Banana Chocolate Cinnamon Muffins

These muffins are sweet, with a chewy top, fluffy interior and have lushious chunks of chocolate to boot. These didn't last long in my house!

Hi again everyone! College life has been really busy, but that doesn't mean that I haven't been cooking.. So here's the latest, direct from me to you. These muffins worked up a storm and I think I'll be cooking them again pretty soon. I found this recipe in a book, and enhanced it to give it a kick. I don't love strong banana flavours so only used 2 instead of 3. But if you love bananas, then by all means add the third! Made with ingredients that you probably have lying around your kitchen so you might not even have to buy anything else at all!

Ingredients; (Makes about 12 Muffins)

• 275g Self Raising Flour
• 1tsp Bicarb of Soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 Large bananas
• 125g Golden Caster Sugar
• 1 Large Egg, Beaten
• 50ml Semi-skimmed Milk
• 75g Unsalted Butter, Melted and then Cooled
• 50g Plain Chocolate, Chopped (plus a little extra to shave on top)
• 1/2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp Ground Nutmeg

Method;

1. Heat the oven to Gask Mark 4 / 180'C / 375'F and melt the butter in a small dish or ramikin, in the microwave and allow it to cool. Line a Muffin tin with cases either paper of silicon.
2. In a large bowl, sift together the Flour, Bicarb, and salt together and put it to the side.
3. In another bowl, peel the bananas and mash them together with a fork. You'd think this would be easy, but I almost broke my arm doing this... Add in the Sugar, Egg and Melted Butter and mix together. Put this into the flour mixture along with the chopped chocolate. Add in the cinnamon and the nutmeg. Don't overmix. Just until the flour has been incorperated.
4. The mixture will be lumpy, this is good. Use a self serving ice cream scoop (with a mechanism that pushes things out) for even and extra speedy filling of the cases. If you don't have one, then just use 2 spoons...
5. Bake for 20 minutes or until the tops are golden and a skewer comes out clean. They can keep for several days, but should really be eaten the day they are made.
6. As an added touch, you could grate a little chocolate over the muffins while they are still hot

Enjoy!

Melt the Butter

Mix it looks like it's starting to separate

Chop the chocolate

Seieve the ingredients so that there is plenty of air in the mixture

 

Mash the bananas

Mix the ingredients together

Add them to the flour mixture. It looks like snowy ice caps in ocean to cinnamon bananas

I love this tool!!!

Fill em up!

 

 

Please Comment, and Above all, Enjoy!!!!

Sticky Sultana Fruit Cake

A golden sticky cake, moist and filled with gooey sultanas. A good hearty cake with a slight crunch just to boot.

I wanted to do some cooking this week and for a dead quick and simple recipe I turned to this. This was originally a Delia Smith recipe, but with a few adaptations, here it is! It's really simple, really fast and disappears just as quickly! Made it for a church coffee session and it was gone in minutes. It matures to a more intense flavor as well as becoming stickier if left for a few days.

So, to the Ingredients;

• 225g Self Raising Flour
• 175g Demerara Sugar
• 250ml Cold Tea
• 225g Sultanas
• 1 Large Egg
• Pinch of Salt
• 1/2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp Ground Nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp Ground Mixed Spice

Put the sultanas in a bowl and soak for about 5  hours in the cold tea or overnight if it's easier, so that they become large, fat and juicy. Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 4 / 180'C / 350'F. Do this at least 20 minutes before baking the cake. Well grease and line a 2 lb (900g) loaf tin or two 1 lb loaf tins. However, I cooked mine in a round deep tin. You can either use grease-proof paper, like I did, or buy cake liners, but hey, I love to make life more difficult for myself :P In a large bowl mix the flour, salt and sugar and sultana mixture (If you're sultanas soaked up quite a bit of tea, as mine did, then add a little extra tea to level it off). Beat the egg in a jug with a fork and mix this in. Finally add all the spices and mix in evenly. Spoon the mixture into the tin and bake for 1 hour. Leave in the tin after cooking for 15 minutes before taking out. Allow it to cool and serve on it's own or with butter. If you cooked yours in a 2lb loaf tin and it isn't cooked after 1 hour then remove from the oven, cover with foil and bake for another 10 minutes.

Just showing how I lined my baking tin. I cut a long strip that was higher than the tin, and then cut small slices down one edge and so I could fold it into a circle. 

I didn't cut a circle for the bottom although you can, but I used the pre-cutout teflon cake liners I had

Soaking the raisins in the cold tea

You don't have to, but I separated the tea from the raisins so that I could top up any liquid that had been absorbed

Raisins and tea go in..

Adding the Flour Sugar and Salt

Mix ... It coming together now

Whisk the egg in a jug with a whisk (surprisingly) or fork

Add the egg in and mix

Finally, add in the spices with some magical casting... and a few pew pew pew

Pour into tin sweet tin

Smooth out, or if you're lazy just et it gloop level ;)

Mwahahahaha.......

Please comment, and as always, Enjoy!!!