What do you do with a bunch of over-ripe bananas? Do you stash them in the freezer and eventually make some yummy (calorific!) banana bread, turn them into ice-cream or make them into a banana split? This was my banana dilemma on Thursday.
After browsing the fridge and several cookbooks for ideas I settled upon the breakfast Banana Muffins from "Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favourites". I've owned this cookbook for at least 4 years and until this week I'd never actually cooked from it. I don't actually recall buying it, I think it just materialised out of thin air....
The beauty of this particular recipe is in just how much banana it uses. One whole cup of mashed bananas! This gave the muffins lots of moisture and great flavour. Combined with buttermilk (originally yogurt but the batch of yogurt I slaved over ended up smelling a little odd) the texture is tender and fairly refined.
We really enjoyed the taste of these muffins. The spice blend was particularly good (you can never go wrong with cinnamon or nutmeg) and they've absolutely flown out of the kitchen. Also, they're not too sweet which is good; banana muffins can often be sickly, especially if they have a glaze on them. Perfect for breakfast really....
Incidentally, frozen bananas make fantastic instant faux ice-cream: just peel, slice, and freeze until solid. Blitz in the food processor with a spoonful of fromage frais and honey until creamy. Serve immediately!
Banana Muffins, adapted from Moosewood Restaurant Low-fat Favourites
Makes 12
WW points (UK): 2.5 per muffin
130g (1 cup) plain (allpurpose) flour
55g (1/4 cup packed) light brown sugar
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
95g (1 cup) rolled oats
1 egg white
1 egg
2 tbsp corn oil (or any other vegetable oil)
3 medium bananas mashed (1 cup mashed bananas)
125ml (1/2 cup) low-fat buttermilk
80g (1/2 cup) raisins
Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 6 (200C).
Prepare a 12-hole muffin tin with either paper liners, a thin coating of oil or cooking spray.
Sift the flour, sugar, bicarbonate, baking powder and spices into a large bowl. Whirl the oats in a blender or food processor for a few minutes until they reach the texture of cornmeal. Stir into the flour mixture.
In another bowl whisk the egg white for about three minutes until fluffy and the volume has increased (you don't want stiff peaks though). Whisk in the egg, oil, mashed bananas and buttermilk. Stir in the raisins.
Quickly fold this mixture into the dry ingredients, mixing until just combined.
Divide the mixture between the muffin cups and bake for 20-25 minutes until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
Cool for 5 minutes in the tin, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.
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Comments
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Delicious and inspirational! I'm making them tomorrow morning for breakfast and using canola instead. Thanks.
1. Posted by Nia on November 20, 2007
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I love banana muffin it taste really good!
2. Posted by mj on November 20, 2007