Muffin Madness

The title of this blog suits the state of madness I was in over muffins. Its been a while since I had muffins and I was certainly craving for some especially after watching the cooking show ‘Nigella Bites’ on television. By the way Nigella Lawson is one of my favorite cooking show hosts. She makes cooking even the most difficult sophisticated dish a breeze and her no care attitude about her body image is something to look forward too – I mean this is the lady who snacks in the middle of the night a big no no in Oprahs book .. heehe anyways I cant afford to snack late at night cause when I wake up I will be bloated heehee sooo anyways .. in this particular episode she made home made granola – yes home made. It looked so simple and delicious and I have since been trying to find the recipe but no avail but I am not giving out .. so if anyone has the recipe please pass it on ;)).. the recipe is called ’ chocolate peanut granola’. She made muffins using the granola and it looked so tantalizing. The muffin recipe is called ‘Chocolate Granola Muffin’. When she describes the dishes it just makes you drool and there is something about sound that makes any dish appetizing especially while you’re making it … Certain sounds sends signals to the brains and it makes you crave for that certain foods heh at least to me it does.. Anyways seeing I cant get her recipes I decided to make muffins from a recipe I found at http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Banana-Muffins-I/Detail.aspx

The recipes make 12 muffins but I halved the recipe instead. This time round I made half ‘banana walnut muffin’ and half ‘chocolate chip walnut muffin'. The main recipe is at the link above – I added some ingredients for these muffins below is the main recipe with additional ingredients for the two muffins ..

Banana Walnut Muffins

Ingredients (makes 12)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup mashed ripe banana
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup sour cream
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Additional ingredients
½ cup chopped walnuts
¼ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp nutmeg

Directions
1- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2- Grease muffin cups or line with paper muffin liners.
3- Mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.
4- In a separate bowl, beat together banana, sugar, egg and vanilla. Stir in the
sour cream or yogurt.
5- Stir banana mixture into flour until just combined. Add in walnuts and mix
well.
6- Scoop batter into prepared muffin cups.
7-Bake in preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted
into center of a muffin comes out clean.
8-Let cool before serving. For best flavor, place in an airtight container or bag
Overnight.

The final product ‘ Banana walnut muffin’ inside and out …..

Chocolate Walnut Chip Muffin

Ingredients (makes 12)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup sour cream
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Additional ingredients
3 tbsp cocoa powder
½ cup dark chocolate chips
½ cup chopped walnuts
¼ cup milk

Directions
1- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2- Grease muffin cups or line with paper muffin liners.
3- Mix together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
4- In a separate bowl, sugar, egg and vanilla. Stir in the sour cream or yogurt.
5- Stir wet mixture into flour until just combined. Add in walnuts & chocolate
chip and mix well.
6- Scoop batter into prepared muffin cups. Sprinkle some chocolate chips on
top of the batter if you like especially if you love chocolate.
7-Bake in preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted
into center of a muffin comes out clean.
8-Let cool before serving. For best flavor, place in an airtight container or bag
Overnight.

The final product ‘ Chocolate Chip Walnut Muffin’ inside and out …..

I didn’t have sour cream on hand so I used yogurt instead which is works just as well to make the muffins soft and moist. I used a little more than 3 tbsp of cocoa powder - which explains why my batter was lumpy. I added a little milk to the chocolate muffin recipe to rectify the problem. The recipe calls for a batter like consistency so I added milk instead of water. For the chocolate chip I used dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate – what can I say I love dark chocolate. I also added walnuts only because my mom loves some crunch in her muffins..

Cooking is about experimentation and the great thing is the many variations you can get from one recipe. The possibilities are endless and on that note …Happy Baking & eating the muffins.