banana muffin with nuts & seeds

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Ingredients

• 300 g wholemeal flour
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 180 ml whole milk
• 2 eggs
• 200 g very ripe bananas (unpeeled weight, around 2 medium bananas)
• 200 g butter
• 150 g dark muscovado sugar
• 50 g nuts and seeds of your choice (I used hazelnuts, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and white sesame seeds)
• 1 tbsp maple syrup

Although I wouldn't call this "healthy", it's a lot better than shop-bought muffins as the recipe doesn't use highly refined ingredients. Makes 12 muffins.

1. Preheat the oven to 180 deg celcius.
2. Line the muffin cups with paper liners or grease and flour.
3. Chop nuts and seeds finely and stir in maple syrup. Set aside.
4. Sift flour, salt and baking powder into a large bowl. Add the bran that has been sifted out back into the flour.
5. Combine milk and eggs in another bowl and beat together with a fork briefly.
6. Melt butter (I do this in a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water to avoid burning the water) and allow it to cool briefly, then stir in the sugar and mix very well. Dark muscovado sugar tends to clump together.
7. Chop bananas finely. I usually leave bananas to blacken in their skins before using them for baking. You can also mash the bananas if you like a muffin with no bits, or half-mash, and half-chop. Add bananas to sugar and butter mixture.
8. Add the egg-milk mixture to the flour, fold quickly with a metal spoon. Then add the banana-butter-sugar mixture and fold again. Leith's Cooking Bible says no more than 20 folding strokes, but I had to use 28 before the mixture was moistened. There will be some bits of flour still and clumpiness, but that's OK for muffin-making.
9. Spoon ino the muffin cups. Top with the nut-seed-maple syrup mixture. Work quickly as the baking powder will start to work once the wet ingredients have been mixed into the dry.
10. Bake for about 20 minutes until well-risen and the tops of the muffin should spring back when gently pressed. Transfer the muffins to a wire rack to cool, but these are best warm.

• 
  yongfook says

  delicious and great pic - I love the print background!

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  Judy says

  I agree..it really sets off the muffin..if that's possible!?

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  iconsam says

  Now that's a hearty healthy muffin.

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  JaiLovesCake says

  wowww yummy. see jon-tard im not picky? this does look hearty n healthy as sam said. ..gets out the clotted cream and jam ... now we're open for business lol

• 
  tommy says

  Thanks, I thought it'll be a good use for my stash of fabrics. Have you heard of clotted cream butter, jai?

• 
  JaiLovesCake says

  yes indeed tommy. i LOVE it. artery-clogging delicious :D

• 
  tommy says

  I saw it in the shops but haven't had the courage to try it yet. It might be addictive. How is clotted cream butter different to regular already-artery-clogging butter?

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  serenac says

  have you tried neal's yard clotted cream, tommy? it's amazing. i love the picture, as always,

• 
  tommy says

  I haven't, but that's why I spotted the clotted cream butter!

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  JaiLovesCake says

  it tastes cleaner , and smoother. goes so well with sweetbreads , muffins and crusty bread . it isssssss addictive

• 
  tommy says

  Oh, you're making me feel like rushing out righ now to get some...

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