Dark Chocolate Banana Muffins

When my daughter asked if she could have one of these dark chocolate banana muffins, I offered her the largest, only to have it rejected. I want one with sprinkles, she said. 
That’s icing sugar, not sprinkles, I pointed out. 

She rewarded me with a look that said  "Spare me the details and just hand it over, woman!" 

So of course I did. You don't argue with looks from 8 year olds!

Regardless of "sprinkles", my children love these muffins; even my son - who isn't a big fan of bananas. 
Well...that's probably because there's enough chocolate in them to make most banana-boycotters change their minds.  But it's antioxidant-rich dark chocolate: you feel yourself growing healthier with each bite 😉

One of these days, I'm going to recipe-test them with coconut flour, as a gluten free alternative (healthier with each bite, I tell you!). But for now, here's the traditional flour recipe ...

Dark Chocolate Banana Muffins

Recipe adapted from chelseasmessyapron.com

Preheat the oven to 180'C 

Line a 12-hole muffin tray with cupcake cases. 

Ingredients:

160g cake flour

40g unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

160g good quality dark chocolate, roughly chopped 

100g light brown sugar
125ml double cream yoghurt - plain, vanilla or coconut flavoured work well
60ml canola oil 
1 large free range egg
3 - 4 over-ripe bananas, well mashed ( to make approx. 1 cupful )

1 tsp vanilla extract

Sift together the dry ingredients, including the sugar. Mix in the pieces of dark chocolate. 

In a measuring jug, whisk together the oil, yoghurt, egg and vanilla. Mix in the banana.   

Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients. Pour in the wet ingredients. Mix until just combined. (Over-mixing will result in dense muffins). 

Divide the batter evenly between the 12 cupcake cases. 

Bake at 180'C for approx. 20 minutes. 

If you give these a try with coconut flour (remember to also adjust your liquids in the recipe), let me know how they turn out.  

Happy baking!
xxM 

Honey and Ginger Biscuits

Honey and ginger - just what the doctor ordered for these chilly winter days!

Often ginger biscuits are something that will land you in the dentists rooms, instead - right?!
Don't get me wrong - I love crisp ginger biscuits. But you usually need a cup of tea to dunk them in to save you a chipped tooth  🙈

These cookies, though, are crisp on the outside, chewy in the middle, and delightfully spiced.
My daughter got me to make them 2 days in a row because the first batch was devoured so quickly.

You can substitute golden syrup or molasses for the honey; each will add it's own unique flavour to the mix.


Honey and Ginger Biscuits / Cookies
Recipe by Tea, Cake and Create

Pre-heat the oven to 180'C
line 2-3 cookie trays with baking paper or silicone baking mats


Ingredients:

180g butter at room temp.
150g light brown sugar
1 free-range egg
60ml honey

320g cake flour
2 tbs ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

Caster sugar for rolling.

Method:

Cream together the butter and sugar. Add the egg and honey. Mix well.
Sift in the dry ingredients.
Mix until combined.

Roll cookie dough into small balls (about 3-4cm diameter), and roll these balls in caster sugar
(an easy way to do this is to put half a cup of caster sugar in a small bowl, and roll each dough ball around in this.)

Place on the prepared cookie trays and gently press down with a fork.
Bake at 180'C for 8-10 minutes, or until the cookies turn a light golden brown.

I gulped down a huge dose of patience, and had my kids do the rolling-into-balls part of the process. We had a lovely variety of cookie sizes and shapes. And caster sugar everywhere! 

Don't you just love the winter holidays? 😉

Happy baking!

xxM

Orange and Almond Dark Chocolate Biscotti

When I looked up the original recipe for these biscotti, I skim read through the method and completely missed the instruction to halve the chocolate  (50g of chocolate was intended for melting and drizzling over the baked biscotti).
It had been a busy week, and making biscotti was a last minute thought before we left for our Mozambique holiday.

 But when is too much chocolate ever an issue?! (Unless it's being consumed by your three year old before bed-time... Of course I don't have toddlers anymore, so S.E.P ... someone else's problem 🙊)

So, I have kept the chocolate volume un-halved in my version. And added some almond flour too.

My son did make pretty short change of these biscotti while we were away, but seeing as his days were filled with swimming, snorkelling and digging huge trenches in the beach, I wasn't too worried that he'd battle to fall asleep.

Plus they're loaded with dark chocolate (have I mentioned that?), and almonds - so they're essentially a health food...! 

Orange and Almond Dark Chocolate Biscotti 
Recipe adapted from Jamie Oliver 

Pre-heat the oven to 180'C
Line a baking tray with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.

Ingredients:

200g cake flour
40g almond flour
60g unsweetened cocoa powder
175g caster sugar
100g dark chocolate
60 g raw almonds
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
zest of 1 medium orange
3 large free range eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract


Sift the dry ingredients together.
Roughly chop the chocolate and the almonds.
Place all the above ingredients into a food processor and pulse several times; the chocolate and almonds should be in smaller pieces now.
Add the 3 eggs and vanilla, and pulse again until the mixture just starts to come together.
Remove from the food processor and mix by hand into a ball.
Divide the dough in two. Sprinkle a little caster sugar on your work surface and roll each half into a log approx. 28cm long.

Bake at 180'C for 25 minutes.
Remove from the oven, and allow to cool.
Use a serrated knife to cut the logs diagonally, into 1.5cm slices.

Place cut-side down on baking trays, and return to a warm oven (120'C) until dried out and crispy. 
Cool completely before storing in a sealed container.

Try different variations - Jamie Oliver's recipe called for cranberries and pistachios; and I made a batch with a tablespoon of ground ginger instead of the orange zest. 
Let me know what flavour combinations you use, and how they turn out. 


Happy baking!

xxM