I have recently decided that I should add some more fruit to my diet. This theory came about because I was perusing through my Baking By Ellie album on Facebook and came across things like this: And this... And these... I have changed my mind. Who needs fruit? I put berries in my cereal and tomatoes in my sandwiches (See what I did there? One does not often incorporate tomatoes into fruit-related musings. Obviously, I am smarter than I look). Ok, so how about we compromise? That's right, today I am making Banana Nut Muffins! (with a few blueberries- for colour) |
Ingredients: - 1 3/4 cups All-Purpose Flour - 1/2 cup Brown Sugar - 1/4 cup White Sugar - 1/2 tsp Baking Soda - Pinch Salt - 1 tsp Cinnamon - 3 Overripe Bananas - 1/2 cup Melted Unsalted Butter - 2 eggs - Splash Vanilla - 1 cup Spice Pecans (*recipe to follow) - Garnish (blueberries, chocolate chips...) What To Do: Begin with the spiced pecans. Whenever I have a sweet recipe that calls for toasted nuts, I do this little trick to make them 10x more delicious. I have also been known to follow the same steps to make almond snacks, or to candy walnuts for salads. In a small bowl, whisk up 1 egg white until it is frothy. Add in a sprinkle of cinnamon, and less than 1/4 cup white sugar. Stir in the pecans/pecan pieces. Lay them out on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet, and bake at 350 F for 5-10 minutes, stirring them occasionally to prevent burning. How easy was that? Now for the muffins. In a large bowl, mash your bananas and combine them with the eggs, cooled melted butter, and vanilla. Separately, mix up all of your dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, salt, sugars, and cinnamon). A personal tip: when recipes call for white sugar, I generally substitute 1/4-1/2 of it with brown sugar. The reason for this is that while white sugar sweetens pastries, brown sugar has the added bonus of flavouring your pastries. Especially when looking for caramelization (like in my chocolate chip cookies) or to bring out cinnamon notes (like in my banana muffins), brown sugar is a great addition. I would only caution against using brown sugar when of course, you are making white desserts (sponge cake, white cake, etc.) Next, combine all of the ingredients together, including your spiced nuts, to get a gross looking situation like this: Oh lordy- so lumpy (it should be though; over-mixing this batter will make it very tough and dense) Once you fill up your 12 greased cupcake liners though, and top them with additional spiced nuts, and blueberries, the whole situation becomes much prettier. Bake these at 350 F for 23-25 minutes. Always test your baked goods by sticking a toothpick into the center and see if it comes out clean. Every oven is different, so what takes 23 minutes in my oven may take 27 in yours. Experiment! Fun fact though - 23 minutes is the perfect amount of time to clean up after all of the messes you made while prepping these. Look at how those blueberries plumped up from the heat! Love it! So there you have it: delicious, nutritious (?) Fruit by Ellie. The next step, of course, is to dip these in chocolate, On second thought... yum. Perfect as is. |