Banana Bread Muffins

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(finished muffins with dusting of powder sugar)

These delicious banana bread muffins are super quick and easy!! You can make around 10 regular sized or 6 of the what I call 'coffee shop' muffins which are oversized with a classic muffin top. They aren't the prettiest of muffins but they sure make up for it in taste. 

The smell of these muffins is incredible, I felt like a 1950's all-American housewife taking them out of the oven!!

I used cup measurements for these muffins and I really do recommend getting some measuring cups because they make the 'weighing' process so much quicker and I feel as though I have more freedom as I don't have to stick to gram for gram measurements.

Preheat the oven to 180° (fan), 200°C or gas mark 6.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups plain flour

1 cup demerara sugar

1 stick salted butter

1/8 cup of cocoa powder (I used Cadburys)

2 bananas (riper the better)

1 tsp. baking powder

Vanilla essence and ground cinnamon optional!

1. Cream together the sugar and around 3/4 of the stick of butter; brown sugar has larger granules than white so the mix wont be as smooth as using white sugar but the finished bake will really benefit with a lovely rustic texture and a very slight crunch.

2. Beat 2 eggs and add to the sugar/butter mix.

3. Now mash the bananas either using a potato masher or just a fork, it will be far easier if the banana is going brown as they are super soft and the taste will be stronger. I added a tsp. of cinnamon and  vanilla essence to the mashed banana but this is entirely optional... experiment with your own combo of spices and flavours! 

4. After adding the bananas to the main mixture it will look very wet so now we add the flour, start with just one cup of flour plus half a cup of cocoa powder and if the mix is thick but will still run off the spoon it sounds perfect; if not keep adding small amounts of flour (don't make the mix doughy!).

5. Your muffin tray is probably non stick but even so, slightly butter the sides and either half fill for a medium muffin or fill almost to the top for your coffee shop muffin.

6. Put in the oven for 25 minutes, pop the kettle on and put your feet up!

*Tip for knowing if your muffins are baked right: stick a knife through the middle of your biggest muffin and if it comes out clean then they are done but if it has some batter stuck on it then keep putting them back in for 5 minute intervals until the knife is clean.*

Happy baking! Amelia x