat up the rhubarb with a little bit of boiling water and some sugar. Only for a minute or two. Drain excess water and let it cool down.

In a large mixing bowl place the flour, baking powder, salt and 225g of the brown sugar. Mix, then make a well in the centre.

Add the lemon juice into the milk and set aside for a couple of minutes. Place the orange zest, half the stem ginger, the egg, 100g of melted butter and the milk mixture into the bowl and beat thoroughly. Fold in the chopped rhubarb. Spoon the mixture into the muffin cases, filling each one to the top.

In a small bowl place the remaining 100g of brown sugar, the extra tablespoon of melted butter and the rest of the stem ginger. Mix until it looks like a crumble topping, then sprinkle over the muffins. (I didnt quite manage to make it into a crumble topping... But it melted just fine on top)

Bake for 25 minutes so the sugar turns golden and crispy and the muffins are cooked through. Serve warm with custard or crème fraîche for a lovely pudding.

The batter yielded 18 medium sized muffins. They were delicious.