Brown Banana Muffins

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Having bought a couple of packs of reduced price bananas (20p for 5!) recently and not wanting them to go to waste, I’ve slightly changed my Banana and Choccie Chunkie Muffin recipe, which incidentally was the first ever post on my blog back in May 2011, to produce these:

Instead of using butter, I’ve substituted it 80% for Farrington’s Mellow Yellow Rapeseed Oil and 20% milk.

280g Plain flour

5ml Baking powder

5ml Bicarbonate of soda
2.5ml salt
125g Soft brown sugar
3 large, over-ripened bananas (about 450g peeled weight)
1 egg, beaten
90ml Rapeseed oil
60m Milk
 
Fan oven: 170°C.
 
1. Line a deep, 12 cup, muffin tin with tulip paper cases.
2. In a large bowl place the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt and sugar.  Mix these together thoroughly with a fork to get some air into the dry mixture.
3. In another bowl mix together the mashed bananas, beaten egg, rapeseed oil and milk.
4. Make a well in the dry ingredients and add all of the wet mixture.  Mix both together quickly for no longer than 20-30 seconds until just combined.  Make sure that you scrape the sides and the bottom of the bowl properly to incorporate all of the dry mixture but DO NOT BEAT the mixture or worry about small lumps.
5. Fill each muffin cup to about 3/4 full.  This will then make 12 muffins.
6. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the tops are slightly browned and spring back when touched.
7. Transfer the cakes to a cooling rack until cool.
 
I also made up a batch of blueberry muffins using oil and milk as the butter substitute, so I’ll share the recipe shortly for those too.

Rhubarb, Apple & Ginger Crumble

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My rhubarb is a little pathetic this year; yielding a measly 4 sticks, which is not really enough to make a crumble for a family of 4. Not to be deterred, I grabbed a couple of dessert apples from the fruit bowl and a jar of crystallised ginger from the cupboard and whipped up a pudding in less than an hour (and that included washing up!) I think that rhubarb and ginger are a perfect combination, and judging by the empty bowls all round, my family think so too.  Some of the ingredients I didn’t measure out personally, but to help you, I’ve given you the approximate quantities that I used for the fruit base.

4 sticks Rhubarb
2 dessert Apples
3 balls crystallised ginger
2tbs (rounded) Soft dark brown sugar
Crumble
200g Self raising flour
100g Unsalted butter
100g Soft dark brown sugar
2tsp Ground ginger

1. Preheat your oven to 180C.
2. Peel and slice the rhubarb into 1.5cm slices.
3. Dice the apples into 1cm cubes.
4. Chop the crystallised ginger quite finely.
5. Place the rhubarb, apples, ginger and sugar into a saucepan with 30ml cold water.
6. Bring to a gentle boil, then simmer for about 10 minutes until the fruit has started to soften and release their juices.
7. In a food processor, blitz the flour, cold butter, sugar and ground ginger until it resembles breadcrumbs.
8. Pour the fruit into a heatproof dish and top with the crumble mix.
9. Bake for 25-30 minutes until the top is golden.


Serve with cream, custard, clotted cream or ice cream. I love the fruity ‘jam’ that mixes with the edges of the crumble mix as it bubbles though.  Enjoy!

White Chocolate, Cranberry & Blueberry Blondies with Peanut Butter Frosting

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This one was originally meant to be a chocolate brownie, until I found I had no dark chocolate left but lots of white chocolate so I had to change my mind. This is therefore my experiment and I’m pleased to say it worked & my family enjoyed it.

225g Caster sugar
4 Eggs
225g Butter
5ml Vanilla paste
150g Plain flour
225g White chocolate drops
100g Dried cranberries & blueberries 
Frosting
75g Butter
175g Light soft brown sugar
5ml Vanilla paste
150g Chunky peanut butter
30ml Milk
1. Preheat the oven to 180C.
2. Line a 20cm/8″ square brownie pan with baking parchment.
3. Beat the sugar and eggs until light & airy.
4. Melt the butter and beat into the sugar and egg mixture along with the vanilla paste.
5. Fold in the flour gently, being careful to retain the air you’ve incorporated.
6. Gently stir in the chocolate chips, cranberries & blueberries until just combined.
7. Bake for 35-40 minutes until still soft in the centre.
8. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.
9. Beat together the butter and soft brown sugar with the vanilla paste 
10. Stir in the peanut butter and milk until combined.
11. Spread over the cooled blondie.
12. Cut into 16 pieces to serve.