Kath and Eoin's Banana Muffins!
27/03/2020
The lightest, fluffiest, moistest muffins, perfect for that fine constitution; elevenses. Must be eaten whilst still warm to get the full ‘mmmm’ effect.
These guys make a regular appearance on a mid-morning meeting trolley here at Mm. I always have to make a double batch to guarantee enough - every single Molecule that walks through the kitchen en-route to the coffee machine swipes at least one. Who can blame them though? The warm waft of cinnamon on the staircase is enough to entice even the most resolute.
Perfect for using up that bunch of bananas that are slightly too ripe for folk to select au naturel, ideal for whizzing up into a batter the night before so sleepy eyes can bake first thing, very amenable to a plethora of tasty flavour pairings.
The Ingredients
(Makes 12 muffins)
Salted butter (125g + a bit for greasing)
Soft light brown sugar (125g)
Ripe bananas (2 large)
Greek yogurt (125g)
Plain flour (175g)
Bicarbonate of soda (2 tsp)
Cinnamon powder (½ tsp)
+ your choice of topping or inclusion or maybe both if you are feeling extravagant?
The Recipe
1) Heat oven to 180°C fan
2) Grease muffin tin with butter
3) Cut 125g butter into chunks, pop into a saucepan with the sugar on a low heat, stirring occasionally until melted together. Don’t be tempted to rush this process otherwise you will get a strong caramel flavour. You will be tempted to dip your finger in for a taste. Resist, it will be molten lava-esq.
4) While the butter and sugar are melting, whizz the peeled bananas and yogurt together in a food processor until smooth. You could also do this by hand with a potato masher or even a fork. Don’t worry if there are a few lumps of banana in the mix if you do it by hand, it will just add texture to your muffin.
5) Sift flour, bicarbonate of soda and cinnamon powder into a bowl, add the melted butter and sugar mix, add the banana and yogurt mix. Mix with a whisk or spoon until totally combined – unmixed flour bombs in the middle of your muffin are not a good look.
6) If you fancy, say a chocolate drop or a cranberry piece, running through your muffin, add a good handful now and distribute as evenly as you can.
At this point you can either bake your muffins or pop the mixture in a container in the fridge until the morning. In the Mm kitchen I scale this up to 8 bananas and let the mixture rest in the fridge overnight – this gives me 48 or so muffins within 20 minutes the next day.
6) To bake, spoon the mixture into the muffin tin, about ¾ full in each hole, add a topping if you like and bake in the oven until well risen, golden and springy to the touch. Insert a metal skewer into the top of the muffin, when you pull it back out it will be clean if the muffin is cooked.
Top tip - if you scale up to 8 bananas, reduce the bicarb down to 5 tsp rather than 8 tsp to avoid the soapy taste that bicarb can give.
Some thoughts to get those taste buds tingling……….
