Making Time: Banana-Bran Muffins

Well, I've started culinary school. It's actually happening.

Evening classes can be pretty rough, and it's been a little hard adjusting to the four-to-ten schedule. It still feels as though I have no time to get anything done and then, suddenly, the day is over.

I'm working on it, though. I've even managed to do some baking at home in between all the homework and bus commutes. Whoot!

But, in all honesty, it's been pretty awesome so far. I foresee it getting really intense and stressful but, hey, how else are you supposed to learn anything?

Banana-Bran Muffins
(adapted from eatingwell.com)



1 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup all purpose/plain flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs
2/3 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
3 ripe bananas, mashed
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup canola oil
1 cup wheat bran
1 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 400° F (204° C). Grease a 12-muffin pan (or stand-alone silicone cups) and set aside.

Whisk together the flours, baking powder, soda, and salt and set aside.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs until creamy and then beat in the sugar, mixing until smooth and fully combined.

Stir in the bananas and mix well, then add the vanilla, oil, wheat bran, and buttermilk, mixing thoroughly after each addition.

Now add the flour mixture, about a third at a time, mixing only until just combined.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared muffin pan, filling each cup to the top.

Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in a muffin comes out clean. Cool in the pan for a few minutes and then remove to a cooling rack.

Makes about a dozen muffins.

Banana Muffins with Streusel Topping

Did you have food obsessions as a child? I remember being addicted to carrots for a while. And I couldn't get enough of cucumber. And bananas. I definitely a special place in my heart for bananas. I loved the way they came with a natural wrapper. I loved peeling them, one section at a time. I loved the smooth, firm texture. I just hated how fast they turned brown. Sometimes after just a couple of days in the fruit bowl, brown spots would already start showing up. Somehow, as a child very fond of the familiar, I couldn't accept the change in appearance and flavor as my favorite fruits began to age. That slightly heady sweetness and steady softening repulsed me.

But things are a little different now.

Eating raw, browned bananas still isn't my favorite activity (some impressions just don't go away!) but I now know the secret joy that only over-ripe bananas can bestow. Banana bread. Banana muffins. Moist, sweet, and so, so delicious. The squishy, sickly sweetness of brown bananas elevates the humble muffin or loaf cake to glorious, scrumptious heights. And I don't have to feel bad about letting those bananas go steadily browner, uneaten on the counter.

Recipe:
Banana Muffins with Streusel Topping

1 3/4 cups all-purpose/plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup (1 stick or 113 grams) butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar (if you like your goodies sweet, go ahead and add 3/4 cup!)
3 large, very ripe bananas, mashed (I left mine pretty chunky so there were globs of banana in the muffins when they were cooked, yum!)
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350° F (180° C)

Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon and set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Stir in the bananas and then the eggs and vanilla.

Add the flour mixture, a little at a time, stirring until just combine (don't over mix).

Spoon batter into greased muffin tins, about 3/4 full.

Top with streusel topping (see this recipe)

Bake in preheated oven for about 25 minutes.

Allow muffins to cool in tins before removing to a cooling rack.

Home-Sweet-Home: Blueberry Muffins with Streusel Topping

What's the only thing you can do when you're lazing around, recovering from jet lag and trying not to panic about the mysterious future? Make blueberry muffins, obviously. What, you don't distract yourself with comfort baking? Psh.

Well, I am 100%, bona fide moved back home. The couple boxes I had shipped even arrived today so it's official: I'm back at my parents' house. Glamorous.

As much as I do need to get a job, pronto, and sort out some genuine independence, there are definite pluses to my current living situation. For one thing, the parents have an awesome kitchen. Seriously, awesome. Also, they're pretty appreciative of being cooked for. That's always nice.

So far, I've been about as lazy as possible, cooking-wise (hey, it's a nice change to not have to produce my own meals!) But this morning I started getting a little twitchy. The I-haven't-used-an-oven-in-way-too-long-and-there-are-tons-of-ingredients sort of twitchy. Baking Time!

It needed to be something on the lighter side-- not too buttery and full of chocolate-- since this is for my parents, not some greedy college students (college has taught me that twenty-something boys really can eat all the food. All of it.) To me, lighter baking in the summer just means throwing in some fruit. That way it's healthy, see? Besides, bubbly, oozing berry juice, soaking into spongy baked goods sort of makes me swoon. And drool.

Also, there's something especially luxurious and wholesome about whipping up some tasty treats with fresh, juicy fruit and eggs from a friend's chickens. Fresh, local ingredients give you the sense of being more in touch with the food you're making (the food, ultimately, that you're putting in your body!)

So: blueberry muffins. Cinnamon crumble topping. Bubbly, juicy berries and gorgeous golden -yolked eggs. Yes.

Recipe:
Blueberry Muffins with Streusel Topping
adapted from this recipe
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup milk
1 heaping cup fresh blueberries

1/3 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 cup butter, room temperature (1/2 stick or 57 grams)

Preheat the oven to 400° F (200° C)

Mix together the dry ingredients and the wet separately. My egg was on the small side so I added a splash more milk to make up for the loss of moisture.

In a third bowl, mix together the additional flour, sugar, cinnamon, and butter. Using your fingertips, rub the butter into the dry ingredients until it forms a rough breadcrumb-like consistency.

Blend the wet and dry muffin ingredients, stirring until just combined. Now gently fold in the blueberries (being careful not to mix too much).

Fill greased muffin cups to the top with the mixture and top with the cinnamon crumble mixture.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

Let them cool in the muffin tin for a while (so the top don't tear off when you take them out!) and then remove to a cooling rack.

I got 7 hefty muffins from this recipe (let's call it 6-8!)

Spring has Sprung: Carrot Cake Muffins

Carrot cake is, without a doubt, my favorite type of cake. The moistness. The delicate spicing. The subtle sweetness from the carrot. Mm! When I found a recipe for carrot cupcakes I might possibly have swooned a little bit inside (in the picture they even had little sugar carrot decorations, I'm only human!) The weather has finally mustered up some glorious sunny days (positively summery!) so I decided that the time had come for something suitably fresh-tasting and seasonal. Despite what the supermarkets would have us think, carrots are actually a spring/summer veg. Besides, they're bright orange and they make me think of little bunnies with their nibbling little teeth. What could be more spring-like?

Since I'm in the mood for sharing (and would rather not eat round after round of baked goods on my own...) I decided that little bite-sized portions is the best way to go. People can just grab one without going through the ritualistic hassle of cutting a slice of cake.

It was a wise decision. These are the most moist, scrumptious bites of carrot cake I've had in a while, chock-full of juicy raisins and ever-so-slightly chewy strands of carrot. A-plus, as far as I'm concerned! They came out so scrummy and dainty that I decided not to ice them as the recipe suggested (though that orange cream cheese butter-cream sounds mighty tasty!) Instead, I christened them "mini-muffins" and left them as is: adorable, dainty, and a teensy bit healthier!

Recipe:
Carrot Cake Muffins
adapted from a recipe on goodtoknow.co.uk

1 1/8 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ginger
pinch of nutmeg
pinch of salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup caster sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons fresh orange zest
2 1/4 cups grated carrot
1/2 cup raisins

Preheat the oven to 180º C (350º F)

Whisk together the flour, baking soda, spices and salt (or sift them if you have/want to use a sifter!) and set aside.

Crack the eggs into a large bowl and stir until they're creamy yellow and blended and then add the sugar, oil, vanilla and orange zest (I only had some tiny satsumas-- not the best zesting oranges-- so I used a couple and squeezed in a little bit of juice just for the heck of it). Blend thoroughly.

Now add the previously mixed dry ingredients, a little at a time, mixing thoroughly. The batter should be pretty stiff (good for the arm muscles!)

Add the grated carrot and raisins to the mix. The moisture in the carrots will loosen the batter up a bunch.

Spoon batter into cupcake-case lined muffin tins, about 2/3 full and pop into the preheated oven for about 25 minutes.

Sadly, this recipe doesn't make very many muffins (I only got 19) so I'll probably double it next time I make them (and yes, there will be a next time because they are yummy!) I also might try using light brown sugar instead of white, because it has a better flavor and the muffins came out looking pretty pale (not necessarily a bad thing, per se, but I think they could be cosmetically improved!)

The Cupboard of Hoarding: Ginger Muffins

This food adventure starts with cleaning. And with treacle. By no means one of the worst combinations I can think of.

I’ll be graduating this year, which means, in addition to sorting out that terrifying specter haunting most twenty-somethings, the future, that I will have to move out of my student house and ship my life in three suitcases or less back to the other side of the world (yes, moving back in with the parents, how glamorous!) I’ve decided to put off the many stress-inducing aspects of this imminent schlep by focusing on the kitchen. Ah, that shrine of godly splendor wherein I have spent many an hour (and procrastinated before many a deadline)!

Over the two years or so that I’ve been living in this house, I’ve accumulated a lot of tid-bits—various spices, little plastic bags of ground almonds, bonito flakes, and turmeric, bottles of food-coloring, Tabasco, and almond extract. Luxury items for the occasional baking extravaganza, now sitting sad and unused on the top shelf. Most of them were probably more substantial when I bought them, but after a few uses I’m left with an array of uselessly small amounts of clashing ingredients, the makings of a truly terrifying Everything Bagel.

It was while surveying this clutter of packaging and precariously stacked containers that I made a Resolution. Before I leave I will use up every package of food-stuffs that I find tucked away in this Cupboard of Hoarding. Everything. No throwing away, that’s not in the spirit of student-hood, the creed I will still be living by for the next two months. Panicked (and well-stocked with deadlines to procrastinate for) I set off on a frantic cycle of chain baking. Chocolate chip cookies, toasted almond cookies, double chocolate biscuits, devilish fudgy brownies, and a very sexy pumpkin pie (ingredients imported all the way across the pond from America). Whew. It’s addictive! After two years of gradually collecting and hoarding cook’s treats and bakeware, I’d finally caught the bug, two months away from D-Day, the big move.

Well, so much the better. At least this way the Resolution won’t suffer the same fate as all those New Year’s promises (I’m looking at you, “Eat Less”, “Exercise More” and “Be Nicer to People”. Whatever happened to you, eh?) With the Baking Bug, my decision to use up and clear out could become an exciting adventure. Something Fun and Exciting. Resulting in lots of things to force my housemates to eat (or rather, to tempt them with, bribery to gain their affections!)

Pepped up with determination and itchy baking fingers, I resolved to tackle a little tin that had been taunting me since early December, lurking like a little gremlin of sticky seasonal flavoring. Treacle. Now, I am not generally one to be put off by ingredients, nor by the potential for mess (and treacle has a LOT of potential for that). The Treacle Gremlin so intimidated me because it stood as a reminder of the Baking Disaster of December 2011. An attempt to make ginger snaps that went horribly, horribly wrong. A gooey heap of deliciously-gingery scented ooze, seeping clarified butter in a slippery, sliding mess. The part that didn’t end up cemented to the bottom of the oven, that is. For the next few months, despite attempts to scrub, soak, and pry the burnt remains off the over floor, every time someone used the oven to heat up a frozen pizza or chicken fingers, the whole house was filled the Christmas-y fragrance of ginger and treacle. Perhaps not the most unpleasant result but nonetheless a failure.

Armed with resolutions and pep, I decided that the time had come to face the Treacle Gremlin yet again. Coming across my used-but-one-time silicone muffin cups, I decided to resurrect the ginger ghost, this time in muffin form (less opportunity for spillage, more potential for uniformly shaped and sized treats, genius!)

This was the result…

Recipe:

Ginger Muffins

(modified from a recipe found on allrecipes.com)

113 grams unsalted butter (1/2 cup)

1/2 cup caster sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

l cup black treacle

3 cups self-raising flour

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon ginger

½ teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup sour milk (add one tsp of lemon juice to 1 cup of milk and let it sit while you mix the other ingredients, it should curdle slightly by the time you’re ready to add it in)

Extra sugar for sprinkling (optional)

Preheat oven to 180° C (350° F).

Mix flour, spices and salt and set aside.

Cream butter and sugar until smooth and then add eggs and treacle.

Add flour mixture and milk a bit at a time, alternating between the two. Mix until just combined, not thoroughly blended.

Spoon batter into muffin tins/cups, filling each cup halfway (they rise quite a bit in the oven). If you’re not using paper cups in your tins, be sure to lightly grease them so it’s easier to remove the cooked muffins.

If you want, you can sprinkle a little granulated sugar on the top of each muffin before baking. It gives them a nice little accent when they’re done but isn’t necessary for the taste.

180° Celsius (or 350° Fahrenheit)

16 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in a muffin comes away clean (my muffins were quite small, with larger ones you might need a couple extra minutes)

I ended up with 47 (small) muffins.

These aren’t overwhelmingly gingery or treacle-ish but have a delicately spiced flavoring that’s perfect for a little afternoon snack (I like mine with a nice cuppa!)

When they first came out of the oven (after cooling enough to not burn the roof of my mouth!) they had a lovely crunch to their tops and were soft and fluffy on the inside. After cooling completely (and spending a night in a plastic bag) they developed that sticky glaze that muffins often get (which I personally love!)

Apart from being tiny and adorable, these are also pretty flexible. I added a handful of raisins to the final batch (another find from the back of The Cupboard) and it added a lovely extra texture and flavor element. You could definitely experiment with adding various other additions and adjust the spicing for personal tastes. A lovely fluffy, bite-sized template for personal tweaking!