Those dotty bananas, the lunchbox rejects that children in this house turn their noses up at. They look at you (me) accusingly from the fruitbowl demanding to be used.
Mostly, I pop them in the freezer for later (just in their skins) and turn them into Brown Sugar Banana Bread or if we’ve visitors coming I’ll take out the food processor and make Banana Buns.
This time I felt like a change, and decided that it had to be banana muffins, which are pretty guilt free and don’t take quite as long to cook as banana bread. After extensive research (googling) I happened on this recipe on Allrecipes.co.uk. The recipe appealed as it’s an easy one and not too sweet, it sounded just like what I wanted to bake or more honestly, what I wanted to eat.
They turned out great, moist and not too sweet, perfect for breakfast, in a lunchbox or with a cuppa.
Banana Oatmeal Muffins
200g plain flour
80g porridge oats
100g caster sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon bread soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
175ml milk (to make this recipe dairy free use soy or rice milk)
75ml sunflower oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
250g mashed bananas (about 2 big ones or 3-4 small ones) Dotty works better than ripe.
Preheat the oven to 180C. Pick out your most favourite muffin cases and line a muffin tray with them. When I make muffins I tend to make half of them full size and half bun or fairy cake sizes which is more child friendly. (The boys would disagree, we had arguments over how many of these were enough to eat immediately). This recipe makes 12 full size muffins. If you make smaller ones adjust the baking time to take account of this.
Put the flour, porridge, sugar, baking powder, bread soda and salt into a bowl and mix together.
In a second mixing bowl beat the egg a little with a fork and then stir in the milk, oil and vanilla extract and mix together well. Add the mashed banana and mix together thoroughly. Stir the flour mixture into the banana mixture until just combined (it will look very like tinned rice pudding!).
Divide the mixture among the papercases and bake in the oven for 18-20 minutes, then leave to cool on a wire tray. Enjoy with a cuppa or pack for a lunchbox treat.