Black Banana and White Chocolate Muffins

Black Banana and White Chocolate Muffins

What to do with some overripe bananas? I know, make some super yummy muffins with some naughty but nice white chocolate!

Black and white muffin!

Ingredients:

Scary banana!

175g dairy free margarine
100g light brown sugar
2 eggs
150g self raising gluten free flour
75g ground almonds
3 or 4 overripe bananas
125g white chocolate
few drops vanilla essence

Preheat the oven to 170C. Pop 12 muffin cases into a muffin tin (somewhat predictably).

White chocolate

In a large mixing bowl, use a wooden spoon to mix the margarine and sugar together until well mixed together. Add 1 egg at a time and slowly mix together. Do not fret if the mixture curdles. To the rescue comes the flour and ground almonds. Gradually mix together. Without fear or trepidation, move onto the overripe bananas. Remove the peel and then chop the soft banana into medium pieces. Chop the white chocolate into small pieces. Add the bananas, chocolate and essence to the mixture and carefully mix together. 

Hopefully will turn into magic!

Spoon between the 12 muffin cases and pop into the oven for 1 hour until golden brown. Leave in the tin for 10 minutes before enjoying warm or the next day in a packed lunch. 

Voila, the magic!

Banana and Rum Muffins

Banana and Rum Muffins

Banana and rum are a lovely combination that deserves a wider audience than the Caribbean. I decided to give it a go in this quick recipe which can serve as a late, lazy Sunday treat.

Banana and rum muffin!

Ingredients:

Ripe banana and Mount Gay rum

150g dairy free margarine
2 eggs
100g light muscovado sugar
2 tbsp rum
130g ground almonds
110g plain gluten free flour
1 tsp gluten free baking powder
1 tsp aniseed, crushed finely
4 small bananas cut into pieces

Preheat the oven to 200C and pop 10 muffin cases into a muffin tin.

Melt the margarine and whisk in the eggs, rum and sugar. 

In a mixing bowl, combine the ground almonds, flour, ground aniseed and baking powder and then mix in the liquid mixture. 

Once combined, pour into the muffin cases until halfway filled. Add the banana pieces on top and press down lightly.

Lovely bananas

Pop into the oven for 30 minutes until golden brown.

Fresh from the oven

These muffins can be enjoyed fresh from the oven with a nice cup of tea or coffee.

Nice cup of tea?

Upside down pineapple muffins

Upside down pineapple muffins

Upside down pineapple muffins

We are lucky that in London, pineapples seem to be now in season, hence the supermarkets offering great offers on pineapples. It is always a bit daunting to buy a pineapple at first if you are not sure whether it is ripe or not. There is nothing worse than fruit that is not ripe, since it seems to detract from the magical taste of fruit.

One rough guide is to try to pull one of the leaves on top of a pineapple, if it comes out easily it is a sign of ripeness. However, this must also be matched with the colour of the skin. It should be clear of any green and should be a golden colour. Sometimes it is a question of judgment. The pineapple that I used for this recipe was a week old, golden in colour, but the leaves did not come out easily. I could tell though from its smell that it was ready and sure enough it proved to be very juicy.

This is a quick and easy recipe that will fit very well in a lunchbox, perhaps introducing fruit to a young person.

Ripe pineapple!

 

Ingredients:

150g dairy free margarine

2 eggs

100g light muscovado sugar

100g ground almonds

100g plain gluten free flour

1 tsp gluten free baking powder

1/2 pineapple peeled and cut into pieces

Preheat the oven to 180C. In a mixing bowl cream the margarine and sugar together. Add the eggs one at a time to mix. Add the flours and baking powder until combined. In a 12-hole muffin tin with muffin cases, divide the mixture evenly (just over 1 tablespoon.

Three's a crowd?

Divide the pineapple pieces on top of the mixture. Pop into the oven for 30 minutes until golden brown. Leave in the tin for 10 minutes.

Golden delicious

You should be left with a lovely light, moist muffin with juicy pineapple pieces to enjoy at lunch or on a picnic.

Juicy muffins

So, how do you test the ripeness of a pineapple?

Rhubarb and orange muffins with coconut crumble

Rhubarb and orange muffins with coconut crumble

Rhubarb is back in season so what better way than to start a week of rhubarb recipes. Rhubarb crumble is a childhood classic which fills some with dread especially those who cannot fathom why sour sweets are so popular. Rhubarb can be difficult to work into sweet dishes as the knack is in adding sweetness without overpowering the sour essence of rhubarb. It must be hard trying to sell the rhubarb taste to children but it is a fruit which offers traditional medicinal benefits.

The first offering is a muffin which is not too sweet but at the same time brings lots of flavour and texture in a form which might appeal to children and adults alike!

Ingredients:

180g dairy-free margarine

180g caster sugar

3 eggs

300g self-raising gluten-free flour

few drops vanilla essence

Grated rind from 1 orange

3 rhubarb stalks

75g dairy-free margarine

75g plain gluten-free flour

20g caster sugar

2 tbsp dessicated and toasted coconut

Prepare the crumble mix by rubbing the margarine and gluten free flour together in a bowl with cold hands. Mrs NMFS has the coldest hands that I know of so hers are ideal! Once you have what looks like fine breadcrumbs stir in the sugar and toasted coconut. Set aside in the fridge until you need it later.

Preheat the oven to 180C and pop 12 muffin cases into a muffin tray. Now to prepare the easy muffin mix.

Cream the margarine and sugar together until soft and light. Slowly add the eggs, one at a time. Add the flour and fold into the mix together with the orange rind and vanilla.

Wash and cut the rhubarb into pieces.

Spoon 1 heaped tablespoon of the mix into each muffin case until all of the mix is used up. Lightly press 3-4 pieces of the rhubarb on top of the mix depending on how large you cut the rhubarb. Spoon 1 even tablespoon of the crumble on top of the rhubarb.

Place in the oven for about 45-50 minutes.

Mrs NMFS's response when I told her of the combination of flavours and as she tried a piece was to say "It's interesting!" I was left to ponder for some time whether that was a good thing or not! Apparently it was a good interesting which was such a relief.

Have you tried a new flavour combination which also interested others?