Chocolate-Chip Banana Muffins

This is my go-to banana muffin recipe (adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction's Quick & Easy Banana Muffin). These muffins are wonderfully moist, soft and buttery with a sweet banana flavour and they are easy to make too!

[This recipe makes 11 muffins]

A (dry ingredients):

200g self-raising flour

1 tsp soda bicarbonate

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp mixed spice

B (wet ingredients):

85g unsalted butter, melted

120g brown sugar

2 eggs, at room temperature (each egg weighs about 60g, with shell)

1 tsp vanilla extract

zest of 1 orange

2 tbsp milk

about 1-1/2 cups mashed banana

C:

40g chocolate chips

• Preheat oven to 220°C.  Line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper muffin cases.
• Sift (A) all the dry ingredients together. Set aside.
• Using the electric hand beater, whisk (B) all the wet ingredients until combined. 
• Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, then whisk until well combined.  Fold in chocolate chips.  (Batter will be thick). 
• Using an ice-cream scoop, spoon the batter into muffin cases, filling them all the way to the top.  Bake for 5 minutes at 220°C.  Then reduce the oven temperature to 180°C and continue baking for about 25 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
• Allow the muffins to cool for 5 minutes in the muffin pan before transfering them  onto a wire rack to cool.

Note:  The initial high temperature will spring up the top of the muffins quickly, then the inside of the muffin continue to bake for the remainder of the time.  This helps the muffins to rise nice and tall.

Raisin Buns

Does Coronavirus Social Distancing made you go stir-crazy? If you have shied away from making bread from scratch in the past, now might be the time to finally give it a go.  It is one of the most rewarding and satisfying things you can do in the kitchen.

You can knead the dough in a stand mixer with a dough hook or knead it by hand. Although kneading bread dough by hand may seem to be mindless, it actually helps us to mindfully do something productive and it is quite therapeutic too. Since this is a small dough, I decided to get my hands messy! (To learn more about how to knead by hand, refer here)

Ingredients:

280g bread flour

10g milk powder

50g caster sugar

1/4 tsp salt

5g dried instant yeast

120g fresh milk

1 egg, lightly beaten

45g butter, room temperature

40g raisins (marinated in rum for at least 30 min)

white sesame seeds

Egg wash :  Lightly beat an egg with 1 tbsp of milk

• Fit the stand mixer with the dough hook attachment.  In the bowl, combine all the  ingredients, except butter.  Turn the mixer on and knead until the dough leaves the sides of the bowl. Add in butter and continue kneading until dough is smooth and elastic and passed the "window pane test" (Refer to note below).  Then knead in raisins.
• Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl.  Cover with cling wrap and let it rise until doubled in size.
• Punch down the dough to release trapped air.  Divide dough into 8 equal portions and roll into round shape.  Cover and let them rest for 15 minutes.
• Shape the buns and place them onto a lined baking tray. Cover and let them rise until doubled in size.
• Preheat oven to 180°C.
• Brush each bun with egg wash and sprinkle the tops with sesame seeds.
• Place the buns on the rack in the centre of the oven, and bake for 20 - 25min or until lightly brown.
• Transfer buns onto a cooling wire rack.

Window Pane Test:  This is the best way to determine if your bread dough is properly kneaded.  To do this, take a small chunk of dough and stretch it between your fingers.  If the dough tears, that means the gluten has not developed and it needs more kneading. The dough is ready to rest and prove if it stretches without tearing (like the picture above).

Banana-Walnut-Choc Chip Cake

Ingredients:

130g plain flour

10g milk powder (optional)

1/8 tsp soda bicarbonate

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/8 - 1/4 tsp mixed spice

1/8 tsp salt

3 eggs (weighing 59g each with shell)

60g brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

160g mashed banana

90g rice bran oil

40g walnuts, lightly toasted and chopped finely

40g choc chips

• Preheat oven at 160°C.
• Line a loaf pan (21 x 11 x 3.5cm).
• Sift all the dry ingredients together: flour, milk powder, soda bicarbonate, baking powder, mixed spice and salt.  Set aside.
• In a mixing bowl, beat eggs, brown sugar and vanilla extract until thick and pale. Beat in mashed banana.  With the mixer on low speed, add sifted dry ingredients.  Then gradually add in oil and mix until combined.  Finally fold in chopped walnuts and choc chips.
• Pour batter into prepared pan.
• Bake for an hour or until cooked.