Wholemeal Banana Berry Muffins

As the school holidays come to an end, it's time to make snacks for Spawn's lunches! I'm not sure how these will go being frozen, but they're yummy enough that they should be okay either way!

INGREDIENTS:
2 cups wholemeal flour
2 tspn baking powder
1/2 tspn baking soda
1/2 cup self-raising flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tspn ground cinnamon
1 tspn vanilla extract
1 egg
1 cup blueberry yoghurt
1/2 cup milk (or just use 1 3/4 cups blueberry yoghurt - I used what I have as this polar blast is intense and I'm NOT leaving the house lol)
1 cup mashed ripe banana  (2 approx)
1/4 cup olive oil
1 cup frozen blueberries

METHOD:
Preheat oven to 190 degrees and put patty cases in muffin tin.
Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl, then make a well and add all other ingredients, except blueberries. Stir until combined, but do not overwork.
You can either gently fold through blueberries now, or place them on top once mix is in cases. I did half and half - I love the smushy berries on top!
Fill the cases 2/3, then put into preheated oven for 20 minutes. Makes between 12-18 muffins, depending on how generous you are.

If freezing, do not do so until they have cooled completely. Otherwise they may go soggy and bleh.

Enjoy!

- L. x

Blackberry & White Chocolate Muffins

So these are the result of inter-species breeding between a muffin and a friand. They're not quite as dense as a friand, but too dense to be a muffin. To summarise; they're awesome! :D

INGREDIENTS:
2 cups plain flour
2 tspn baking powder
1/2 cup caster sugar
125g white chocolate bits
1 cup buttermilk**
1 tspn vanilla extract
100g butter, melted
1 punnet blackberries

METHOD:

Preheat oven to 180° and lightly grease a muffin pan.
Sift flour and baking powder into large bowl, then add sugar, choc bits, and stir until well combined.
In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, buttermilk, vanilla and butter, then add to flour mixture and stir with a metal spoon until combined. (do NOT over-mix!) Then gently mix through blackberries.
Divide the mixture between 12 muffin holes, then using the back of the spoon, gently swirl the top of the muffins to smooth the top. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until skewer comes out clean.
Allow to cool slightly before removing. Best enjoyed warm, or within 24 hours. I made these yesterday and they're already getting a little dry. (Good enough for the 5 year old, though!)

**you can make your own kind of buttermilk by adding a little white vinegar to a cup of milk and letting it stand for 10 minutes.

Banana & Fig muffins

I made these this afternoon to use up some figs I randomly purchased. These muffins are actually pretty good! I shall tweak, because it's what I do (I'm gluten intolerant, so I always make recipes I like friendly for my tummy once I know they're good to start with!).
Anyway, here you go!

INGREDIENTS:
1 1/2 cups plain flour
2 tspn baking powder
1 tspn baking soda
1 tspn ground cinnamon
1/2 tspn salt
200g fresh figs, chopped into small pieces (approx)
1 1/2 cups banana, mashed
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 large egg
1 tspn vanilla extract (I used vanilla bean paste)

**You could also add 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, however I omitted these due to school being nut-free.

METHOD:
Preheat oven to 180°, and lightly grease muffin tray.
In a bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt, then add in figs (and walnuts if using), tossing to coat the figs.
In another bowl, whisk the banana, brown sugar, egg, melted butter and vanilla, then add to dry ingredients and fold until all combined.
Divide batter evenly amongst the twelve muffin spaces, then bake for 20-22 minutes, or until tops are golden and skewer comes out clean.
Cool on rack before storing. Can be frozen for up to four weeks.