It used to be that I'd make banana bread once every four or six weeks-- usually when I found myself with fruit far too overripened even for me (the joke with my parents is that I won't touch bananas until all traces of green have been taken over by black spots and they won't eat bananas with any trace of spotted goodness).Then all of a sudden I stopped. It's not that I stopped making banana bread--I just stopped buying bananas. I don't know why or exactly when, but I've not had a banana in the house for what seem like ages and ages.
Just as suddenly the bananas reappeared. The first bunch was courtesy of my parents--more spotted than green. I made muffins and they were good. Since then there seems to have been at least one banana in the house.
This week I just couldn't get through them all and they morphed into a gooey-and-slimy-on-the-inside and pitch-like-on-the-outside existence. It would almost be sad if they weren't finding themselves to a better fate. Well..okay, not better...just tasty.
My standard banana bread recipe is from Nigella's How To Be A Domestic Goddess. I've tried others and as good as they are, this one is the one I always come back to. Sometimes I add dried fruit or frozen berries, sometimes nuts, sometimes a combination. This time I decided to reach for my jar of white chocolate chippies.
I'm not a fan of white chocolate--I find it too sweet and even the smallest amount seems to leave me glugging water. I keep it in the house in case I need to make an emergency special cheesecake or I want a visual contrast in some midnight-like chocolatey cookies. But this time the chippies just called out to me from the cupboard (it's amazing how they do that).
The end result was sweeter than I'd prefer--a combination of the bananas, chips and brown sugar--so next time I'd probably lessen the amount of sugar. Friends who've tried them really like them. They're easy and relatively quick and are good with a nice hot cup of tea.
White Chocolate Banana Muffins
adapted from Nigella Lawson's Banana Bread in How To Be A Domestic Goddess
Yield 15 muffins
175g plain flour
1 dspn baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
3/4 tsp salt
125g butter, melted
150g brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
300g mashed overripe bananas
100g white chocolate chips
Preheat the oven to 170C/325F; paper the bowls of a cupcake tin.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, bicarb and salt. In a separate bowl, mix together the butter and bananas with sugar. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. Fold in the flour mixture, then the chips. Pour into lined tins and bake for 20-30 minutes or until done.
cheers!
jasmine
10 comments:
One of my favourite recipes is a banana chocoolate layer cake that Daphna Rabinovitch developed for Canadian Living: Bittersweet chocolate and banana. De-lish!
I'm not sure I get the white chocolate and banana combo - they are both so sweet that I'm not sure it would work for me. But, if you endorse it, I'm up for a try!
yum. love the idea of emergency cheesecake too.
Have been thinking about banana bread and banana muffins a lot lately. Don't know why. Maybe I hope they'll magically appear in the house without my having to do any actual work. Or perhaps my allergies have sent me round the bend at last. Thanks for the inspiration, I like white chocolate so I'll not be making any adjustments.
Two flavors I absolutely love, J - and baking with banana is such a favorite thing of mine, too!
I've heard good things about NIgella's banana bread recipe. I should try it out. And I like white chocolate in things like this, so I bet I'd love these muffins!
Excellent timing - I've some bananas going nicely "dalmation spots". Will make these tomorrow and will follow your advice to cut back on the sugar. I think there are some dark chocolate chips lurking around.....
Huggles and thanks
In the words of the sage Cookie Monster - me want muffins!!!
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Bannana muffins are a staple around my house - but the butter and sugar are not too healthy to eat every day. I replace white flour with whole wheat and sometimes even top up the 2 cups I use with ground flax seed. As well I 1/2 the butter and add the equivilent amount of apple sauce - sometimes a bit more to keep it moist. I also use 1/2 cup of sugar instead of the full cup. The muffins turn out tasty AND healty.
OF course white chippies would be yummy too!!
I'm there with you on the gooey goodness of disintegrated bananas - love 'accidentally' leaving them until all you can do is turn them into bread. I've never tried Nigella's recipe but I think that bunch of b's ripening in the back of the cupboard is destined for that fate.
I really like the sound of these muffins.
Paz
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