Baking Stuff.....Banana and Walnut Muffins.

I love baking....cakes, biscuits, bread, muffins....the sweet stuff.....don't like cooking the main meal stuff that much though.  Anyway you won't find any of those fancy schmancy macarons or fairy cakes around my crib....if it's rustic it's on the menu, so that's why these muffins are loved so much around here.

I can whip these up in 5 minutes, and then 20 minutes cooking time, and they can be on someones table still warm within the hour.  No dairy and no eggs, but they do have walnuts....At times I have substituted those out for raisins or sultanas, but they're never the same in my opinion.  These can be frozen for later....but they never really last that long to make the freezer.

The recipe isn't mine, it comes from "The Liver Cleansing Diet" book.....great diet, even better muffins...anyway too good not to share.


5 very ripe bananas
1/4 cup light olive oil...you can use walnut or macadamia oil also
1/4 cup honey to a 1/3 cup of honey depending on sweetness...I don't like them too sweet so I go 1/4 cup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract...the good stuff not the essence
2 and a 1/4 cups plain wholemeal flour, or you can substitute gluten free flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat oven to 175c or 350f,  Lightly oil a 12 cup muffin tray...I use non stick pans and as these muffins have oil in them they have never got stuck for me. Mash the bananas, then add all the wet ingredients together and mix.....then I add all the other dry ingredients into the wet apart from the flour....I do this last because sometimes I only use 2 cups of flour....I leave out the last 1/4...the mixture should be a little sloppy but not over dry.  Spoon into the muffin tin and bake until golden brown, so around 20 mins....Serve warm, if they last that long.

These muffins are a very healthy choice considering what you can normally find in a shop bought muffin.  These have no sugar, no added fat other than olive oil and that's a good fat, wholemeal or whole wheat flour with lots of grainy bits in it, bananas, walnuts for heart and liver health....too good not to enjoy and I have a vegan friend who loves the fact that these are something they can enjoy.

PS I'm a banana freezer...soon as those bad boys start to spot up....they're straight in the deep freeze.  They're slimey when defrosted, but soooo good for any banana baked goodies.


Note added 27th May 2013.  Have tried substituting the olive oil or macadamia oil for organic coconut oil....if you try this you will need to make sure the oil is around half a cup when liquid....remembering coconut oil solidifies when cooled....you'll notice that the batter is more dough like rather than cake like, but the muffins turned out just fine albeit with a slightly coconut flavour....I also added chia seeds around 1/4 cup as another element.  Vicki x

Enjoy

Vicki x