I try to give Chubbs a special treat everyday. Sometimes it's fancy biscuits, sometimes it's milk pudding, sometimes it's a few bites of a fresh cream cake. Today, I baked him banana and peanut butter muffins for tea.
The main oven has been broken for a few months; which also means I haven't baked in that long. I can stand it no longer, and resorted to using the dingy/ oily oven for roast chicken and the like, out back. Everything is played by ear; there is no thermostat to tell you when the oven is at the desired temperature, the hot air does not circulate, meaning I have to keep turning the muffin tray, etc. Anyway, I've been itching to create a recipe using bananas and peanut butter. And I'm pleased to announce that the end result turned out fantastic. I mean, we love peanut butter, and we love bananas, so what could go wrong?
This first time I'm properly sharing a recipe, and to be honest, it makes me kind of nervous. I don't exactly know why, though. Maybe it's because recipe-sharing is akin to opening up the kitchen and it's secrets for the world to see, and my taste preferences may be scrutinised. Imagine after you try the recipe, you think the muffins are awful, and you go, "What?! This is delicious? I thought she had good taste in food. Bah!" You catch my drift. The thing is, I have a few personal rules when I bake for Chubbs, I never use just plain flour, I use less fat, salt and sugar, and organic ingredients wherever possible (in this case, I used organic flours and oats). I find ways and means to incorporate whole wheat flour, whole oats, different sweeteners (brown rice syrup, pure maple syrup, honey, etc), less baking powder, etc. But at the end of the day, these healthier goodies taste, urm, good! So dive in!
Banana and Peanut Butter Muffins
Ingredients:-
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup wholewheat flour
3/4 cup whole rolled oats
1 tbsp aluminium-free baking powder
2 small eggs/ 1 large egg
30ml melted butter/ vegetable oil (I use canola)
1 cup milk
1/2 cup mashed ripe bananas
1/2 cup peanut butter (I use Adam's natural unsalted smooth peanut butter)
1/4 cup demerara sugar
Method:-
1) Preheat the oven to 180C.
2) Line/ oil a 12-hole muffin tin.
3) Mix the flours, oats, and baking powder together. Set aside.
4) Beat the eggs lightly, stir in the oil, bananas, peanut butter, and sugar. Mix thoroughly.
5) Stir in the milk.
6) Stir in dry ingredients. Mix until just combined; do not overmix.
7) Bake in the oven for 20-25min, or until an inserted toothpick comes out dry.
8) Let muffins cool in tin for 5min, and turn out onto a cooling rack. Enjoy them warm.
They were very moist, tender, slightly chewy because of the oats and just sweet enough. Even the hubby, who's my harshest critic, liked them. Chubbs ate a whole muffin at one go. I'll probably give him a muffin for brekkie tomorrow morning too, with a bowl of blueberries and some cheese. I want to experiment with a gluten-free version soon, so stay tuned.
Lots of energy to mess around after eating.
